PromisedLand
I need more FOOD
I agree with being patient, but at the time that the Leafs signed Tavares it looked like the team was ready to take the next step to becoming a playoff contender. The team had three emerging stars that were already doing really well and adding JT looked to be a great move when you were signing a vet star player in his prime to be your leader and to take the team to the next level.
Hard to say that it was a bad move in that context and looking at his stats every season he's been a Leaf he's either been at or near a point per game player except for this year. I mean sure he hasn't had that elite level impact that we hoped he could deliver, but he's still been a really good player during his time here and he's been productive and impactful for longer than many expected him to be when a number of people accepted that he would decline near the end of his contract and yet here he is with one year left after this season and he's still putting up good numbers.
I think the idea was that either Matthews or Tavares will be able to win their match ups as the other faces higher QoC.
There had been plenty of evidence that Tavares was not that kind of player from NYI. Winners find a way to win. Tavares has never been that kind of guy.
Example: Crosby, Toews, Kopitar, ROR, etc....
None of the players mentioned above had their team add super elite talent with high AAV from UFA market in the time they were competing to win except perhaps Hossa for the hawks. But Hossa had jsut played 2 SFS back to back losing both times on different teams. And pens traded for Kessel while Leafs retained 2 AAV from that trade for the duration of that contract.
Tavares was not the kinda player Leafs needed IMO; and if they really wanted to go for Tavares they should have traded one of Nylander/Marner at the time. The "We can and We Will" hubris came back to bite Leafs on teh ass not only in terms of cap allocation but also in terms of maintaining any kind of draft capital for sustained success and progress