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Tatar tops Wings' charts
By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / June 30, 2009Some scouts peg Tomas Tatar as a one-hit wonder. The Detroit Red Wings have done their homework and hope he one day strikes platinum.
The Red Wings, who had Tatar ranked in the middle of the first round heading into Saturday's NHL draft, are obviously thrilled after landing the Slovak left-winger at the end of the second round (60th overall).
Tatar, a complete unknown heading into December's world junior championship, tied for fourth in the tournament with seven goals among 11 points in seven games, leading Slovakia to a surprising fourth-place finish. He only had 15 points all season with Zvolen of the Slovak ExtraLiga.
"I think he had a lot of situational success," one scout told The Hockey News.
Like most teams, the Red Wings didn't have Tatar on their radar before the WJC. But they loved his game and decided to dig deeper.
"He came a little bit out of the blue and we said after the world juniors, 'We have to follow this guy to find out if he was a one-week miracle or not,'" said Hakan Andersson, the Red Wings' director of European scouting. "And as we kept watching him, he was good, everywhere he went."
The 5-foot-11, 176-pounder started the ExtraLiga season with six points in his first 29 games, but finished it — from December on — with 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points in the final 32 games, including playoffs.
Not bad totals for a country's top men's league. Tomas Kopecky had just seven points all season in the same league in his draft year.
"He's one of those guys the puck just follows," said Jim Nill, the Red Wings' assistant GM. "He's got the offensive instincts, the head and the hands. He can make those little plays and he has a nose for the net."
The Red Wings have compared Tatar to both Martin Straka and Slovak legend Zigmund Palffy, but a comparison closer to home is Jiri Hudler. They're similar in size and their offensive skills and smarts are a match.
"He's a little bit bigger than Hudler, but this guy can skate," Andersson said. "If there's one knock on Hudler, it's that he doesn't have that top speed. Tatar has good top speed. He has good offensive instincts, too. He can shoot the puck, he can make a play, he can beat a defenseman 1-on-1."
Tatar was ranked no higher than 35th by the major independent scouting publications. Some subscribed to the one-hit wonder theory, while Andersson figures size was a factor, too, just as it was with Hudler. Hudler was ranked as a top-15 prospect in 2002 and Detroit got him at No. 58.
If Tatar tops out at the NHL level, Andersson projects him as more of a goal scorer who would produce 35 goals among 80 points.
"He could be a top two line player in the future," he said. "He can be a real sniper."
Tatar was selected sixth overall in the Canadian Hockey League import draft by the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League on Tuesday. It's not clear yet whether his ExtraLiga contract will prevent him from reporting. Nill said he doesn't mind if Tatar stays in Slovakia for another year.
This is part of a series of features on the Red Wings' 2009 draft choices. Check back all week for more on the other prospects selected.
» June 29: Yappin', scrappin' Callahan breaks the mold
» June 27: Triple threat: Ferraro, Tatar and Nestrasil
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The next wave
RWC's top 10 prospects (2009-10 preliminary)
| 01 | F | Tomas Tatar » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 02 | D | Jakub Kindl » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 03 | D | Brendan Smith » | Wisconsin (NCAA) |
| 04 | G | Thomas McCollum » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 05 | F | Gustav Nyquist » | Maine (NCAA) |
| 06 | F | Landon Ferraro » | Red Deer (WHL) |
| 07 | F | Jan Mursak » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 08 | F | Cory Emmerton » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |
| 09 | F | Joakim Andersson » | Frolunda (SEL) |
| 10 | F | Mattias Ritola » | Grand Rapids (AHL) |