The New Jersey Devils have signed free-agent forward Tomas Tatar to a two-year, $9 million contract, general manager Tom Fitzgerald announced Thursday.

Tatar had been a bit of a throw-in -- with Nick Suzuki -- when he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens by the Vegas Golden Knights for Max Pacioretty in September 2018. While Suzuki has become what the Canadiens were hoping, Tatar has exceeded expectations.

The 30-year-old has scored at least 20 goals six times in his 10-year career, most recently with the Canadiens in 2019-20, when he had a career-high 61 points and led the team in both categories.

But his playoff performance leaves something to be desired. He had only two goals in 10 games in 2019-20. This season, he had one assist in five games and was a healthy scratch in the other 17 games as the Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup Final.

Tatar is coming off a four-year deal with a cap hit of $5.3 million. He entered the NHL as a second-round pick by the Detroit Red Wings in 2009.