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

[David Suzuki]

anyone saying anything but an F is out to lunch just a total failure

 

[Sky04]

I gave him a “B” but it’s obviously a complicated question.

He would have been in C+ territory but he had a great season in his final year that surpassed anyone’s expectations for the 7th year of his contract.

Kinda a dumb way to look at it considering he was a top 3-5 paid forward his entire time during that contract, his scoring finishes are:

16th
38th
26th
44th
29th
73rd
34th

1 top-20 scoring finish in his 7 years there.... and you're giving him credit for finishing 34th in the league on the last one? lmao

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I voted C , the jersey is cursed and the two superstars are soft and wear purses. He delivered proper UFA value but team success is more managements fault and the mix of players they have there

 

[JackSlater]

C, maybe C+. Tavares could have gotten more, which gives an indication of how he was valued at the time. He's 24th in scoring over the span of his deal, which is good but not amazing given his pay. He was generally quite healthy, which is good. Toronto obviously didn't win anything over the span of the deal but that doesn't necessarily sink it.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

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

11m a year for 2 ppg seasons lmao

The cap structure is the big problem. But Dubas never should’ve allowed those guys to push him around like he did. That’s a somewhat separate issue.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Kinda a dumb way to look at it considering he was a top 3-5 paid forward his entire time during that contract, his scoring finishes are:

16th
38th
26th
44th
29th
73rd
34th

1 top-20 scoring finish in his 7 years there.... and you're giving him credit for finishing 34th in the league on the last one? lmao

This seems to be the way Tavares' entire career has gone. He seems to get more leeway for underproducing than literally any other player I've seen.

Look at how much he was paid. Now look at the scoring finishes you listed above. How anyone can justify him being anywhere near a B grade is a mystery to me. You don't pay someone the kind of money reserved for perennial 100 point, Art Ross contender money and then applaud and defend them when they score 75 to 80 points a year and never even close to top 10 player levels.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

B-

 

[Sky04]

The cap structure is the big problem. But Dubas never should’ve allowed those guys to push him around like he did. That’s a somewhat separate issue.

This seems to be the way Tavares' entire career has gone. He seems to get more leeway for underproducing than literally any other player I've seen.

Look at how much he was paid. Now look at the scoring finishes you listed above. How anyone can justify him being anywhere near a B grade is a mystery to me. You don't pay someone the kind of money reserved for perennial 100 point, Art Ross contender money and then applaud and defend them when they score 75 to 80 points a year and never even close to top 10 player levels.

It's not like they didn't have a 2C lined up, they had Kadri for 2 more years at 4.5M, could've retained Hyman and have both for a combined cost less than Tavares. I absolutely don't think Marner and Matthews get the contracts they did if they didn't massively outperform the 11M Tavares in their contract years.

Leafs would've been deeper with more capspace instead of getting a big overpaid 2C.

 

[Plural]

As individual player, it was a deal the Leafs would make again. Not otherworldy great, but solid deal with good cap hit. It's the playoff succeess (or lack of it) that makes me say it's not A-tier. I reckon he deserves a B.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

As individual player, it was a deal the Leafs would make again. Not otherworldy great, but solid deal with good cap hit. It's the playoff succeess (or lack of it) that makes me say it's not A-tier. I reckon he deserves a B.

Not to be a broken record on the subject, but how do you possibly justify the bolded? At the time of the signing, his deal made him the SECOND HIGHEST PAID FORWARD IN THE LEAGUE. Second highest. How is that a good cap hit for someone who never performed like that for the Leafs? At no point in time did he perform like the 2nd best forward (or even top 5 forward) in the league, so how was it a good cap hit?

This is like if Mark Scheifele goes to free agency and a team signs him to the 2nd highest cap hit in the league, then he proceeds to never finish top 10 in the league in points. No one would view that as a good cap hit.

Like it boggles my mind that people still defend the contract when you compare where that contract compares to the other players making similar money.

 

[Plural]

Not to be a broken record on the subject, but how do you possibly justify the bolded? At the time of the signing, his deal made him the SECOND HIGHEST PAID FORWARD IN THE LEAGUE. Second highest. How is that a good cap hit for someone who never performed like that for the Leafs? At no point in time did he perform like the 2nd best forward (or even top 5 forward) in the league, so how was it a good cap hit?

This is like if Mark Scheifele goes to free agency and a team signs him to the 2nd highest cap hit in the league, then he proceeds to never finish top 10 in the league in points. No one would view that as a good cap hit.

Like it boggles my mind that people still defend the contract when you compare where that contract compares to the other players making similar money.

That's a good point and my memory failed me. Somehow I thought it was closer to top-15 deal at the time. Second highest is not good enough.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Very happy it happened. Tavares signing the higher offer with the Sharks means no Karlsson trade that summer.

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

 

[Sky04]

That's a good point and my memory failed me. Somehow I thought it was closer to top-15 deal at the time. Second highest is not good enough.

Top 15 lol he was the 2nd highest paid player after McDavid then 3rd after Panarin signed his contract, he's had a top-5 cap hit among forwards his entire contract and the only time he cracked the top-20 in points was his 1st season.

The equivalent of that now is someone signing for 13M a year just behind Auston Matthews and annually putting out ~70 point seasons.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

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

11m a year for 2 ppg seasons lmao

This

not only did he underperform for his salary, but his contract (Dibas fault, not his fault) completely handicapped the Leafs ability to address positions of need like defense.

Hard to give this contract any more than a D. He's not an 'F' because he still contributed and stayed healthy.

 

[boredmale]

When He went to the Leafs I expected a somewhat dramatic increase in his production. At the end of the day his PPG production compared to the previous 4-5 seasons in NY wasn't that much different. The production though was good bordering on very good but not great in a vacuum

Once you get past that he was probably overpaid by about 1.5-2M for what he produced on the ice.

So ignoring contract I give him a Solid B, maybe B+, factoring in contract I lower that to a C.

 

[SenzZen]

Abject failure all around.

Heartless Tavares could have made more money signing somewhere else- that’s a failure on him.

Screwed the leafs over by making the move when they did, and for allowing better players leverage come contract time- that’s a failure on the organization.

But if people want to praise him for still being overpaid even though he rode Nylander’s coattails against no defensive matchups- while also playing no defense- have at it.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Highest paid salaries among forwards, past 7 seasons (according to chatgpt)

1. $100m McDavid (1st in points)
2. $93m Matthews (1st in goals)
3. $92m McKinnon (3rd in points)
4. $77m Tavares (16th in goals, 24th in points)
5. $76m Marner (7th in points)

And people are giving this contract a 'B' lmao

 

[RickyLafleur]

Given that he played on the second line for most of this contract with a revolving door of linemates outside of Nylander, and the UFA factor I'd say around a B. The only way he could've gotten an A would've been to play on the top line with Marner and Matthews and getting 90+ pts every year.

 

[RickyLafleur]

View attachment 1040371

The players at the bottom there...oof.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Top 15 lol he was the 2nd highest paid player after McDavid then 3rd after Panarin signed his contract, he's had a top-5 cap hit among forwards his entire contract and the only time he cracked the top-20 in points was his 1st season.

The equivalent of that now is someone signing for 13M a year just behind Auston Matthews and annually putting out ~70 point seasons.

Even worse, it's not even like he's a playoff beast. He went from disappointing regular season totals (for his cap hit) to even worse performance when the playoffs began.

I think you could justify the salary, even if he only scored 80 points in a season, if he was a playoff warrior who helped Toronto to some playoff success. But instead the Leafs paid all that money for an 80 point forward who often disappeared in the playoffs.

 

[hamzarocks]

This seems to be the way Tavares' entire career has gone. He seems to get more leeway for underproducing than literally any other player I've seen.

Look at how much he was paid. Now look at the scoring finishes you listed above. How anyone can justify him being anywhere near a B grade is a mystery to me. You don't pay someone the kind of money reserved for perennial 100 point, Art Ross contender money and then applaud and defend them when they score 75 to 80 points a year and never even close to top 10 player levels.

NYI Tavares was a great player

He was about as good as Mitch Marner or Auston Matthews his first 9 seasons as they were their first 9 seasons

Tavares was I think 9th in total pts and 10th in ppg from 2010 to 2018 (9 years on the isles) and was an elite top end 1C with 22 pts in 24 playoff games

Leafs Tavares was like 25th in pts and 35th in ppg since 2019 which is absurd considering his linemate quality went up, his pay/expectations went up and scoring was up so you'd expect him to be higher in league wide race.


His playoffs as a leaf are absolutely disastourous too having 31 pts in 5q games or 50 pts per 82. Played like a good 3C while making 11M and playing 18-20 mins a game and being ass defensively.

Tavares first 9 years if he had maintained that he'd be a first ball hall of famer and leafs likely have a cup.

His fall off was almost instantaneous and his playoff play cost us year in and year out

 

[Sky04]

Man I remember the "can't wait to see him with real linemates and light the league up" days

 

[blundluntman]

In a vaccum, I'd say around a C. As far as how it worked out for Toronto, I'd say a D.

Bad and unnecessary cap allocation, 11m for your 3rd/4th best forward, lukewarm at best in the playoffs (if not just bad), and of course, nothing to show for it playoff wise. Should've spent that money on the defensive end.

 

[NVious]

This seems to be the way Tavares' entire career has gone. He seems to get more leeway for underproducing than literally any other player I've seen.

Look at how much he was paid. Now look at the scoring finishes you listed above. How anyone can justify him being anywhere near a B grade is a mystery to me. You don't pay someone the kind of money reserved for perennial 100 point, Art Ross contender money and then applaud and defend them when they score 75 to 80 points a year and never even close to top 10 player levels.

His first year I thought he was fantastic and then the playoffs hit, ok whatever no big deal, next year.

It never got better after that, somebody might say it's unfair, but plenty of guys still have fantastic play left in em in their 30s (as you see with Sid).

He was surrounded by great players and did nothing with it.

This year he was outplayed by PTO league minimum 36 year old Max Pacioretty and 37 year old Marchand nearly doubled his playoff output (12 points in 12 games vs his 7 points in 13 games). Honestly fitting end to his disastrous outing in Toronto.