Former NHLer Tomas Tatar signs with Switzerland’s EV Zug

A longtime presence in the National Hockey League is heading overseas.

On his own Instagram, forward Tomas Tatar announced he has signed a two-year contract with EV Zug of the National League in Switzerland.

Tatar has been in the NHL for parts of the last 14 seasons, most recently with the New Jersey Devils. This past season, he scored seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 74 games, the lowest point total of his career since he became a full-time player in the league during the 2013-14 season.

The Ilava, Slovakian native made his NHL debut with the Detroit Red Wings during the 2010-11 season and became a notable secondary scorer on a team with the likes of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg just a few years later. He scored at least 20 goals in six of his first seven seasons in the league, including a career-high 29 markers during the 2014-15 season.

As the Red Wings started to fall in the late 2010s, Tatar was on the move, being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights late in the 2017-18 season. That following summer, he was sent to the Montreal Canadiens, along with Nick Suzuki, for then-Habs captain Max Pacioretty.

Tatar played in Montreal for three years and had a couple of pretty good seasons, posting a career-high 61 points during the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign. Tatar was on the roster when the Canadiens made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, though he only played five games in the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs before suffering an injury.

From there, Tatar played two seasons with the Devils before signing with the Colorado Avalanche in September 2023 but was dealt to the Seattle Kraken in December of last season. The 34-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Devils last summer.

In 927 NHL games, Tatar scored 227 goals and 269 assists for 496 points, including another 13 points in 56 postseason games.