How are you feeling about Tavares these days?

[HamiltonNHL]

Tavares makes Rielly look less slow.

 

[sxvnert]

He'll always get his points but now that the leafs have committed long term to Willy, I would prefer a center who compliments his game.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Da real JT will come to light once playoff pucks drops and most of you guys are gonna be shocked how he can't keep up .. outside of Sammy's mental health this is biggest worry .. Keefer can't keep throwing him out if his line is getting crushed due to his footspeed .. to me i would have moved him to LW this year but keep taking faceoffs .. now all we can really do is shift Mitch to C and have JT take Mitch spot on da wall after faceoffs .. not even sure Keefer can assess things well in game either which is a coaching problem

 

[ToneDog]

Da real JT will come to light once playoff pucks drops and most of you guys are gonna be shocked how he can't keep up .. outside of Sammy's mental health this is biggest worry .. Keefer can't keep throwing him out if his line is getting crushed due to his footspeed .. to me i would have moved him to LW this year but keep taking faceoffs .. now all we can really do is shift Mitch to C and have JT take Mitch spot on da wall after faceoffs .. not even sure Keefer can assess things well in game either which is a coaching problem

After 34, C is thin, especially if you move 91 to the wing. Holmberg as #3C will be in tough. Kampf has been more bad than good.

 

[1specter]

He's been pretty solid these last couple of months especially at 5v5 and seems to have found some good chemistry with McMann. Hoping McMann is back and we can roll that McMann-Tavares-Marner line in the playoffs.

 

[Stephen]

I notice Tavares is getting his cookies while Matthews is on his 70 goal hunt. If Matthews line can take some checking heat and they could always use Tavares and Marner and Nylander on a loaded up 2 Line where they can feast. Or maybe they ask Tavares to be a Shayne Corson and just try shadow duty while Marner and Nylander are on a third unit ready to feast like Hagelin Kessel and the other guy back when Pittsburgh was winning. Not sure Tavares can be a matchup center though.

 

[Antropovsky]

I notice Tavares is getting his cookies while Matthews is on his 70 goal hunt. If Matthews line can take some checking heat and they could always use Tavares and Marner and Nylander on a loaded up 2 Line where they can feast. Or maybe they ask Tavares to be a Shayne Corson and just try shadow duty while Marner and Nylander are on a third unit ready to feast like Hagelin Kessel and the other guy back when Pittsburgh was winning. Not sure Tavares can be a matchup center though.

2019-2021 Marner and Tavares played 138 playoff mins together. 5vs5 they scored 3 goals and allowed 8 against according to natural stat trick. In 58 mins from 2022 until 2023, they scored 4 and allowed 2, but they allowed 10 more scoring chances against then they produced, they had corsi in the low 40,'s, same with fenwick. Expected goals for was 2.9, while expected goals against was 3.3 They also got a save percentage of 95% while they were on the ice, which was the highest among forwards.

Overall it appears Tavares and Marner have basically been generally bad in the playoffs together.

Tavares and Nylander 5vs5 have been moderately better in most statistics but still outscored.

Maybe Marner, Tavares and Nylander would be a good experiment. However I'd prefer to see an extended look of it in the season, before trialing it in a 7 games playoff series.

 

[Antropovsky]

Interesting stat with Tavares is that he actually has produced the exact same amount of 5v5 goals and points as last year (15 goals 21 assist last year vs 14 goals and 20 this year). He just has produced substantially less on the pp. I personally haven't liked his usage on the pp, I think we should be utilizing his quick release more and setting him up for it. I guess that another curse of having too many expensive forwards and no quality shooting defenders.

 

[ponder]

Interesting stat with Tavares is that he actually has produced the exact same amount of 5v5 goals and points as last year (15 goals 21 assist last year vs 14 goals and 20 this year). He just has produced substantially less on the pp. I personally haven't liked his usage on the pp, I think we should be utilizing his quick release more and setting him up for it. I guess that another curse of having too many expensive forwards and no quality shooting defenders.

Either year, though, his 5v5 scoring is pretty weak. He’s 8th among Leafs forwards in 5v5 points per 60 mins, and very close to 9th: NHL Stats

He’s producing like a 3rd liner at even strength, which is obviously not what you want from a guy making $11 mil AAV.

 

[Goose]

Finished one shy of 30 goals.

Interestingly, he's got the best FO% of anyone who took more than 1000 draws at 59.3%

 

[banks]

Tavares is better than every forward on Boston's roster other than Pastrnk and Marchand. And Marchand tends to make a fool of himself and be a sideshow.

Tavares will make a difference in this series coming up. He'll make the Bruins lack of C depth look even worse.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

A puck hog and probably disliked in the locker room. It is no coincidence that the Islanders improved significantly upon his departure.

 

[Nineteen67]

Tavares should only play in the offensive zone where is above average, especially below the dots.

 

[sxvnert]

Tavares should only play in the offensive zone where is above average, especially below the dots.

Would prefer him on the wing + taking faceoffs.

Tavares-Jarnkrok-Marner

 

[authentic]

Tavares should only play in the offensive zone where is above average, especially below the dots.

Yet he's comfortably better defensively than Nylander

 

[DuklaNation]

Albatross contract.

 

[hamzarocks]

My expectation for Tavares similar ti my expectation for David Kampf outside the PP

He cant pass, skate, deke, puck protect, shoot, or defend at a top 6 level

He is the worst signing in Maple leafs franchise history

 

[Stephen]

Tavares is better than every forward on Boston's roster other than Pastrnk and Marchand. And Marchand tends to make a fool of himself and be a sideshow.

Tavares will make a difference in this series coming up. He'll make the Bruins lack of C depth look even worse.

I'd take Coyle and Zacha individually over JT easily. You could even have both for less.

 

[klmdg]

No matter how shit the captain is, his threads always migrate off the 1st page quick

Only impact he's made the whole series was off a broken play where he was alone in the slot with the puck for 20 minutes

It boggles my mind that he's only 33

O'Reilly is the same age, an even slower skater, but he still leads by example and makes plays every game

 

[RunItBackAgain]

We can't trade him unless we want to give up crazy assets AND he's willing to waive.

Our only options are really waiting this out next season or getting him on the LTIR somehow.

Anyone got one of them equipment allergies floating around?

 

[klmdg]

We can't trade him unless we want to give up crazy assets AND he's willing to waive.

Our only options are really waiting this out next season or getting him on the LTIR somehow.

Anyone got one of them equipment allergies floating around?

He's not going anywhere as long as Shanahan is here

JT's uncle is tight with the Shanahans, especially Brendan's brother whom he won several Mann Cups with

I can't see any way that Shanahan would ask him to waive, especially with 1 year left on the deal

 

[Amadeus]

Can't wait till he's off this team. That Tampa OT aside, he's never endeared himself to me and think he's just a poor leader, evident from how our team has performed in the post season. Just too timid for my liking.

 

[PanniniClaus]

If top to bottom changes are made, I feel he should be on LTIR some way, somehow.. Can't give up the assets it would take to get rid of him.

Can threaten him with gardening leave if he doesn't co-operate. Normally you would never operate this way but this is his final year and he's delivered nothing. He should look for a spot he can win a title in a depth role, where he's counted on very little and whatever he delivers is a bonus..

Sad, sad end and one I didn't want. I was excited to have him as a Leaf.. very much so.

 

[Pavel10]

Worst captain in 25 years.

 

[Gabriel426]

He is not going to waive.
Just put him on the 3rd line with two guys who play a simple North South game and he is fine.
Calle and Robbie or Robbie and Knies or Calle and McMann.
But he needs to work on his faceoffs. Don’t throw his season stats at me as he is horrible at the dot in the playoffs.