Colorado Avalanche trade Tomas Tatar to Seattle Kraken for fifth-round pick

Tatar was just 27 games into his first season with the Avalanche, scoring just a goal and eight assists thus far. He signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with Colorado this summer, after spending the last two seasons with the New Jersey Devils.

The 33-year-old had a couple of solid seasons in Newark, scoring 78 points over the last two campaigns, though he scored just one goal in the Devils’ run to the second round in last season’s playoffs.

Tatar’s production has been steady throughout his career, but he had some of his best years with the Montreal Canadiens, scoring 61 points in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season. In 810 NHL games, the former Detroit Red Wing has 212 goals and 252 assists, with another 13 points coming in 52 playoff games.

This is the third time the Slovakian-born player has been traded. The Red Wings sent Tatar to the Vegas Golden Knights in February 2018, and was a member of the team that lost to the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Finals. He was traded that following September to the Habs.

The Kraken (10-14-7) are desperate to find some more offense in what has been a sluggish start to the season, as they came into Friday night’s action t-21st in the league in goals scored (85). Their offense picked up steam recently, beating the Florida Panthers and Chicago Blackhawks this week by a combined score of 11-1.

However, they needed to add more depth after placing Jaden Schwartz on long-term injured reserve on Friday, with Andre Burakovsky still on IR as well.

The Kraken are set to host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night. It is not yet clear on whether or not Tatar will be in the lineup.

The Avs now have just the one fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Their own fifth-round pick was sent to the San Jose Sharks in March 2022 for Andrew Cogliano. That was flipped to the New Jersey Devils last February, along with Timo Meier and Scott Harrington.