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John Tavares appreciation thread

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Stephen said:
Comparing Bergeron to Tavares, I feel like Bergeron has a more of an elegant style to cover up for whatever speed limitations. Knows where to go, uses his hockey sense, etc. Not saying Tavares doesn’t have high hockey IQ, of course he does. But he seems to have to put in a lot more effort to get things done. My muscles ache watching him play sometimes.
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I agree. I was commenting that speed wont make Willy a competent center and a swap between him and JT wont fix things. If JT goes to the wing, we will need someone else.
 
Stephen said:
Comparing Bergeron to Tavares, I feel like Bergeron has a more of an elegant style to cover up for whatever speed limitations. Knows where to go, uses his hockey sense, etc. Not saying Tavares doesn’t have high hockey IQ, of course he does. But he seems to have to put in a lot more effort to get things done. My muscles ache watching him play sometimes.
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Bergeron has also played most of his career with a Selke calibre winger, mutliple Norris calibre defencemen, one of the best defence corps each season for the last decade, and several elite goalies.

I am not saying he isn't a legendary defensive player, but I think you could hide a lot of Tavares' issues on a team like that.
 
Stephen said:
Comparing Bergeron to Tavares, I feel like Bergeron has a more of an elegant style to cover up for whatever speed limitations. Knows where to go, uses his hockey sense, etc. Not saying Tavares doesn’t have high hockey IQ, of course he does. But he seems to have to put in a lot more effort to get things done. My muscles ache watching him play sometimes.
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Isn't it hard to compare Tavares to Bergeron for this reason and it's their current ages. Tavares is 30 and Bergeron is 35. So despite Bergeron accomplishing more things at the NHL level like winning a Stanley Cup and 4 Selke Trophy's, won't his age become more of a concern?
 
Stephen said:
What I like about the Matthews, Marner duo is they can eat up a lot of time on the clock in the offensive zone before they create a scoring chance, so it has the effect of wearing out the other team, burning up time and putting points on the board.

When it comes to the Tavares Nylander line, what I don't like as much is how other teams can key in on Tavares at the center ice position, which kind of bogs everything down into this scrambled mess. You'll notice a lot of Tavares vs. 2 guys puck battles, and I find the puck isn't being moved around the ice as efficiently. I suspect this style of play is why Tavares had success with more grind style wingers on the Islanders. I think he does end up on the wing at some point and is allowed to ease more into a JVR type net front presence. I don't like him being a primary puck carrier, don't like him in open ice unless he's allowed to build acceleration from way back and allowed to trail on the play.

From a contract POV, I don't love the fact that I'm always wondering how to best utilize him and work around his limitations. While he's doing well statistically, I feel like he isn't the kind of player you can say "we need a boost, let's put Superstar Tavares out to dominate for a double shift." It's more like an arm wrestling competition, if that makes sense.
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What has made Tavares a superstar is his ability to put up 80-90 points with subpar wingers in his career. Who knows if it happens but if Keefe ever loads up the top line as Nylander-Matthews-Marner, I'd bet JT could still put up 80-90 points on that 2nd line with Hyman and whoever.
 
BAM said:
What has made Tavares a superstar is his ability to put up 80-90 points with subpar wingers in his career. Who knows if it happens but if Keefe ever loads up the top line as Nylander-Matthews-Marner, I'd bet JT could still put up 80-90 points on that 2nd line with Hyman and whoever.
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If the situation calls for it like a late power play to tie a game or take the lead, I like to see Keefe use Matthews, Tavares, Marner, Nylander, and Rielly all out together in that scenario.
 
zeke said:
Let's see how everybody looks after this 4 day break.

10gms in 18 nights ain't easy, especially with no preseason.

They all may have just been plain gassed the past few days.
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Tavares also just had a second child.
 
Tavares 5th goal of the season is his first 5v5 goal scored, so at least we can end the discussion on when that was going to happen.

You can also say it was a vintage Tavares type of goal with him standing in front of the net.

 
So do we love him again or still hate him or what? This place is hard to keep up with
 
I am surprised to see Tavares once again at a ppg. He really doesn't look like he's doing much out there. But he never does. I'll be honest: I have no idea how good Tavares is. He just doesn't look that great out there. He looks slow. Doesn't look like he's really that great cycling in the offensive zone *or* defending. But here he is... with yet another ppg season.

I remember when Duchene came up for UFA after Tavares, the word on the street was that they were practically the same value players. Nope...
 
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His points have always looked better than he does on the ice. He's a bit of a vulture at this point, but we have the horses to insulate him. His faceoffs have been key though and the Tavares/Nylander PP unit is the better one. He still gives us a strong one-two punch down the middle and is good for ~PPG.
 
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BAM said:
What has made Tavares a superstar is his ability to put up 80-90 points with subpar wingers in his career. Who knows if it happens but if Keefe ever loads up the top line as Nylander-Matthews-Marner, I'd bet JT could still put up 80-90 points on that 2nd line with Hyman and whoever.
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I've always wanted to see him play with a couple of grinders as he does his best work along the boards and in front of the net. Puck possession, cycling, crashing the net....
Nylander doesn't really fit that mould
 
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Seath The Scaleless said:
I've always wanted to see him play with a couple of grinders as he does his best work along the boards and in front of the net. Puck possession, cycling, crashing the net....
Nylander doesn't really fit that mould
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Marner doesn't either and JT still set a career high in points and goals. There are things Nylander can do with the puck that you can't replace. I'd rather not see JT struggle entering the zone but rather go find open ice while the best zone entry player on the Leafs does his thing.
 
I always liked the JT signing and JT. Can't really complain he may not be worth 11 million but he is still a 1c in this league.
 
Tavares has been really flat lately. Been great on the dot but seems to get tied up so easily and can’t break away from anything. Speed was never his game but it just seems like nothing is coming easy for him.
 
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