The New Jersey Devils have agreed to terms with unrestricted free agent forward Tomas Tatar on a one-year contract worth $1.8 million. The announcement was made by New Jersey Devils President and CEO Tom Fitzgerald.
Tatar, 33, split last season with Colorado (1g-8a in 27 games) and Seattle (8g-7a in 43 games). He joined Colorado after spending two seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23) with New Jersey, a season highlighted by Tatar helping the team reach the Second Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. During his first stint with the Devils, he scored 35 goals and 43 assists for 78 points in 158 games and has New Jersey’s third-highest single-season plus/minus rating with a plus-41 in 2022-23. He added a goal in 12 games during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. In 853 NHL regular-season games over 10 seasons with Detroit, Vegas, Montreal, New Jersey, Colorado and Seattle, Tatar has recorded 220 goals and 259 assists for 479 points and 296 penalty minutes. Tatar has nine seasons in which he scored 15 or more goals and seven in which he reached the 20-goal mark.
Tatar spent three seasons, from 2018–19 to 2020–21, with the Montreal Canadiens, where in 2020–21 he scored 30 points (10 goals and 20 assists) in 50 games, ranking third among the club’s forwards. The previous two seasons he finished first (2019–20, 22 goals and 39 assists, 61 points) and second (2018–19, 25 goals and 33 assists, 58 points) in scoring for Montreal. Entering the abbreviated 2020–21 season, Tatar had seven consecutive years of 19 or more goals (the last six of which were 20-plus). He has totaled seven goals and six assists in 52 Stanley Cup playoff games.
Born on December 1, 1990, the Ilava, Slovakia native was selected in the second round by Detroit, 60th overall, in the 2009 NHL Draft. Tatar spent four seasons with Grand Rapids (AHL) in the Red Wings system before becoming a full-time NHL player. In 2012–13, the Griffins won the Calder Cup and Tatar won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as AHL Playoff MVP with a league-leading 16 goals. Prior to coming to North America, the 30-year-old spent time with the HK Dukla Trencin and HK Dubnica programs in Slovakia.
Tatar has represented his native country in international play, participating in the World Junior U-20 Championships (WJC) in 2009 and 2010, the IIHF World Championship in 2010, 2012 (silver medal), 2014, 2015, 2019 (alternate captain), 2022 (captain), 2024 (captain), the 2014 Winter Olympics, and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey (runner-up with Team Europe). Most recently, he represented Slovakia at the 2024 World Cup, where he was teammates with Devils defenseman Simon Nemec.
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