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New Jersey Devils: Tomas Tatar Could Be Bound For A Huge Stretch

By Nick Villano

Tomas Tatar #90 of the New Jersey Devils skates against the New York Islanders at the UBS Arena on January 13, 2022 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Tomas Tatar #90 of the New Jersey Devils skates against the New York Islanders at the UBS Arena on January 13, 2022 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils got fans hyped this offseason when they signed forward Tomas Tatar. While his counting stats say he’s underwhelmed, his underlying stats show an explosion of points is on the horizon.

It’s been another rough season for the New Jersey Devils. Tom Fitzgerald went on a spending spree in the offseason trying to bring new pieces into the locker room, but he’s ended up with the same results. The Devils are in last place based on points percentage in the Metropolitan Division. The team is clearly better, but it’s also clearly not good enough. There are a lot of excuses. There have been injuries and COVID cases. The goalies haven’t been good enough, and some of the moves took some time to gel. One thing is for certain, the players that Fitzgerald added aren’t the problem.

Dougie Hamilton’s impact doesn’t need to be said. He’s been fantastic when healthy. Jonathan Bernier got hurt, so that’s a different story. One player that might surprise some when his numbers are counted is Tomas Tatar.

Tomas Tatar has 17 points in 34 games this season. That’s actually not terrible, but fans wanted just a little more. He’s on a 41-point pace. Devils fans probably wanted that closer to 50. The thing about all this is Tatar’s numbers are just as good as Jesper Bratt when considering things like CorsiFor% and high-danger chance percentage. Tatar is getting the offensive chances and is avoiding defensive lapses, but the issue is it’s not leading to goals.

According to Natural Stat Trick, Tatar leads the Devils in CF% at over 56%. When it comes to the entire league, he ranked 44th out of players with at least 200 minutes. That’s not great, as it’s not even in the top 32. However, Tatar likely wasn’t expected to lead the Devils in such a stat when Jack Hughes is on the team.

Tatar is also second on the Devils when it comes to high-danger chance percentage. At 5v5, Tatar is on the ice for 96 high-danger chances and the other team has only had 61 chances against him. Somehow, Tatar’s on-ice chances have only led to 10 goals, while the chances against led to eight goals against. Teams are finishing on their chances more against the Devils, showing an issue on the back end. That’s neither here nor there. The reason we bring up such numbers is it could lead to a big jump in scoring for Tatar.

The Devils really need Tatar to start lighting the lamp. He’s been paired with Jack Hughes, and Hughes needs a finisher more than anything right now. Tatar can be the player who puts the puck in the net. It doesn’t matter what else he does on the ice if he can score. Those goals seem like they should be coming.

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