New Jersey Devils welcome back Tomas Tatar

The New Jersey Devils on Tuesday signed free-agent forward Tomas Tatar to a one-year contract, the team announced, reuniting the veteran with a club he played on from 2021 to 2023.

The deal is worth $1.8 million, and Tatar, 33, will likely slot into a second- or third-line role in New Jersey, after splitting last season with the Colorado Avalanche and Seattle Kraken.

In 2023, Tatar helped lead the Devils to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2018. In two seasons with the club, he finished with 35 goals and 78 points in 158 games. Overall, he has posted 15 or more goals in nine NHL seasons and has hit the 20-goal mark seven times.

Last summer, after the Devils let him hit free agency, he agreed on a deal with Colorado but struggled to connect on the high-flying Avalanche. He scored just one goal in 27 games, averaging 11:16 time on the ice. He found some chemistry in Seattle, scoring eight goals in 43 games with the Kraken, upping his time on ice average to 13:11.

For the majority of his career, he has topped 15 minutes per game, and he had a career high in goals at 25 with the Detroit Red Wings in 2016-17. Tatar has been a member of two rosters that advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, the 2018 Vegas Golden Knights and the 2021 Montreal Canadiens.