How would you grade John Tavares 7-year Contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs?

[COHawk]

Stat wise he was very comparable and slightly better in TOR than in NYI during the regular season:

Team	GP	G	A	PTS	G/G	P/G
NYI	669	272	349	621	0.41	.93
TOR	515	222	271	493	0.43	.96

​

Playoffs of course were a different story:

Team	GP	G	A	PTS	G/G	P/G
NYI	24	11	11	22	.46	.92
TOR	51	17	14	31	.33	.61

​

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Stat wise he was very comparable and slightly better in TOR than in NYI during the regular season:

Team	GP	G	A	PTS	G/G	P/G
NYI	669	272	349	621	0.41	.93
TOR	515	222	271	493	0.43	.96

True, but keep in mind the league was higher scoring during Tavares's time in Toronto. From 2010 to 2018 (the Islander years), Tavares ranked 9th in the NHL in points, and T-13th in points per game. In Toronto, Tavares ranked 24th in points, and T-33th in points per game.

 

[kcunac]

He is almost as productive at the end of the 7 year deal as he was at the start of it. When does that happen? If it weren’t for Covid and the cap kept rising, the deal would be a bargain by now

 

[COHawk]

True, but keep in mind the league was higher scoring during Tavares's time in Toronto. From 2010 to 2018 (the Islander years), Tavares ranked 9th in the NHL in points, and T-13th in points per game. In Toronto, Tavares ranked 24th in points, and T-33th in points per game.

Solid point for sure

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

His signing was an unmitigated failure. He was brought in to put Toronto over the top and instead he did nothing for that franchise to elevate them above what they were prior to his signing. Worse, his salary prevented them from adding the pieces that might have actually put them in a position to succeed.

As far as his individual performance, the guy never once finished in the top 10 in league scoring during his entire Toronto tenure. He had one (singular) season where he was top 5 in goal scoring, his very first season. And he turned into a 75 point player for the vast majority of his Toronto career, despite the fact he was paid like a top 5 forward in hockey and despite the fact offense overall climbed tremendously over that time.

The fact people thought the only reason his offense never "exploded" in New York was his supporting cast is hilarious considering his production in Toronto, surrounded by elite talent, remained pretty much the same.

He's a roughly point per game player who some folks act like he's a perennial 100 point player and yearly Art Ross contender. Unfortunately for the Leafs, they paid him the kind of money a player who SHOULD be a perennial 100 point player and Art Ross contender makes.

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

A+

I hope he gets extended and retire as a Leaf. His pajamas will be proud!

 

[Bouboumaster]

B

 

[Johnny Tomala]

C

 

[SI90]

 

[SI90]

His signing was an unmitigated failure. He was brought in to put Toronto over the top and instead he did nothing for that franchise to elevate them above what they were prior to his signing. Worse, his salary prevented them from adding the pieces that might have actually put them in a position to succeed.

As far as his individual performance, the guy never once finished in the top 10 in league scoring during his entire Toronto tenure. He had one (singular) season where he was top 5 in goal scoring, his very first season. And he turned into a 75 point player for the vast majority of his Toronto career, despite the fact he was paid like a top 5 forward in hockey and despite the fact offense overall climbed tremendously over that time.

The fact people thought the only reason his offense never "exploded" in New York was his supporting cast is hilarious considering his production in Toronto, surrounded by elite talent, remained pretty much the same.

He's a roughly point per game player who some folks act like he's a perennial 100 point player and yearly Art Ross contender. Unfortunately for the Leafs, they paid him the kind of money a player who SHOULD be a perennial 100 point player and Art Ross contender makes.

STK had his Isles pajamas on when he wrote this!!

 

[Sky04]

He ruined their cap structure and prevented them from adding actual needs during those 7 years.

11m a year for 2 ppg seasons lmao

 

[Sky04]

You guys are nuts. His market value at the time was over $13m AAV. That's what both San Jose and the Islanders offered him.

He was a Top 10 center in the league for the first four years of the deal and then a Top 10-15 center for the second half. He didn't elevate his game in the playoffs, but he was still a very effective and visible player most series--unlike Marner and Matthews.

RE: team failures--he has played for teams with very weak defenses, bad goaltending, thin scoring depth, and poor coaching. JT was also the number four offensive option the past several years. He hasn't been the problem. Maybe you can criticize his lack of leadership, but he seemed to do what he was supposed to do, and it's not like Keefe, Dubas, Shanahan, Matthews, Marner, or Reilly have vindicated themselves.

Who thought he was a top 10 center in 2021? You?

 

[JianYang]

CRA gives him an F.

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

F

Sorry, Johnny, but your signing f***ed up the entire Leafs rebuild. Matthews and Marner had someone to point to and say “hey, I’m better than him, pay me more”.

He performed well during the contract, cost the Leafs a chance to build a Cup team.

 

[Sky04]

F.

Zero big moments.
Zero accomplishments.
Star studded team that failed over and over, he was a huge part of that failure.
All for the low low cost of 11 million.

Max Domi has 10 goals and 33 points in his last 53 playoff games, Tavares has 17 goals and 31 points in his last 51 playoff games.

Max Pacioretty was better than him and he was a PTO. He had 2 goals and 2 assists in 7 games vs Florida, John has 3 goals and 0 assists in his last 12 games vs Florida

All things considered:
His talent level
His pedigree
His contract
His results
His teams results
His teams talent level

F, he failed totally and utterly, everything else is sugar coating it, oh and the Isles went further than the Leafs without JT, really says it all. A team without even an iota of the same resources, without as much talent going further than Captain Pyjamas.

He lost his captaincy during that time too, a complete failure.

 

[Coffee]

Feels like a D. He had decent stats individually, but I think he was still overpaid for a majority of his deal. Considering the deal ran from 2018-2025, I think they should have gotten better production for $11 million a year.

Now add on the Leafs failures as a team and I think it pushes it down to D.

Covid screwed him!

 

[Thrasymachus]

He is almost as productive at the end of the 7 year deal as he was at the start of it. When does that happen? If it weren’t for Covid and the cap kept rising, the deal would be a bargain by now

I have always maintained that JT will age well because the parts of the game that affect older players (e.g. speed) Tavares was NEVER good at. He has long acclimatized his game to accommodate for the kind of short comings that trip up elite forwards facing the wrong side of thirty.

 

[Coffee]

True, but keep in mind the league was higher scoring during Tavares's time in Toronto. From 2010 to 2018 (the Islander years), Tavares ranked 9th in the NHL in points, and T-13th in points per game. In Toronto, Tavares ranked 24th in points, and T-33th in points per game.

Now show average Center man points

Which was LOWER

 

[Eyeseeing]

D

 

[NVious]

He lost his captaincy during that time too, a complete failure.

I was looking at his stats, he went ppg 1/9 playoff series for Toronto.

To put it in perspective, Marchand is two and a half years older and has gone ppg 3/5 playoff series.

 

[Forgot About Drai]

Most big FA contracts are a disaster. This one was actually pretty fair and he produced. Yeah he didnt win a cup or have much playoff success but in the overall world of FA signings this faired really well.