How are you feeling about Tavares these days?

[Havoc]

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?

100% clear over here.

 

[notDatsyuk]

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?

I don't hate JT (I hate the signing, but that's not his fault), but I can see what he is. As a PP specialist and at faceoffs he's still good.

But I don't see why anyone knowledgable about hockey would want him at 3C for that price.

 

[Gabriel426]

HE seems to be more alpha when he plays with Robbie and McMann. Maybe thats where he is at his best. I know this is a small sample size but he is driving and leading his line instead of riding shotgun. Maybe JT actually asked Keefe to play him with McMann and Robbie, lol.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Pretty good actually his production is starting to pick back up, honestly I think a lot of his production drop, like damn near 100% of his production drop was due to the fact that Bertuzzi was on his line for most of the year, as well as Bertuzzi has played and he has he's got something like 1 goal in 23 games, that hurts the whole line, how many more points would Nylander have if Bertuzzi was scoring.

Nylander has been incredible but I don't think It'scrazy to suggest that he'd have 10 more points if Bertuzzi was scoring, the same is VERY likely true for Tavares

 

[notDatsyuk]

Pretty good actually his production is starting to pick back up, honestly I think a lot of his production drop, like damn near 100% of his production drop was due to the fact that Bertuzzi was on his line for most of the year, as well as Bertuzzi has played and he has he's got something like 1 goal in 23 games, that hurts the whole line, how many more points would Nylander have if Bertuzzi was scoring.

Nylander has been incredible but I don't think It'scrazy to suggest that he'd have 10 more points if Bertuzzi was scoring, the same is VERY likely true for Tavares

Works both ways - how many more points would Bert and Willy have if JT had more than 5 5-on-5 goals prior to the last two games?

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Works both ways - how many more points would Bert and Willy have if JT had more than 5 5-on-5 goals prior to the last two games?

It really doesn't, not when you have 1 goal in your last 23 games.

But then again you spend your time on shitting on John Tavares at every opportunity regardless of the facts.

 

[WillyC]

Are all the JT pooh paws convinced Bobby M. and Nicky Bobby, while playing with Tavares… is not the second line?

 

[MarMarSab3]

Are all the JT pooh paws convinced Bobby M. and Nicky Bobby, while playing with Tavares… is not the second line?

Ummm it's not the second line, ice time will show you that, Tavares is where he should be 3C

 

[notDatsyuk]

It really doesn't, not when you have 1 goal in your last 23 games.

But then again you spend your time on shitting on John Tavares at every opportunity regardless of the facts.

I'm not sure why you think it doesn't.

JT went 26 games without a 5-on-5 goal. Why do you think 1 goal in 23 games is significant but 0 goals in 26 isn't?

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Good news he is now playing where I told Keefer he should on da 3rd line .. his production will pick up with less ice and weaker competition 5on5 .. very elementary folks

 

[Sypher04]

Keep JT on the third line from here. Get his accustomed to being there so it’s not a shock when we tell him his extension is going to be third 3C money lol

 

[RunItBackAgain]

Keep JT on the third line from here. Get his accustomed to being there so it’s not a shock when we tell him his extension is going to be third 3C money lol

Yup and throw him on PP2 next season as well to really drive it home. Sweetheart deal or peace out

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Yup and throw him on PP2 next season as well to really drive it home. Sweetheart deal or peace out

I agree. I'm ok with an 11M third liner for one more year as long as he's productive and properly slotted. At this point in his career he's no longer a 2C on a Stanley Cup contender.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

Tavares cannot score on an empty net

Tried his best to cost us the game

Tavares showing us all why we pay him the big bucks.

That play tonight reminded me of another first overall pick that missed the open net. We all know what happened that time. The only difference is that Tavares was actually trying.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone try harder for an empty net goal actually.

Seeing that play unfold just confirms what everybody already knows. Tavares is washed up. We all knew it was gonna happen.

Now they have to win despite him not because of him.

At the end of the day everything detractors said when Tavares was signed has proven correct. At least he got to live out his dream of being Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. It'd be nice if someone would take the fans dreams into consideration for once though.

We're the ones paying for it all.

 

[Havoc]

You guys are something else.

That was bounce of the century. Pure bad luck.

Non-story

 

[darrylsittler27]

The Tavares situation is does his $11 million create holes elsewhere? Most us want a stronger backend. Every team has holes. If this team losses 2nd round no one will be happy paying him $11 million for 60 pts next year especially if a top 2 dman hits free agency. You can find other cheaper options at C who may produce slightly less but can skate and check better. It all comes down to this year's playoffs.

 

[shaner8989]

He’s a 3rd line Center who can play a top pp unit. After next year when his contract is over I’d imagine you walk away from him. He’s declining rapidly. Unless he took a 2-3 year deal for peanuts.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I think someone posted rankings from the athletic a few days ago in another thread that claimed JT was worth around 8 million IIRC. Now IMO their numbers are flawed so I take them with a grain of salt but I don't think they're completely useless either.

He's tied for 83rd in the scoring race, good defensively, excellent on faceoffs, of course he's not worth 11 million but he's far from being the worthless bum some people seem to think he is either. As far as him staying in Toronto when his contract ends, I could see it happening and him giving us a discount. Don't expect to get him for minimum salary or anything but depending on how he's playing at the end of next season, it might be 4 million or it might be 6 million or whatever else, we'll see.

As of today, I think he's still good enough to be #2C on a contender, but we're a better team with the talent spread out more and him playing on the 3rd line. JMHO.

 

[hamzarocks]

He stinks now so people look for alternatives to try and make him look better

Hes a 5-6M player at tops now. The #1 reason this core has failed is tavares.

 

[BertCorbeau]

He stinks now so people look for alternatives to try and make him look better

Hes a 5-6M player at tops now. The #1 reason this core has failed is tavares.

holy smokes that’s a leap. Is it Tavares’ fault Perry knocked him out 10 mins into the Montreal series? And that the team blew a 3-1 series lead?

He has been part of the problem but is not the only problem

 

[Gary Nylund]

Tavares showing us all why we pay him the big bucks.

That play tonight reminded me of another first overall pick that missed the open net. We all know what happened that time. The only difference is that Tavares was actually trying.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone try harder for an empty net goal actually.

Seeing that play unfold just confirms what everybody already knows. Tavares is washed up. We all knew it was gonna happen.

Now they have to win despite him not because of him.

At the end of the day everything detractors said when Tavares was signed has proven correct. At least he got to live out his dream of being Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. It'd be nice if someone would take the fans dreams into consideration for once though.

We're the ones paying for it all.

I saw the opposite. If he really wanted to score, he could have shot from a distance when he had a clear shot at it but that would have risked an icing call if he missed so instead, he carried the puck into the zone thinking if he scored great, but if not, at least the puck is in their zone and he's killed off a few more seconds.

Now mind you, I was a bit drunk at the time so maybe I'm not remembering it with 100% accuracy. But I will also say that JT is not the kind of person who cares about stat padding so I'm pretty sure you're wrong about this anyway.

 

[Zybalto]

I think someone posted rankings from the athletic a few days ago in another thread that claimed JT was worth around 8 million IIRC. Now IMO their numbers are flawed so I take them with a grain of salt but I don't think they're completely useless either.

He's tied for 83rd in the scoring race, good defensively, excellent on faceoffs, of course he's not worth 11 million but he's far from being the worthless bum some people seem to think he is either. As far as him staying in Toronto when his contract ends, I could see it happening and him giving us a discount. Don't expect to get him for minimum salary or anything but depending on how he's playing at the end of next season, it might be 4 million or it might be 6 million or whatever else, we'll see.

As of today, I think he's still good enough to be #2C on a contender, but we're a better team with the talent spread out more and him playing on the 3rd line. JMHO.

The Athletics current rankings for Tavares this year:

Offensive percentile: 90%
Defensive percentile: 80% (Having his best defensive season maybe ever)
Market value: 9 million

The fact he's also a top 10 faceoff guy in the league and still a workhorse (He's averaged the most 5v5 minutes/game of any forward on the team during this win streak) spikes up his value despite the dip in production.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Also it’s not a shocking revelation that a 33 year old with a history of subpar skating starts to decline. Years 5 to 7 were always going to have this risk. But he’s still finding production.

The thing is they need to put him in a position to succeed. Finally figuring out forcing him with Nylander and Bert wasn’t working, so now he gets to work with wingers who can play a better grinding game with speed. That plays into JT’s strengths now.

I honestly though by this time in his deal we’d be looking at salary dumping him but he’s still effective enough to hang onto.

Regarding last night, he had a tough game. The turnover on the empty net was bad luck but at the same time he deserved that luck for trying to hard to make the perfect play.

 

[hamzarocks]

holy smokes that’s a leap. Is it Tavares’ fault Perry knocked him out 10 mins into the Montreal series? And that the team blew a 3-1 series lead?

He has been part of the problem but is not the only problem

Leafs were not beating MTL with Tavares

Nylanders offense would have faltered playing with tavares who is not beating a hot Price

CBJ, Tampa 1, Flor, Tavares underperformed incredibly

He had

3 pts in 5 games
6 pts in 7 games
1 pt in 5 games

10 pts in 17 games or a ~48 pt pace. That is a 3Cs production. Tavares makes way to much and has to big of a role to produce like that

He isnt the only problem, but he is the biggest problem

We have had several goalies now, amd samonov won a seiries. Not on goaltending

Rielly has been great overall in the playoffs

The big 3 are up and down but overall they produce better than Tavares and generate more chances for the team in the playoffs.

We have changed the depth forwards several times as well

 

[Zybalto]

I saw the opposite. If he really wanted to score, he could have shot from a distance when he had a clear shot at it but that would have risked an icing call if he missed so instead, he carried the puck into the zone thinking if he scored great, but if not, at least the puck is in their zone and he's killed off a few more seconds.

Now mind you, I was a bit drunk at the time so maybe I'm not remembering it with 100% accuracy. But I will also say that JT is not the kind of person who cares about stat padding so I'm pretty sure you're wrong about this anyway.

It was the smart move and the puck hit a rut in that end of the game bad ice as he was sweeping towards the net. People can get mad at him if they want I guess but why not get after him for a bad play instead of bad luck?