The New Jersey Devils once again made a big free agency splash on Thursday afternoon. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald was able to nab the market’s best remaining free agent, former Montreal Canadiens forward Tomas Tatar.
This move brings the Devils’ NHL-level acquisitions list this offseason up to Ryan Graves, Jonathan Bernier, Christian Jaros, Dougie Hamilton, and Tatar. So, why should the Devils, despite all these terrific acquisitions, not be done this offseason? Let’s look into it.
Tomas Tatar
Traditional Statisitcs
First off, let’s take a look at the newest Devil, Tomas Tatar. Tatar is a 30-year-old left wing who is listed as 5’10” and 182 pounds. He has played for three different teams in his 10-year NHL career. He began in Detroit where he played parts of seven seasons, and was a 20-plus goal scorer in four of these seven years and tallied 45 or more points in three of them. He did this all while playing an average of around only 15 minutes per night.
After an unsuccessful 20-game stretch in Las Vegas, Tatar spent the last three seasons in Montreal. He tallied totals of 58 and 61 points in his first two seasons before putting up 30 in 50 games this past year (49 point pace over 82-games). Besides the off stretch in Vegas, Tatar has produced very well throughout his career.
As far as other traditional statistics go, Tatar shoots the puck a ton. He is good for at least 175 shots per season, and in an elevated role in New Jersey, he should expect to hit the 200. Tatar’s career shooting percentage is around 13 percent. If he takes 200 shots, and that percentage holds true, there’s no reason he cannot pot at least 25 goals this season.
For a smaller guy, Tatar is not afraid to throw his body around a little bit. He is good for about 80 hits a season which is a pretty large number for a player of his stature and position. Also worth noting, he has 283 takeaways compared to 257 giveaways. Believe it or not, players that play the game like Tatar does are proned to having more giveaways than takeaways.
Underlying Metrics
There is no other way to describe it, Tatar has graded out as one of the league’s best analytically for the past few seasons now, specifically offensively. As the above player card points out, he ranks in the league’s 88th percentile in terms of offensive metrics and the league’s 84th percentile defensively. The part of the card that should quickly grab your attention is the “PP Offense” portion. Tatar is terrific on the power play, an area the New Jersey Devils have struggled with a ton for years.
| Forward | xGAR |
| Tomas Tatar | 38.2 |
| Sam Reinhart | 36.3 |
| Brandon Saad | 26.1 |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 22.8 |
| Timo Meier | 21.2 |
| Kyle Palmieri | 18.8 |
To put more in perspective of how much of a good offensive player Tatar is, let’s compare his expected goals above replacement (xGAR) with other possible alternatives New Jersey had at forward. As you can see via the table above, Tatar blows the others out of the water. It is not like the other forwards are bad either, each are respectable top-six wingers in their own rights. Bottom-line, Tatar has been one of the more underrated offensive generators in the league for a few years now.
What’s He Going To Be For New Jersey?
Tomas Tatar is the best offensive weapon that has been on the roster since the Devils’ brought in Jack Hughes. So, it is pretty simple, put him on Hughes’ wing and watch the magic happen. Tatar would be, by far, the best wing that Hughes has played with in his young career. Hopefully, head coach Lindy Ruff makes it happen.
Worth mentioning, the value the Devils got in only signing Tatar to a two-year deal worth a total of $9,000,000 is terrific. The term is good in the sense Tatar will be under contract at ages 30 through 32 and the average annual salary is below several different projections. For example, Evolving-Hockey had Tatar valued at over $5,000,000 per season. Awesome value by General Manager Tom Fitzgerald.
Why The New Jersey Devils Should Not Be Done Adding
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| Tomas Tatar | Jack Hughes | Yegor Sharangovich |
| Pavel Zacha | Nico Hischier | Jesper Bratt |
| Janne Kuokkanen | TBD | Andreas Johnsson |
| Miles Wood | Michael McLeod | TBD |
The Depth Chart
As you can see in the above depth chart, the Devils still have two pretty glaring holes in the team’s lineup. The other internal options that can fill these holes are quite underwhelming. Jesper Boqvist has yet to impress in his 63 games at the NHL-level. Tyce Thompson and Nolan Foote were also underwhelming in their first looks with the red and black. Also, it does not seem likely Alexander Holtz will be in the fold after a just decent SHL season. Time spent developing in the AHL would seem to be helpful in his development, but things can always change in training camp.
As it stands, if the Devils are serious about wanting to be in legit playoff talks, adding one more bottom-six forward or wing is necessary. If the team does make a wise decision and wants to, they have the resources to do so. Per Cap Friendly, the Devils have $14,742,765 in cap space left with only one remaining internal player the team needs to sign, Janne Kuokkanen. To be conservative, let’s say after the Kuokkanen deal is done, the Devils have $12,000,000 in space left. That is more than enough to add one reasonably priced forward that would help put this team in the playoff conversation come next season.
What Options Are Left?
Just for the sake of this article let’s focus on the remaining free agents that would be a fit. Given the offseason is where it is, it is difficult to identify possible trade candidates. Although that would be a fine route, and the one with more choices if the Devils so choose.
Dominik Kahun
Kahun was surprisingly not tendered by the Buffalo Sabres after last season and signed a one-year deal in Edmonton. He played 48 games and totaled nine goals and six assists while only playing 12-minutes a night. The prior year he totaled 32 points in only 56 games while playing just 13-minutes per night. He also does grade out decent analytically, especially offensively where he ranks in the league’s 66th perceitle in important offensive metrics over the past three seasons.
The 5’11”, 175 pounder is listed as a center but has also played a lot of wing, so he has the versatility the Devils may be looking for. His 44.4 career faceoff percentage is nothing to get excited about, but given the hole the Devils’ have at line three center, he would fit in nicely.
Tyler Bozak
The New Jersey Devils are one of, if not the youngest team in the league. Adding a veteran presence, especially up front, would not hurt at all. In steps centerman and 12-year veteran Tyler Bozak. The 35-year-old spent the last three seasons with the St. Louis Blues and did well in a limited role. He had 17 points in only 31 games this past season, and 29 and 38 points the prior two before that. He also checks out analytically as his defensive numbers rank in the league’s 68th percentile over the past three seasons and he can hold his own offensively.
The veteran Bozak would come cheap and be the most perfect fit for that third line of the Devils’. He would be able to pinch in when needed offensively, and play soundly in his own end in a lineup surrounded by inexperienced forwards.
Colton Sceviour
The 32-year old Colton Sceviour is a veteran of 500 career NHL games over 10 seasons. He is certainly not the flashiest player, but he consistently gets the job done on a nightly basis. He has scored between 10 and 26 points every year he has been in the league. That is just the type of player he is. A bottom-six, defensive-first versatile forward who can play both the center and right wing.
Analytically he graded out surprisingly really well. He is in the league’s 67th percentile and offensively has offensive impacts above the league average. As mentioned above, he is not an exciting name but would provide some veteran presence in a Devils’ bottom-six that desperately needs it on the wing or down the middle.
Ryan Donato
Like Kahun, Donato is another younger player on this list. The 25-year old center/left wing played in 50 games last season with San Jose and totaled 20 points. In the previous season he tallied 23 points in 62 games. He also has a season of 25 points. He has only played an average of 12:24 of ice time per night over his career, so his production is not too bad.
The six-foot, 193 pound lefty is an offensive first player who has done solid work on the power play in the past. He also does a good job in drawing penalties. His underlying offensive metrics as a whole rank above the league’s average. Signing him would given New Jersey the center/wing the team needs to finish off their bottom six.
Mark Jankowski
Every team needs their Travis Zajac, and Mark Jankowski would fit this role well. The 26-year old Canadien is listed as six-foot-four and 212 pounds, so he has some size to him. He is a left-handed center who has okay numbers on the dot (49% career faceoff win percentage).
He brings little offensively, but has years of 17 and 14 goals under his belt back in 2017 and 2018 respectively. His game is built around his defensive prowess. As the player card above shows, Jankowski is in the league’s 91st percentile. He also has a huge effect on his team’s penalty kill as demonstrated by the “SH Defense” section of the card. Signing him would help sure up the team’s center group.
Alex Galchenyuk
The only 27-year old Galchenyuk has played for six different NHL teams. He once showed signs of a promising offensive player, registering seasons of 20 and 30 goals. However, he quickly fell off around age 25 and seemed destined for somewhere overseas. However, this past season with Toronto he was able to figure his game out and total 12 points in only 26 games.
Galchenyuk is an offensive-only player who struggles big time defensively. Given how hard of a time New Jersey has had putting the puck in the back of the net, sacrificing some defense for that offensive ability Galchenyuk brings would not be all that bad of an idea. He is also a valuable piece on the power play if a team wanted to use him there. Galchenyuk would no doubt come cheap and bring the versatility to play both center and wing.
Other Options: Tyler Ennis (C/W), Marcus Johansson (C/W), Jimmy Vesey (W)