“Other than Connor McDavid and a few special players, it’s really hard to know where players’ careers are going,” Holland said. “Some players don’t do it in the American League, they get it done in the NHL. Some people produce in the American League, they don’t do it in the NHL. Some people produce in junior, they don’t produce in pros. If it was an exact science the draft would be more right on. So the draft tells you it’s not an exact science.
That’s why I’m so big on player development.”
Tatar grew up in Slovakia. He said he had no choice but to become a scorer. “I never was big,” he said, “so this was what people were expecting from me, goals and points.”
He was not a first-round pick, but he wasn’t a late-round gem, either. The Wings’ staff – which then included Jim Nill and Joe McDonnell, now with the
Dallas Stars – saw him play at the World Junior Championship. Though he was small, he showed enough promise that they took him in the second round, 60th overall, in 2009.
When he wanted to come to North America immediately, the Wings thought about sending him to the Ontario Hockey League. The Plymouth Whalers had his rights and a center named Tyler Seguin. Maybe playing on Seguin’s wing would be a good experience. But Tatar had been playing in a men’s league in Slovakia and didn’t want to go to junior, so they sent him to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins instead.
“I spent lots of time in the minors, but if you think about it, I came there really early,” Tatar said. “I came there 18 years old.”
Still, four seasons is four seasons. From 2009-10 through 2012-13, Tatar came up to play only 27 games in the NHL.
“Obviously when you’re in Grand Rapids you’re not happy you’re not here,” Tatar said. “It’s kind of frustrating. But at the end of the day, it’s going to help you. This is the right way for development. I mean, it helped me a lot to be in G.R. and play my minutes there, be in certain situations on the ice and just learn.
The hard way, I think, is the right way.”
Tatar scored consistently in the minors – 16 goals in 58 games, 24 goals in 70 games, 24 goals in 76 games, 23 goals in 61 games. His coming out party came when he scored 16 goals in 24 playoff games in 2013, leading the Griffins to the Calder Cup, winning the MVP award.
Tatar was a consistent scorer in the minors and he's kept it up in the NHL. (USA Today)
“That’s a lot of goals in pro hockey,” Holland said. “I mean, I respect the American Hockey League.”
Still, the Wings didn’t give Tatar a spot in the lineup to start the 2013-14 season. Stuck behind veterans, needing to prove himself, he was a healthy scratch in eight of the Wings’ first nine games.
“Coach explain to me that I’m the youngest guy, I have to wait for my chance,” Tatar said. “And then I started on the fourth line. I had to build the trust in the coach, and it took me maybe 40 games.”
“It wasn’t even so much earn my trust,” said Wings coach Mike Babcock. “It was the fact that I had a bunch of veteran guys that were getting the first opportunity. Then once he got in it’s like anything. If you’re a forward and you take care of the puck, you have a chance to play. And then after that, do you know where to stand defensively? And then after, it’s if you can generate any offense. So I mean, Tats has always had good instinct, been a good player. He’s just grown up and gotten better obviously.”