Tomas Tatar is heading overseas

The veteran winger has opted not to wait for July 1, instead taking his talents to Switzerland.

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Tomas Tatar’s days as a member of the New Jersey Devils have predictably reached an end. Unfortunately, the same could likely be said of his NHL career.

The 34-year-old winger was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He has opted not to wait for July, instead jumping at the opportunity to sign with Zug EV of the Swiss National League.

I think the writing was on the wall for Tatar in New Jersey and, perhaps, the NHL as a whole.

The guy forechecks like there’s no tomorrow and still contributes off-puck, but there’s not much beyond that at this point in his career.

I highlighted as much when taking stock of the Devils’ pending free agents a couple of weeks ago.

Tatar is a well-liked player in the locker room, he works hard and, quite frankly, I think he played his role better than given credit for this season. Even so, I’d be surprised if he’s brought back.

There just isn’t a lot of meat on the bone left with his game. He doesn’t possess much speed, he’s not a threat off the rush, he doesn’t score, he doesn’t provide a physical presence, and at 34 his impacts are more likely to worsen than get better.

The bottom-6 needs a refresh and that means moving on.

Adding on, Tatar has scored nine goals per 82 games over the last couple of years. That’s OK production but is likely to continue dropping moving forward.

His lack of foot speed will also become increasingly more problematic for someone whose game heavily relies on forechecking and effort plays. I mean, that’s about all he does at this point.