While Tatar was the most productive fourth liner on the team in 2024-25, Cholowski struggled to adjust to the team after the trade deadline.
Today marks our final set of pending free agent profiles for the 2025 offseason. Today, Tomas Tatar and Dennis Cholowski will be profiled. These players do not have anything in common, but neither figure to be the guys who make or break a team competing for the Stanley Cup at this stage of their careers. While Cholowski has had plenty of NHL experience, he has not been able to rise above depth usage over the last few seasons. Tatar is a respected veteran, but his scoring touch has largely abandoned him. Let us see if either can fit into the picture next season for the New Jersey Devils.
Who is Tomas Tatar and What Has He Done as a Devil?
Tomas Tatar first signed with the Devils on August 5, 2021. He signed a two year deal for $4.5 million per season. His first season under Lindy Ruff did not go well. The team struggled in many facets of play, especially goaltending, while Tatar only matched his prior season’s point production in 26 more games played. His 15 goals and 15 assists were a far cry from the 45-60 point production range they hoped for when signing him.
Tatar’s second season with the team went much better. The team had an incredible regular season, winning a team-record 52 games, before falling in the second round of the playoffs. Tatar was much better, as well. He scored 20 goals and 28 assists while playing on some of the most defensively adept lines in hockey. At five-on-five, the Devils outscored opponents 61-28 with Tatar on the ice in the 2022-23 season. However, with the collapse of the team in Round Two, with Tatar only scoring one goal in 12 playoff games, it seemed like the bridge between Tatar and the front office fell apart overnight.
After the team did not re-sign Tatar, he signed a $1.5 million deal with the Colorado Avalanche. He was traded to the Seattle Kraken after 27 games. In the west, Tatar had 24 points in 70 games, earning enough interest from Tom Fitzgerald to bring him back on a one-year, $1.8 million deal for the 2024-25 season. Does it make sense to pay a guy more money after a 24-point season than he got after scoring 48 on the best defensive line in hockey? Probably not, but those were the circumstances under which Tatar came back to the Devils.
This season, Tomas Tatar was the only frequent fourth liner to amass more than 10 points. Nate Bastian had 10. Dowling and Lazar had seven and five, respectively. Tatar had 17, ranking 12th on the team in points, though some of those came when he played higher in the lineup. According to his scoring log, only six of those points came on plays where first, second, or third line players did not assist or score. Indeed, there was still evidence that Tatar works in the top six. Here is how he broke down with the team’s centers at five-on-five:
- Tatar with Hischier: 112:52 TOI, 58.45 CF%, 6-2 GF-GA, 55.99 xGF%
- Tatar with Haula: 78:16 TOI, 55.47 CF%, 4-4 GF-GA, 61.14 xGF%
- Tatar with Hughes: 47:19 TOI, 53.25 CF%, 1-0 GF-GA, 56.47 xGF%
- Tatar with Mercer: 189:51 TOI, 48.17 CF%, 4-8 GF-GA, 43.42 xGF%
- Tatar with Lazar: 192:34 TOI, 48.51 CF%, 6-4 GF-GA, 49.06 xGF%
- Tatar with Dowling: 212:49 TOI, 50.00 CF%, 6-12 GF-GA, 52.87 xGF%
By far, the worst results for Tatar came when he was playing with Justin Dowling and Dawson Mercer. When he played with Hischier, Haula, or Lazar as his center, the team varied from breaking even to doing extremely well. Would I staple Tatar back into the top six, like in 2022? Absolutely not — I would hope that the team can find more individually productive players to play next to centers like Nico. However, it does show that, in the right spot, Tatar could be an impactful defensive forward.
What Will Tatar Do Going Forward? What is His Value?
At 34 years old, and turning 35 in December, Tomas Tatar is at the point where he is living off of one-year contracts. He has played 927 NHL games, is four points away from 500 points, and is not extremely likely to get consideration for a top six role unless he goes to a purely rebuilding team. Perhaps he can go play for a team like the San Jose Sharks, pump up his scoring numbers, and then get traded back to a competitive team before the 2026 playoffs.
Or maybe he will continue trying to sign with contenders, fighting for minutes beyond just the fourth line. Even with the cap going up, I cannot imagine Tatar is “worth” more than his expiring contract. If I were a GM, I would not want to offer him even that much. But Tatar has shown the ability to bounce back from disappointing seasons before, and the 2025-26 season may be his last if he does not show that ability once more.
Who is Dennis Cholowski and What Has He Done as a Devil?
Dennis Cholowski is a much, much simpler case. He is a depth defenseman. His expiring deal was a simple league-minimum one-year contract, and he is hitting unrestricted free agency once again at 27 years old. Cholowski was drafted in the first round by the Detroit Red Wings in 2016, becoming a second-pairing defenseman across 88 games in his first two seasons, scoring 5 power play goals and 9 power play assists in those years at just 20-21 years old. Then, after playing just 16 games in the COVID-bubble season, the Red Wings cut him loose and did not qualify him. Since then, Cholowski has bounced around, playing just 13 games for between 2021 and 2023. Returning to the NHL this year for the Islanders, Cholowski had 10 points in 33 games, just playing 12:48 per night, before being traded to the New Jersey Devils.
Dennis Cholowski’s run with the Devils was impressively bad. In a tick under 79 minutes played at five-on-five, Cholowski saw the team outscored 0-5. He had zero points, obviously, and then had zero points in 17:58 played across two playoff games. Yes, it would be unfair to entirely judge him as a player based off how he struggled on a new team after the trade deadline, but I would be surprised if a handful of people wanted him back next season. He did score against us, though:
What Will Cholowski Do Going Forward? What is His Value?
Dennis Cholowski needs to learn how to play defense. His NHL career is not likely to survive based off of what teams are willing to play him — a defenseman — for 10 minutes a night, hoping he might factor in on some offense while not screwing the team in the defensive end. Cholowski simply has not had a good defensive season at any level since leaving juniors. I have my questions of whether he is a viable NHL option, and I do not think the AHL will do him a ton of favors. So, I think he has two options, if he really wants to make his career work: throw himself into the fire on a rebuilding team (as he did for the Red Wings in his early career) or work on his game in Europe. He simply needs to be more rounded as a player if he wants to play more in the NHL.
What I Would Do With Them and What I Think the Devils Will Do
If I were in Tom Fitzgerald’s position, I would see if it’s possible to build the roster without either player. Tomas Tatar is simply not likely to get the top six ice time he needs to succeed, and playing him in that role could block players like Arseni Gristyuk and Lenni Hameenaho from making an impact on the team. Additionally, I agree with Gerard that retaining Daniel Sprong for a cheaper deal than what Tatar was on this season to be a good idea. This does not mean I would be entirely unwilling to see Tatar back, though. He would just have to take a lot less money (nearly halving his salary, which may not be an easy ask) and be in the press box unless he is getting a chance to play above the fourth line. Cholowski, as I have indicated earlier, should seek professional development elsewhere.
I think that the Devils, in this case, are actually pretty likely to follow the above approach. Cholowski was a trade deadline Hail Mary, and Tatar is probably in the mix of depth players that Fitzgerald may look to improve on, offensively. Still, Tatar is a veteran presence with an apparently good relationship with Nico Hischier, while he acts like something of a professional guide for his fellow Slovak, Simon Nemec. Tatar does provide value for the team in multiple ways, but the team is an odd place with the need to balance high-dollar contracts and cost-effective scoring options at the moment. If Tatar re-signs, I might not expect it until at least some days after July 1, if Tom Fitzgerald feels like he needs one more guy up front.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of the two players profiled? Do you think either could be back next season? What do you think of Tatar’s career? How much longer will he play? Can he bounce back again? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.