How are you feeling about Tavares these days?

[sxvnert]

This. Finally Willy is away from JT.

But for how long?

Once Keefe gets frustrated he'll reunite the duo.

 

[sunstersun]

He fits so badly with Nylander it's sad.

 

[ZEBROA]

Keep them separated! If just Bert could get going. Cant put him with Tavares, that would probably suck, but who knows. McMann with nylander and Domi would be nice.

 

[MarMarSab3]

Look at that Tavares excelling at 3C, a certain poster here must be losing his mind cause you know speed bursts and stuff, it's where Tavares will most succeed and glad that Keefe has recognized this. McMann Tavares Jarnkrok would make for a great playoff type 3rd line and one that should do well

 

[seanlinden]

Keep them separated! If just Bert could get going. Cant put him with Tavares, that would probably suck, but who knows. McMann with nylander and Domi would be nice.

This.

To be successful. The Leafs are going to need to be a 3-line team come playoff time.

Domi with Nylander is a really good combination, given that Domi can actually play at Nylander's speed. To be successful, Domi has to be a "2nd line" centre -- not a "checking line centre".

Will be interesting to see what Tavares does come offseason.

Next year is going to be painful with Matthews & Nylander's raises taking up more than the cap increase, but the year after, certainly has interesting upside given that Marner isn't up for much of a raise, and Tavares, certainly a massive paycut.

One should know that he will likely turn whipping boy next year given the Leafs cap constraints... hoping that perhaps pushes him to tack on an extension at super-cheap to avoid the "whipping boy" position he'd otherwise take.

 

[Zybalto]

After his goal last night, Tavares all time era adjusted all-time ranking currently looks like this:

Goals:
39. Francis: 518
40. Tavares: 517
40. Turgeon: 517
40. Ullman: 517
43. Roenick: 514


Only 2 non active/already voted on players ahead of Tavares on the list are not in the Hall and Tavares will probably pass them in the next few years:

33. Bondra: 549
27. Tkatchuk: 584

Points:
61. St. Louis: 1166
63. Tavares: 1162
62. LaFleur: 1161

Only 3 non active/already voted on players ahead of Tavares on the list are not in the Hall and Tavares will pass them all in the next couple years:

57. Whitney: 1176
49. Damphousse: 1193
45. Brind'Amour: 1210


Tavares' eventual overall totals will be crazy.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Swap Domi and Tavares for a few games and what happens? Nylander producing better, Domi scoring, and overall the second line looks much better, both offensively and defensively.

And Tavares scores his first two 5-on-5 goals in almost 30 games.

Maybe Keefe finally figured it out.

 

[DraftSchmaft]

After his goal last night, Tavares all time era adjusted all-time ranking currently looks like this:

Goals:
39. Francis: 518
40. Tavares: 517
40. Turgeon: 517
40. Ullman: 517
43. Roenick: 514


Only 2 non active/already voted on players ahead of Tavares on the list are not in the Hall and Tavares will probably pass them in the next few years:

33. Bondra: 549
27. Tkatchuk: 584

Points:
61. St. Louis: 1166
63. Tavares: 1162
62. LaFleur: 1161

Only 3 non active/already voted on players ahead of Tavares on the list are not in the Hall and Tavares will pass them all in the next couple years:

57. Whitney: 1176
49. Damphousse: 1193
45. Brind'Amour: 1210


Tavares' eventual overall totals will be crazy.

He's been one of our best players post all-star break. I'm not too sure why his name is constantly brought up negatively.

 

[Zybalto]

Swap Domi and Tavares for a few games and what happens? Nylander producing better, Domi scoring, and overall the second line looks much better, both offensively and defensively.

And Tavares scores his first two 5-on-5 goals in almost 30 games.

Maybe Keefe finally figured it out.

Certainly, the best the Domi/Nylander line has looked so far this season, thats for sure. As long as they keep scoring, I dont give a damn their overall underlying numbers are crap.

If the Tavares line keeps playing the way they are playing, I'm pretty sure we dont have a 2nd line but a 2a/2b thing going on. A couple more games of this and I'm a believer. I don't think McMann is going to be sent down again.

 

[notDatsyuk]

You can dig into it as deep as you like but you can't evade the overwhelming reality that he's an average offensive center at best at this point in time. He actually barely cracks the top 50 in C's in PPG so far this season.

Like i say, try and put lipstick on the pig all you like.

Even with his two in the last two games, he's tied with 25 other centres for 75th in 5-on-5 goals, and ties with 13 others for 60th in points. All that while being 25th in ice time.

I'm not sure he quite makes "average offensive centre".

 

[RunItBackAgain]

He's been one of our best players post all-star break. I'm not too sure why his name is constantly brought up negatively.

I'll only give you 11 million guesses.

Think of all the posts about Reaves and his contract is buriable minus 175k. Let's just say Tavares is worth 7.5M this season. That's 3.5M in wasted cap. 20x more than Reaves. There's gonna be posts.

 

[BraveCanadian]

I'll only give you 11 million guesses.

People are just jealous that they don't have an 11 million a year 3rd line center.

 

[Stephen]

He looks good in a reduced role. Maybe this creates the mismatches he can take advantage of and keeps him fresher, longer. He also looks a little more agitated and pissed off lately which is absolutely necessary as a change in mentality.

Having Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares spread on 3 lines is a great thing.

 

[Zybalto]

He looks good in a reduced role. Maybe this creates the mismatches he can take advantage of and keeps him fresher, longer. He also looks a little more agitated and pissed off lately which is absolutely necessary as a change in mentality.

Having Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares spread on 3 lines is a great thing.

5v5 Forward icetime/game ranking over the past 2 weeks:

1. Tavares: 14:13
2. Matthews: 13:39
3. Marner: 13:27
4. Knies: 13:17
5. Nylander: 13:10
6. Bertuzzi: 12:55
7. Domi: 12:54

He's still a workhorse out there in his reduced role.

 

[DraftSchmaft]

People are just jealous that they don't have an 11 million a year 3rd line center.

I know this is meant as a joke but realistically other fan bases would be jealous they don't have Tavares as their 3C even with the cap hit.

I wonder how many people would actually turn down owning our core 4 @ their cap hits. I would assume < 1% if genuinely given the option to take it as their core. (Only fans I can think of is Avs and Oilers)

 

[thewave]

5v5 Forward icetime/game ranking over the past 2 weeks:

1. Tavares: 14:13
2. Matthews: 13:39
3. Marner: 13:27
4. Knies: 13:17
5. Nylander: 13:10
6. Bertuzzi: 12:55
7. Domi: 12:54

He's still a workhorse out there in his reduced role.

Ever stop to think thats part of the reason he is declining so rapidly. I mean Keefe is the guy that was playing Marner with 15 games before the playoff 30mins.

 

[Zybalto]

Ever stop to think thats part of the reason he is declining so rapidly. I mean Keefe is the guy that was playing Marner with 15 games before the playoff 30mins.

Do I think that the Tavares outskating the cup champs D last night on a back to back was proof of his big decline as he's tired this season and its somehow Keefes fault as we're in the middle of the best stretch of Leafs hockey of the season....and somehow Marner was actually tired and not forcing plays when his team got down in a series and thats Keefes fault too......

No....hell no.....Why would I ever think of that?

 

[thewave]

Do I think that the Tavares outskating the cup champs D last night on a back to back was proof of his big decline as he's tired this season and its somehow Keefes fault as we're in the middle of the best stretch of Leafs hockey of the season....and somehow Marner was actually tired and not forcing plays when his team got down in a series and thats Keefes fault too......

No....hell no.....Why would I ever think of that?

He is playing over his head because of the Rielly controversy. I know there is a fetish around here in taking small samples and blowing them out of proportion.

 

[Zybalto]

He is playing over his head because of the Rielly controversy. I know there is a fetish around here in taking small samples and blowing them out of proportion.

I agree.

The big picture is that Marner leads the team in points in the playoffs the last 3 years while also ranking as one the best defensive forwards in the playoffs over that time. Theres a loud minority that likes to take small samples here and there to bash him though.

Glad you agree this is happening.

 

[notDatsyuk]

5v5 Forward icetime/game ranking over the past 2 weeks:

1. Tavares: 14:13
2. Matthews: 13:39
3. Marner: 13:27
4. Knies: 13:17
5. Nylander: 13:10
6. Bertuzzi: 12:55
7. Domi: 12:54

He's still a workhorse out there in his reduced role.

What that stat doesn't show is that he's played fewer games, doesn't PK, and hasn't been on the top PP as much. Also, with the big leads, we've been resting the top lines more late in the games, so he's getting more.

Still only ninth in ice time among forwards and tenth at ES over that period.

 

[Havoc]

5v5 Forward icetime/game ranking over the past 2 weeks:

1. Tavares: 14:13
2. Matthews: 13:39
3. Marner: 13:27
4. Knies: 13:17
5. Nylander: 13:10
6. Bertuzzi: 12:55
7. Domi: 12:54

He's still a workhorse out there in his reduced role.

Tavares game impact is massive.

People are getting fooled by how slow and boring he looks. His technical game is still in the top 10 for forwards across the league. He's going to pop in 800+ faceoff wins to boot.

I mean, look at our record over the past 2 weeks. Tavares 5v5 ice time needs to remain high and justifiably so.

Tavares is a necessity for playoff hockey. I wouldn't feel safe if he went down with injury and we had to play without him.

 

[thewave]

I agree.

The big picture is that Marner leads the team in points in the playoffs the last 3 years while also ranking as one the best defensive forwards in the playoffs over that time. Theres a loud minority that likes to take small samples here and there to bash him though.

Glad you agree this is happening.

Thats not entirely true. We took the NBA approach and isolated elimination games 5 6 7. In those games we demonstrated without a doubt that he has struggles when the heat is on.

We all love Marner. Just not the price and in those situations.

 

[Zybalto]

Thats not entirely true. We took the NBA approach and isolated elimination games 5 6 7. In those games we demonstrated without a doubt that he has struggles when the heat is on.

We all love Marner. Just not the price and in those situations.

Flip the goalies and we win at least half of the series IMO. The fact that is as true as any statement hurts the fact Marner takes so much abuse is such a team-oriented sport. Marner doesnt even make page 1 of our playoff issues considering he has been directly involved for so many of the wins and his D has been on point in the big games too.. Maybe in Domi/Bertuzzi we have guys that can help instead of the almost historically anti-clutch guys we had in Mikheyev/Engvall/Aciari, etc...

Even Hyman his last series only had 1 goal which was a Marner goal he falsely got credit for in the 7 games. Otherwise 0 points despite getting fed countless chances and blowing breakaways.

Marner cant do it all all the time and its unfair to expect him to. I mean, over the last 3 playoffs, he hold the highest goal differential rating in the league versus his teammates. The MVP of the scoring but not getting scored on differential.

The abuse is kinda misplaced and hes one of the few big money players in the league actually earning his money IMO.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I know this is meant as a joke but realistically other fan bases would be jealous they don't have Tavares as their 3C even with the cap hit.

I wonder how many people would actually turn down owning our core 4 @ their cap hits. I would assume < 1% if genuinely given the option to take it as their core. (Only fans I can think of is Avs and Oilers)

I don't think there are more than one or two teams who would take him as their 2C at that price, let along as 3C, especially with how his game has been this year.

I suppose some fans might.

 

[DraftSchmaft]

I don't think there are more than one or two teams who would take him as their 2C at that price, let along as 3C, especially with how his game has been this year.

I suppose some fans might.

I was looking for the oddity in the situation to showcase that the JT hate is a bit unwarranted.

Cap crunching as an armchair GM, yes, you might reject Tavares on your roster. Simultaneously, you will be jealous the Leafs are running JT as their 2C / 3C.


You see what I'm saying?