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John Tavares appreciation thread

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Load up Tavares-Matthews-Marner a few games to get him out of this funk, let's see if Nylander can carry a 2nd line for a few games. Better now than in the playoffs.
 
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Hopefully on Wednesday the Leafs power play with Tavares, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and Rielly can look like the way it was previously since that was done because of the injury to Simmonds.
 
I remember at the start of this season Tavares showed some impressive speed bursts but it looked like it was going to rip his abdomen muscles the way he was extending. Lately that brief glimpse of speed has gone away again. You always seem him stuck in an area doing c cuts to stay in the
mix but he can’t create any separation distance to create anything, so he’ll just poke and bat the puck around. His production has been fine but I can’t say I love the shift to shift impact of what he does out there.
 
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Stephen said:
I remember at the start of this season Tavares showed some impressive speed bursts but it looked like it was going to rip his abdomen muscles the way he was extending. Lately that brief glimpse of speed has gone away again. You always seem him stuck in an area doing c cuts to stay in the
mix but he can’t create any separation distance to create anything, so he’ll just poke and bat the puck around. His production has been fine but I can’t say I love the shift to shift impact of what he does out there.
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It was mentioned on the broadcast how Tavares ice time has been lower this season and some of that has to do with the power play since he wasn't with Matthews and Marner, however with the injury to Simmonds he's back with them on their power play line. So far this season he's averaging 17:58 of ice time and this was his ice time during his first two years with the Leafs. In 2018-19 his ice time was 19:05 and in 2019-20 his ice time was 19:33, although I think that number will go up eventually. Last night against Vancouver his ice time was 18:25 and that included 3:04 on the power play.
 
Stephen said:
I remember at the start of this season Tavares showed some impressive speed bursts but it looked like it was going to rip his abdomen muscles the way he was extending. Lately that brief glimpse of speed has gone away again. You always seem him stuck in an area doing c cuts to stay in the
mix but he can’t create any separation distance to create anything, so he’ll just poke and bat the puck around. His production has been fine but I can’t say I love the shift to shift impact of what he does out there.
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This is how im feeling about JT. He's got great hands and the production is there but It doesn't exactly match the eye test for me. Need that line to be more of a difference maker when he's matching up against 2nd/3rd lines.

I really think him and Nylander need a hyman or grinder style LW to really get that line going...which is a little frustrating when the other 2 are making 18 mil combined....
 
I have a feeling JT will eventually be moved to the wing with age, seems like the norm with older centres with slower foot speed.
 
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TMLAM34 said:
I have a feeling JT will eventually be moved to the wing with age, seems like the norm with older centres with slower foot speed.
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I’m a little bit worried that he’s not able to separate himself from the play with his skating issues and will only get worse with time. You saw that stationary mucking about by Marleau too by the end of year 2 when he was always just batting the puck around trying to keep it in front of him while getting swarmed. Maybe the key to his skating is playing him less and keeping him fresh? But ideally he starts bringing something because I don’t like the conversation about how to maximize our $11 million captain, how do we get the most juice out him. I don’t think this is where we want him to be at personally.
 
Here's how his 5v5 performance has tracked since he got here

2018/2019: 1.58 goals/60 | 2.87 points/60 | 1.06 individual expected goals/60 | 53.3 cf% | 53.4 xGF%
2019/2020: 0.81 goals/60 | 1.8 points/60 | 0.84 ixg/60 | 53.4 cf% | 52.1 xGF%
2021: 0.32 goals/60 | 1.6 points/60 | 0.63 ixg/60 | 51.9 cf% | 53.1 xGF%

It's worth noting that he started off taking the toughest matchups and is now consistently playing behind Matthews and even Kerfoot at times. His ability to be dangerous offensively has fallen off a cliff and is now producing points at pretty much the same rate he was producing goals in his first year and just isn't getting into dangerous scoring areas. He's still a strong play driver, but not good enough all things considered
 
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He's a very cerebral player with high IQ, hands and good positioning. He's never been a great skater. He's the type of player that will age well like Chara because of his commitment imo. He seems to have added a little more physicality this season which is nice. I think they're playing him less at the start of the season to try and keep him fresh for the playoffs.
 
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Both Nylander and JT,
can't accelerate fast.

Someone like Robertson will create the seperation JT needs. Robertson is speedy and has the most skill (except the big 4). He'll draw a lot more coverage away from JT.

That's all that line needs. JT's legs are slowing down, he needs that skilled speedster.
 
CantLoseWithMatthews said:
Here's how his 5v5 performance has tracked since he got here

2018/2019: 1.58 goals/60 | 2.87 points/60 | 1.06 individual expected goals/60 | 53.3 cf% | 53.4 xGF%
2019/2020: 0.81 goals/60 | 1.8 points/60 | 0.84 ixg/60 | 53.4 cf% | 52.1 xGF%
2021: 0.32 goals/60 | 1.6 points/60 | 0.63 ixg/60 | 51.9 cf% | 53.1 xGF%

It's worth noting that he started off taking the toughest matchups and is now consistently playing behind Matthews and even Kerfoot at times. His ability to be dangerous offensively has fallen off a cliff and is now producing points at pretty much the same rate he was producing goals in his first year and just isn't getting into dangerous scoring areas. He's still a strong play driver, but not good enough all things considered
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Isn't Tavares only playing behind Kerfoot because Keefe put Matthews and Kerfoot on the 1st power play line?

That was happening until the injury to Simmonds because last night Keefe put Tavares back with Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and Rielly on the 1st power play line.
 
LeafsNation75 said:
Isn't Tavares only playing behind Kerfoot because Keefe put Matthews and Kerfoot on the 1st power play line?

That was happening until the injury to Simmonds because last night Keefe put Tavares back with Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and Rielly on the 1st power play line.
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The fact that Tavares 5 on 5 time is close enough that Kerfoot’s so special teams pushes Kerfoot ahead... that isn’t a good sign in terms of Keefe’s preference to use and trust Tavares.
 
Stephen said:
The fact that Tavares 5 on 5 time is close enough that Kerfoot’s so special teams pushes Kerfoot ahead... that isn’t a good sign in terms of Keefe’s preference to use and trust Tavares.
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When Kerfoot was on Matthews line during a power play and let's remember this is before the Simmonds injury which got Tavares back with Matthews in that situation, how many times did their power play line play the majority of the 2:00 minutes leaving less time for the Tavares power play line or score a power play goal before Tavares line could get on the ice?
 
LeafsNation75 said:
When Kerfoot was on Matthews line during a power play and let's remember this is before the Simmonds injury which got Tavares back with Matthews in that situation, how many times did their power play line play the majority of the 2:00 minutes leaving less time for the Tavares power play line or score a power play goal before Tavares line could get on the ice?
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Sure, but Tavares is also not getting the assignments that Kerfoot and Simmonds were getting on PP1, and I think balance is only part of the equation. If Tavares was a $7.5 million guy, you say, that’s the breaks but he’s an $11 million captain. So he’s not up to par here.
 
Stephen said:
Sure, but Tavares is also not getting the assignments that Kerfoot and Simmonds were getting on PP1, and I think balance is only part of the equation. If Tavares was a $7.5 million guy, you say, that’s the breaks but he’s an $11 million captain. So he’s not up to par here.
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I'm not going to second guess Keefe because of their record and the balance on their power play has helped since it's currently ranked 1st. So hopefully Tavares can play like he did at the start of this season when he was scoring more goals, even though they were on the power play and only 1 goal so far was at 5v5.
 
CantLoseWithMatthews said:
Here's how his 5v5 performance has tracked since he got here

2018/2019: 1.58 goals/60 | 2.87 points/60 | 1.06 individual expected goals/60 | 53.3 cf% | 53.4 xGF%
2019/2020: 0.81 goals/60 | 1.8 points/60 | 0.84 ixg/60 | 53.4 cf% | 52.1 xGF%
2021: 0.32 goals/60 | 1.6 points/60 | 0.63 ixg/60 | 51.9 cf% | 53.1 xGF%

It's worth noting that he started off taking the toughest matchups and is now consistently playing behind Matthews and even Kerfoot at times. His ability to be dangerous offensively has fallen off a cliff and is now producing points at pretty much the same rate he was producing goals in his first year and just isn't getting into dangerous scoring areas. He's still a strong play driver, but not good enough all things considered
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Jeez.
I’m right back to being scared about that contract again.... His first few games this year we’re removing those fears.
 
OB34KNH said:
Both Nylander and JT,
can't accelerate fast.

Someone like Robertson will create the seperation JT needs. Robertson is speedy and has the most skill (except the big 4). He'll draw a lot more coverage away from JT.

That's all that line needs. JT's legs are slowing down, he needs that skilled speedster.
Click to expand...

Nylander can’t accelerate fast? News to
Me. I can see your point on Tavares
 
It doesn't matter if Tavares declines a bit. If he shows up in important games, thats good enough.
 
Maybe getting his face raked along the ice will get him going, for $11m he's been a tad ineffectual.
 
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