26-year-old who scored 25 goals last season will have second-highest cap hit among forwards
Most of all, Tomas Tatar is relieved.
Relieved he has four more years of job security, relief he is staying with the only NHL team he has known, relief he doesn’ t have to move.
Relief, too, for a stranger in the Czech Republic.
A day before an arbitrator would have announced a decision on a one-year contract, the Detroit Red Wings and Tomas Tatar struck a deal on a $21.2-million deal that carries an annual average value of $5.3 million.
“It’s really exciting we find way to get deal done, ” Tatar said this evening on a conference call. “It was a little stressful, I was not real happy it went all the way there. I think we were always trying to find a way to sign a deal without having to wait for arbitrator and I am really glad we did it.
Tatar handled the arbitration well. It helped that it was not cutthroat, but he also knew that even “on your brief, you feel like best player in the world, ” he said, “in their brief, they try to find a way you are not as good.”
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His approach as he listened? “In one ear and out the other.”
Tatar becomes the second-highest cap-hit among forwards. His hit is $550,000 more than that of Gustav Nyquist; the two are highly comparable having averaged.60 points per game over the past three seasons.
Tatar, 26, is coming off a 25-goal season, and three straight 20-goal seasons. He acknowledged today that he needs to be more consistent; he had nine goals after 41 games, and 11 the last 22 games, when the Wings were out of the playoffs.
“Players are streaky, ” he said. “I know it looked really bad on paper, but every player is scoring at different times. We were playing poorly around December. We all have to be better, we have to help each other more in certain parts of season.
“It would be nice to be consistent and every player would like to be, but it is not easy. It is hard.”
The Wings do need more consistent production from Tatar (also from Nyquist, Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Riley Sheahan, among others) , and he has yet to prove himself in the playoffs, with seven points in 17 career games. But, he has a nose for scoring goals, and 20-goal scorers are nothing to turn up one’s nose about in today’s NHL.
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Tatar sounded ecstatic it got done.
“I really, really wanted to say, I love it here, ” he said. “I have so many friends, I have great relationship with guys in the locker room. It would be really hard to have one-year deal and not know what is coming in the future. I am extremely happy to stay. It is big relief.”
It also sounds like Tatar will be ready for camp. He underwent shoulder surgery in April, but took advantage of being over from his native Slovakia for the hearing to visit team doctors and trainers.
“The range motion is full, ” Tatar said. “I should not have any problem to be ready for camp. I think we are ahead of schedule and I will be healthy for season.”
Now, about that stranger. Last November, Tatar shared an image on his Instagram account of a man who had a tattoo on his right arm of Tatar in a Red Wings uniform. The guy lives in the Czech Republic, and the two are in touch.
“I am planning to meet with that guy, ” Tatar said. “I was almost worried something would happen and I would feel bad. I am really happy my Jersey didn’ t change.”
Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
