Could partly be that, but most of it is for him specifically.
I really haven’t liked the way he has produced from years 2-6, and probably 7 of his contract. PPG is not good enough when he gets to play with nylander/marner for most of his career here. Not to mention how scoring sky rocketed but his production stagnated even though his same linemates had higher and higher production levels
You think because Tavares is paid the same as the big guys he should score like them. Doesn't work that way, he was a UFA he got a premium as all of those guys do. He was overpaid from day 1. He still was a #1 center for 6 of those years on half of the teams in the league.
His production stagnated because he got older. That is how UFA deals sadly go most of the time. Nylander will be a worse player in year 5,6,7 than he is today by probability.
Secondly, he’s never really dominated a playoff series and left his mark on it like the other three. Marner had 2017 Boston, Matthews had 2022 tampa, and nylander had 2021 Montreal. Tavares never showed us a level of player like the other three had, where they were our best player on the ice. He produced at around a 50 point player despite playing with ~70 point players his entire time, so yet again heavily underproduced the others.
I can't agree with this. Tavares had a hat trick in that same 2022 Tampa series. He was PPG and scored the series clinching goal AND scored the tying goal the year before that was taken back by that BS Holl penalty. Like I said above, I think you just misunderstand how good Tavares is and how he is viewed around the league because you compare him to 3 of the leagues arguably top 15 skaters.
Then there’s the actual games themselves, I’ve watched this guy miss so many chances in the playoffs it’s incredible, he had that wide open net in game 5 against Columbus. He had like 4 chances in game 2 of the florida series alone from nylander and he missed all of them, and there are many more im not remembering. Secondly, he kills the pp, especially on the entry. Last series every time the puck went to him it was a guaranteed turnover, he would fumble it, lose it or just give it back to the bruins.
I get some of these frustrations. Marner has missed those wide open chances too though (last year wide open anyone?), hell all of our core has or we would have had more playoff success by now. He is slow, and doesn't seem to gel with our fast skilled players so kills a lot of plays.
I think though he is still very elite, just being used wrong. So if the whole issue is Tavares should be on PP2 with guys who grind down low and bang pucks in yeah he probably excels there. He should be on our third line providing real depth scoring. I think he knows that. He's our #2 C guy due to need
Lastly, I don’t actually think he is suited for a bottom six role here. He doesn’t PK, he won’t get optimal usage, and he’s gonna be too slow to create a checking line. So only thing we can try to create is a slow heavy grinding line, but that’s going to get abused by faster teams and he doesn’t have the defensive IQ to make the smart Palau’s to combat those. Maybe he can work as a 3W who takes faceoffs but hands the center responsibility over to someone faster and smarter.
You lost me here. Doesn't have the defensive IQ? He's been our matchup center most of his contract until recently when Matthews was the clear defensive stalwart he is now. I think you are also massively overstating how slow he is. There are players who are slow and manage to be productive until their late 30's by changing their style of play.
Why can't JT learn to PK? Why can't he adapt to a new role. Patches says often he knows he has a different role here than he did in other places and is embracing it. Tavares needs to understand that as part of signing here his role is changing. With how he handled the captaincy and everything else, I see no issues there.
And we also haven't seen him on the wing either BTW for much time. Would solve a lot of speed issues making him the F3 who bangs in rebounds
