Tatar still wants to Play in North America

This from redwingscentral.com, about fast-rising prospect Tomas Tatar...

"Tatar's a good junior kid. I don't know if we are going to play him in the American League or in junior, but he probably should play in junior and really light it up. He's got a real nose for the net."--Mike Babcock

18 year old Tatar, whose CHL rights are the property of the Plymouth Whalers, wants to be a Grand Rapids Griffin. I don't know the validity of this goal, since I seem to remember his Slovakian club refusing to let him leave for Plymouth.

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Tatar had this to say:

"If I play in Grand Rapids, it would be a big step in my hockey career. I want to play there because I play against men in Slovakia. I think it's the best choice."

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The kid added two more points (1G, 1A) to his Training Camp total, as he led Team Lindsey to a 4-1 victory over Team Howe.

Wings 2nd round pick now a Whaler

From Pete Krupsky at Whale Tales...

PLYMOUTH, MI -- Plymouth Whalers President, General Manager and Head Coach Mike Vellucci announced the acquisition of Import forward Tomas Tatar and several future draft choices from the Kitchener Rangers in exchange for Import forward Gabriel Landeskog and the Whalers second round choice in the 2010 CHL Import Draft.

Cool. Plymouth isn't too far from where I live and tickets are cheap. I'm going to go check this kid out first hand. If Hakan Andersson has pulled out another gem, then I'm going to be among the first few North Americans to notice.

Tatar didn't floor anybody statistically last year (seven goals with eight assists for 15 points in 48 games for Zvolen the Slovak ExtraLiga), but I do remember hearing about him turning some heads at the World Junior Championships (seven goals with four assists for 11 points in 7 games). The kid is only 18 years old, 5'11 and 176 lbs.

Alright. Let's see what you got.