The next unrestricted free agent I am going to look at today is a prime candidate to get value out of. His underlying numbers have been very strong and his coach benched him for the entire playoffs for some reason. For players who win the Stanley Cup and become free agents you most definitely have to pay extra. For players who get benched it will usually drive their price down. Tomas Tatar has a lot going for him with the red flag against him being a coach’s decision. The table is set for somebody to get Tatar for cheaper than his actual worth.

First let’s look at some of those underlying numbers from multiple sources to see how good they’ve actually been.



So far so good. Solid number offensively and defensively. It is the finishing that dipped last year and we know how finishing warps the perception of players and how good or bad they are.



Still really good. The power play numbers aren’t great, but last time I checked there was no room for a left handed player on the Penguins power play anyways. Tatar’s value will come at 5v5.



I’d say it is pretty definitive that Tomas Tatar is a very good hockey player. In recent samples. he was part of one of the best trios in hockey the past three years.

Some numbers courtesy of @EvolvingHockey: among trios who have spent 500+ minutes together at 5-vs-5 over the last 3 seasons https://t.co/ZoJT16QAuI pic.twitter.com/zjzcm9v41i

— Andrew Berkshire (@AndrewBerkshire) July 5, 2021

Just this season the Tatar-Danault-Gallagher line was on the ice for 18 goals for and only three against.

Tatar is the kind of player who could help a team with their forward depth. The kind of player who can do all the good things shown above and not break the bank because his coach didn’t use him in the playoffs. This is one of those situations where you might actually get a discount in free agency compared to the actual value of the player.

For the Penguins you could stick him next to Evgeni Malkin and allow Jared McCann to keep playing with Jeff Carter. This would maintain three separate and capable scoring lines. I would have to assume Tatar’s price point will be much lower than Jason Zucker who Pittsburgh will probably be looking to unload on another team. I think you can get cheaper and not get any worse. This frees up a little bit of money to help in other areas and every little bit helps considering the number of overpays on mid-tier deals the Penguins have.

Teams out there could do way worse (and will) than Tomas Tatar and the contract he will likely get this offseason.

Thanks for reading!

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