The Seattle Kraken announced on Friday they had traded for veteran winger Tomas Tatar in a deal with the Colorado Avalanche, sending back a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

The native of Ilava, Slovakia, has played 810 career games with the Detroit Red Wings, Vegas Golden Knights, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, and Colorado Avalanche. Tatar, 33, was in the midst of a down year in Colorado, having posted just one goal and eight assists in 27 games. 

But he is a capable winger who has scored 20-plus goals seven different times in his career, including last season with the Devils, when he racked up 48 points (20-28—48). Tatar’s ice time this season with the Avs had dwindled to an average of 11:16 per game, the lowest of his career other than 2010-11, when he was a rookie in Detroit and only played nine games. 

Why it works on paper

This is exactly the type of low-risk trade I hoped to see when I officially hit the panic button after a painful 4-2 Kraken loss at the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 4. The loss was—at that time—Seattle’s fifth loss in a row, a skid that would eventually balloon to eight games. 

After seeing Seattle lose in such miserable, slow-starting fashion to the Habs, I was convinced something needed to change with the personnel. I wanted to see Kraken management start pulling some levers to get things moving in the right direction. 

Sure enough, the Kraken have since called up defenseman Ryker Evans, who has made an immediate positive impact, and now they’ve brought in a guy from outside the organization who should (theoretically) help put the puck in the net and improve the team’s depth. 

Even if coach Dave Hakstol utilizes Tatar in a top-six role, that still theoretically makes Seattle’s fourth line better, as a more-skilled player will trickle down the lineup. 

A low-risk deal

Economically, it’s an easy dart to throw, too. Tatar’s cap hit is only $1.5 million, he’s on a one-year deal, and he only cost the team a fifth-round pick. So if general manager Ron Francis and his staff think there’s still a chance of getting into the playoffs this season—and Tatar can be that catalyst to help jumpstart the group—then why not pull the trigger on a deal like this? 

The worst-case scenario is that Tatar doesn’t produce, even with the change of scenery, and then they don’t re-sign him this offseason. Heck, maybe he plays well for the Kraken, but they still don’t get back into playoff position. Is there a world where they trade Tatar at the deadline and even get a better return than a fifth-round pick? 

Remember, last season, the Kraken had a lull around this time of year and made a waiver claim on Eeli Tolvanen (that came on Dec. 12). The day they put the Finnish gunslinger into the lineup was the first day of an eight-game winning streak and a jumping-off point for solidifying a playoff spot. 

We aren’t saying Tatar will necessarily have that same impact on the Kraken (again, he hasn’t been performing very well this season offensively), but there is an opportunity for him to come in, get a good look at a top-six role to start, and get handed plenty of scoring opportunities. 

Cap gymnastics

With all of Seattle’s injuries this season, the team has gotten itself close to the salary cap. To fit Tatar in, the Kraken intentionally pushed even closer to the $83.5 million limit by temporarily swapping Tye Kartye for Shane Wright on the official roster, then placed Jaden Schwartz on long-term injured reserve. 

LTIR allows Seattle to go over the cap by the amount of Schwartz’s salary, minus whatever gap they had between the cap and their total cap hit. So, by getting right to the cap, then moving Schwartz to LTIR, Seattle opened an additional $5.5 million in usable cap space. $1.5 million of that space goes to Tatar, so now the team has $4 million left in its LTIR pool until Schwartz returns. Once Schwartz does return (no timetable for him at this point), the team will have to become cap compliant once again. 

After the trade was announced, Marian Studenic was returned to Coachella Valley, also putting Seattle at its 23-player roster limit. 

A fine trade

I like this trade. Seattle has just started to show some life after breaking its losing streak and getting two straight wins to create some good feelings. By adding to the group, the front office shows it believes the team can still make it to the postseason.

Tatar historically has been a very good player, but it seems Colorado hasn’t been the right fit for him. If he can regain even some of his offensive prowess with the Kraken, at a low cap hit and on an expiring contract, then this should prove to be a good move. 

If he continues to flounder and can’t get it going for the rest of the season, then Tatar inflicts minimal-to-no damage on the team’s longer-term plans. 

What do you think of this acquisition, folks?