Many close to the situation including Islander players (reading the Islander local sports reporters) are pretty pissed at Tavares over how he handled this, in particular given that he is "fulfilling his life long dream" but requested not to be traded to the owners in December when they revealed the new arena plans. He knew he was going to bolt to Toronto if the deal was right, and should have let the Islanders know they were in tough so they could trade his rights last summer.
Bad on the Islanders for the blind trust though, they should have given him a take it or leave it offer and moved him on a year ago like the Senators are doing with Karlsson (despite the offer to Karlsson as being mere optics so they could tell their fan base he turned down a large offer).
When you have an asset such as Tavares you sign him or you trade him when you have the chance.
There is a reason Doughty and OEL were locked up when they were. You want to play Russian Roulette with your franchise player then that's on you.
Like Oxo said on the main boards, maybe JT never planned on moving up until recently. Letting your UFA get to the stage where he can talk to any team is never a good thing. You are now allowing 30 teams to pitch to your player. Who knows what these other teams can say to change a player's mind.
Sounded like he really liked Snow on a personal level. Maybe after meeting Lou he wasn't as sold on the Isles as he once was and that was in the back of his mind all along.
That and the team did significantly worse this year, might've just got sick of the blind promise of the team will be better next year.
