Montreal Canadiens: Three Potential PTOs To Consider

Tomas Tatar

While Comtois is from the area and may be interested in playing for the Canadiens, Tomas Tatar has actually suited up in Montreal for three seasons. He played excellent two-way hockey with the Habs and was a huge surprise after arriving as basically a cap dump in the Max Pacioretty trade.

Tatar lined up with Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher for most of those three seasons and formed a terrific defensive trio that could put up plenty of points as well. Tatar scored 25 goals and a career high 58 points in his first season in Montreal and then topped it by following that season up with 61 points in just 68 games in 2019-20.

His final season in Montreal was not quite as good as he scored ten goals and 30 points in 50 games before becoming a frequent healthy scratch in the playoffs. While he may have a sour taste in his mouth from that run, and he eventually left that offseason as a free agent, there are new coaches, general managers and many new players in Montreal these days.

One teammate that remains was his most frequent linemate and that is Brendan Gallagher. The gritty right winger has struggled the past two seasons (not ironically since Tatar left) and could use a boost in the arm to try and get his career back on track.

Bringing in Tatar for training camp to see if him and Gallagher still have that chemistry might give them both a real chance to play their best this season. Tatar did score 20 goals and 48 points last season, so it seems odd he hasn’t caught on anywhere.

Perhaps he could launch a PTO with the Canadiens into a contract, even if not in Montreal where there are many wingers already, then somewhere else that has an injury that leads to an opening on their top nine.

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