Tatar is coming off a two year contract signed with the New Jersey Devils carrying a cap hit of $4.5M. The 32 year old contributed a solid season to the Devils scoring 20 goals and 48 points while playing in all 82 games. The playoffs was a big disappointment for Tatar. He only managed to score 1 goal in the 12 games he played.
Tatar is getting the reputation around the league of not being able to show up in the playoffs. In his last four playoff runs with the Devils, Canadiens and Golden Knights Tatar has only scored 4 goals and 6 points in the last 35 playoff games he appeared in.
Hockey Insider Elliotte Friedman shared the latest on Tatar's UFA situation:
Tatar has switched his agents and is leaning towards signing somewhere in the East.
Tatar's playoff failures have cost him a lot of money in free agency. Going off his season stats he should have been able to get a similar deal to the one he signed with the Devils in 2021 (two years, $4.5 million per season). Now, he's going to get a deal much closer to $1M. At 32 years old and 12 seasons in the league wherever Tatar signs he will be in another "show me" situation.
It appears Tatar could be close to signing with the New York Islanders.
POLL | ||
How many goals will Tatar score next season? | ||
Under 10 | 9 | 13.2 % |
10-15 | 19 | 27.9 % |
15-20 | 28 | 41.2 % |
20+ | 12 | 17.6 % |
List of polls |