Kraken acquire veteran forward Tomas Tatar from Avalanche
SEATTLE – A Kraken team desperately seeking more offense on Friday traded for Colorado veteran left wing Tomas Tatar in exchange for a fifth-round pick in next summer’s draft.
The move for Tatar, 33, a six-time 20-goal man in his NHL career — most recently with New Jersey last season — comes as the team has grappled through a near-three-week stretch in which it was scoring 1.6 goals per game on average. While that picked up somewhat with 11 goals in a pair of home victories this week, general manager Ron Francis, pressed up against salary-cap limits, had to get creative in bolstering his roster.
“This is a guy who’s shown that he can score in the league, play in the league at a high level,” Francis said after the deal, adding he sees Tatar fitting in somewhere on the top two forward lines. “We’re excited to bring him in and give him that opportunity.”
Slovakia native Tatar had just one goal and eight assists in 27 games with the Avalanche after signing for one year, $1.5 million this summer.
To clear a roster spot, the Kraken sent forward Marian Studenic back to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Tatar has scored 212 goals and added 252 assists in 810 career games with Detroit, Montreal, Vegas, New Jersey and the Avalanche. He played in two games of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final for the Golden Knights before being shipped to Montreal, where he again made the Cup Final in 2021 but was a healthy scratch in all playoff contests after the opening round.
Last season, he scored 20 goals and added 28 assists for the Devils while playing all 82 games, then had another goal in 12 playoff contests before New Jersey’s second-round elimination by Carolina.
He is a solid puck mover, able to frequently deke out opposing defenders in open ice.
Tatar carries a remaining cap hit of $973,000 according to the CapFriendly website, which the team has partially offset by offloading forward Jaden Schwartz on to the Long Term Injured Reserve list, meaning his full salary no longer counts against the cap. Players going on LTIR must be expected to be out at least 10 games and 24 days.
The Kraken on Friday also recalled center Shane Wright from Coachella Valley and reassigned forward Tye Kartye back to that AHL affiliate. The Kartye reassignment was said by club sources to be merely for salary-cap purposes, meaning the solid rookie should be back with the Kraken shortly and it’s unclear whether Wright will remain with the big club.
Francis said he should have additional cap room with the moves should any other potential acquisitions materialize. But with Schwartz due back from injury next month, the Kraken need to keep room available for his return as well.
“You’re always looking at a lot of conversations, a lot of talk, but that is the challenge for a lot of teams right now with where the cap is at,” Francis said of getting deals done amid cap constraints. “You get creative and try to find a way. But this one was easy for us and it made sense. So, that’s why we moved forward with it.”