Tomas Tatar trade official

According to TSN’s Gord Miller, the Red Wings acquired three picks (first, second, third). Tatar Tatar is under contract until 2021 at $5.3 million per season. He has had a down year with 16 goals and 28 points, but he will be a nice fit in a secondary scoring role in Vegas. The Red Wings want future assets.

TSN’s Scott Cullen…

The Red Wings Get: A first-round pick, 2019 second-round pick and 2021 third-round pick

Detroit needs to re-stock the cupboards and these three picks will certainly help in that effort. The first-round pick from Vegas is going to be late in the round, which tends to be a little better than 50% proposition that it turns into an NHL player. A second-round pick has about a one-in-three chance in becoming an NHL Player and a third-rounder has nearly a 28% chance of playing 100 NHL games.

Now, it’s going to be some time before those picks come to fruition, if they ever do, but the Wings have  11 picks in the first three rounds of the next two drafts. For a team that needs to inject talent in the organization, that’s a good way to go about it. (Not trading pending free agent Mike Green is not necessarily the right way, but that’s another story.)

With Tatar departing, that could open up more playing time for a young winger like Tyler Bertuzzi.

Verdict: It’s not like the Golden Knights got Tatar inexpensively; they paid a significant price in terms of picks, but they are also a team that had accumulated a lot of picks, particularly in the future, and Tatar being under contract effectively gives them insurance against any potential losses in free agency. Nothing wrong with the rebuilding Wings making this deal, but credit the Golden Knights for using their draft pick currency to provide immediate help to their surprising playing team.

Update: And, from the Hockey News:

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS acquire: Tomas Tatar, LW
DETROIT RED WINGS acquire: 2018 first-round draft pick; 2019 second-round draft pick; 2021 third-round draft pick

THN analysis: Whew. The Wings whiffed on dealing pending UFA Mike Green, but GM Ken Holland makes up for it with this massive haul for Tatar. Holland also retained no salary, meaning the Golden Knights will carry Tatar’s $5.3-million cap hit through the 2020-21 season. The Red Wings now have multiple picks in the first, second, third and fourth rounds of the 2018 draft, and 10 selections in total. The rebuild is on. The Golden Knights have already gotten tremendous production from their forward group this year, so Tatar feels like a luxury, but it’s clear this team knows it has an unexpected Stanley Cup window. Tatar is also versatile, good at both ends of the ice and capable of playing either wing. We also joked in the office: “If Vegas can change William Karlsson from a checker into a Rocket Richard Trophy contender, what does Tatar, an established 25-goal guy, do in Vegas’ up-tempo offense?” He’s also under team control for three more seasons after this one, meaning he fills a void if the Golden Knights don’t re-sign James Neal and/or David Perron. It cost the team a lot in terms of futures and money, but Vegas clearly believes it has to take a shot with such unexpected success.

Update: Here’s the Hockey News’s Matt Larkin:

After the Wings ended a 25-year playoff streak last season, this is essentially just Holland’s second deadline as a seller, and while he only batted .500 on major moves, his one hit was a grand slam. The Wings now have exactly two picks in each of the first, second, third and fourth rounds this June. The pick they get from Vegas will be late in the first round, but Detroit’s own selection will be lottery-eligible, so it’s not outside the possibility the franchise gets its highest draft pick since taking Keith Primeau third overall in 1990 – on top of picking again in Round 1 to boot.

This is a luxury trade for the Golden Knights. They don’t even have enough farmhands to field a full AHL affiliate yet, but (a) they did remarkably well in their first draft, nabbing Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki, Erik Brannstrom and Nic Hague with four of the first 34 overall picks, so they have a good prospect base even though they’ve lost draft picks going forward; (b) they have plenty of cap space, so Tatar’s cap hit is no problem; and, (c) they find themselves in a once-in-a-lifetime situation, having perhaps the most shockingly successful season of any expansion team in major pro North American pro sports history. They reportedly pursued Erik Karlsson to the bitter end on Monday for that very reason, per TSN’s Bob McKenzie. With the Tatar deal, they have, in a sense, delayed the long-term construction of their roster by dealing away three picks, but they aren’t a rebuilding team right now, plain and simple. They lead the NHL in points percentage, meaning the most deadly home team in the league is on track for home-ice advantage through the entire playoffs. Tatar is a fun piece for coach Gerard Gallant to play with, too, as Tatar can play on either wing and his speed will fit nicely in the Knights’ extreme-up-tempo forechecking system. Tatar is just 27, so he has good years left to offer, and his current production – 16 goals and 28 points in 62 games – at least partially reflects the weak team he’s played on. He has long been one of Detroit’s best possession players relative to his teammates.

Another interesting thing about Tatar: he’s younger than pending UFAs James Neal and David Perron. If Tatar ends up playing well down the stretch for this team, he might turn a Perron or Neal into a “rental,” with Tatar the medium-term replacement. So the deal isn’t as rash as it might seem on Vegas GM George McPhee’s part. Tatar can be part of the team’s plans for several seasons. Also, McPhee obviously has the green light from owner Bill Foley to spend money, whether it’s real dollars or cap dollars.