When Tatar spoke to the media in the wake of his acquisition by the Canadiens on the day of their annual golf tournament, he might've raised a few eyebrows when he suggested his aim in Montreal would be to show that he could "maybe" score 30 goals.
After all, the Slovak forward was coming off one of his more difficult campaigns: his 34-point season represented his lowest offensive output since his first full season in the NHL, when he recorded 39 in 73 games with the Detroit Red Wings.
At last year's trade deadline, Tatar was sent to the Vegas Golden Knights, where he recorded six of those 34 points but played in only eight postseason games as the rookie franchise went on its magical run to the Stanley Cup Final. Tatar admitted that the first trade of his career was an adjustment for him.
Fast forward to 2018-19, however, and Tatar is looking like a renaissance man in his third NHL stop, Montreal. The 27-year-old quickly clicked with forwards Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher, who have spent much of the season on a line together, and who along with Max Domi, Jonathan Drouin, and Jeff Petry, make up the Habs' top-six in scoring.
