John Tavares Discussion

[William Hylander]

What has Stamkos really done? Hes playing as good as his opposing center thats all we need.

 

[Skullz]

We need more from him and Willy if we want to anything in the playoffs. Willy passes the eye test at least offensively with getting chances, but I can't remember a single good look for JT in three games...

 

[NoName]

Is he worth $11 million today? No. Is he still damn good? Yes.

That is honestly not unexpected for a highly sought after star centre several years into a contract that he signed in his late 20s. Remember, at the time other teams were offering him a lot more.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I'm a fan of Tavares but he needs to step it up and soon.

 

[Ciao]

Top tier reverse jynx. JT with the gwg tonight.

I truly wish, but how about that David Kampf with the GWG? Even better

 

[HamiltonNHL]

stop your whining you losers

 

[Ciao]

Is he worth $11 million today? No. Is he still damn good? Yes.

That is honestly not unexpected for a highly sought after star centre several years into a contract that he signed in his late 20s. Remember, at the time other teams were offering him a lot more.

Free agents are paid for what they did last year, not so much what they will do next year.

The Leafs were wise to sign Tavares, and to do so they had to pay the price.

If you think he doesn't make the Leafs a better team, then you're a fool.

 

[sxvnert]

6 for 15 (40%) tonight on the faceoff dot. The one saving narrative the media shills were clinging on to has now ended.

 

[TheProspector]

Leafs are up 2-1 in a series against the back-to-back defending champs, and one of the top threads in the Leafs forum is.... beating up on your point-per-game captain.

I think it's time for therapy, lads

 

[Jmo89]

I truly wish, but how about that David Kampf with the GWG? Even better

Can we try for series winning goal?

 

[6ix]

It’s legitimately becoming a joke on how useless he is. Tampa had the luxury of winning 2 cups in spite of Stamkos. We won’t have that luxury with how this team is built, Tavares NEEDS to be a factor.

 

[leafsafc]

Love JT as a guy, but I think we've watched the game pass him by slowly this year. He's still impactful, yes. But sometimes I have to remind myself he's on the ice after the faceoff.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Free aents are paid for what they did last year, not so much what they will do next year.

The Leafs were wise to sign Tavares, and to do so they had to pay the price.

If you think he doesn't make the Leafs a better team, then you're a fool.

And what did he do 'last year', that being the 2017-18 season?

As captain, he led his team to a .488 winning % and seventh place in the division. Second on the team in goals, third in assists, and fourth worst +/-.

I'll agree he led the Islanders to (slightly) more playoff success than we had in that same span, but they won more in the first three years without him than they did in all the time he was there.

 

[NoName]

Free agents are paid for what they did last year, not so much what they will do next year.

The Leafs were wise to sign Tavares, and to do so they had to pay the price.

If you think he doesn't make the Leafs a better team, then you're a fool.

I don’t think he is worth $11 million, but you do end up overpaying on the FA market; that is just the nature of the beast, and the OP is obviously wrong, he isn’t a “replacement level” player; he is still in the top-10-15 centre range in the NHL.

 

[Nylanderthal]

Point me to the list of replacement-level players that had 76 points in 79 games? I'd love to see it.

While being first in puck battles and a clear #2 in FO% behind a guy who’s probably the best all time in the dot.
The problem with JT is he’s not flashy like the other guys so a lot of what he does well goes unnoticed. A bit more puck luck and some better finish and he could’ve hit low mid thirties in goals and mid eighties in points.

76 points in 79 games this year "Replacement player"

1 point in 2 playoff games, tiny sample size

Is he an 11M dollar player ? Absolutely not, but replacement level is laughable. He's an elite 2C, overpaid sure but bit of an exaggeration here.

Still a 1C on a lot of teams

 

[Stephen]

I would bet my left nut you said all the same stuff about sundin. I'd also bed my right nut you would respond with " no, never, I loved him every day forever derp lurp"

this is why we can't have nice things.

There's not a lot of overlap between Sundin and Tavares other than 80ish points on the stats line. The talent level around him was lower as he crept up in his 30s post lockout, and he never had the flash of an Auston Matthews, but he was more of a Getzlaf/Kopitar type center. He was always primarily involved whenever he was out there. He often had the puck, he made guys around him better. He was mobile for a big man for his time. He ripped pucks on net, cycled the puck, made finesse passing plays.

He also earned his captaincy over time, put in a decade and a half of sweat equity. There's no equivalency between the two.

 

[2 Slick]

Tavares has six shots in three games in this series so far. That's with playing big minutes on the top powerplay unit, second line center and that's all he can muster up? Six shots? You can't score goals unless you get more rubber to the net and be impactful on the scoresheet.

I'm happy the Leafs are up 2 to 1 in the series as of this posting, but if he doesn't step up and provide offense, the Leafs will not be successful long term. You can't expect Kampf to score more goals than he does and he already has two, one being the game winner.

He was -1 in game 3 and along with Nylander, were hemmed in their own zone for much of their time on the ice together at even strength.

I think it's fair that I harp on him despite the Leafs winning the game instead of only picking on him whenever the Leafs lose the game.

He's GOT to be better, he's not paid the big bucks to be a face-off specialist. He plays the first powerplay unit with arguably two top ten talents in the NHL in Marner and Matthews. If you fail to be a factor offensively with elite generational talent like that, can't click with Nylander, then what else can you do for him?

Keefe has tried playing Kerfoot with him, Nylander, Kase, none of it alters his game or provides any sort of boost or benefit. Maybe give Bunting a try on there for a period or some shifts? I don't know what to say anymore, he's just disappointing to watch out there.

 

[centipede2233]

It’s nice the leafs are up 2-1 but having an 11 mil caphit perform like a 6 mil at best caphit and declining is gonna be the death of this team for the foreseeable future.

 

[Leafblooded]

All those mans talking about JTs reverse curse and inevitable game winner, instead you witnessed none of that AND his faceoffs go to shit also

 

[Leafblooded]

Good depth win. But what did I say? Invisible. Tonight, we won in spite of our captain. I love our leafs. I hate JT. No thanks to him for the win, whatsoever.

Literally did nothing but fill a space. Definition of replaceable, don't use your dumb semantics to disprove me. His $11 million worth of production could easily be replaced. Send this guy to Arizona, give Matthews the C.

Maybe then #34 would stop playing like assistant captain Phil in the playoffs.

What has Stamkos really done? Hes playing as good as his opposing center thats all we need.

Multiple cups, minimal first round exits

 

[Leafblooded]

Leafs are up 2-1 in a series against the back-to-back defending champs, and one of the top threads in the Leafs forum is.... beating up on your point-per-game captain.

I think it's time for therapy, lads

I need a lobotomy after watching this team fail for a quarter century time and time again, in spite of having some of the best players ever in #34 #16 #44 #13 #93... Even Phil. Don't waste money, breed talent. f*** #19 or whatever JT wears. He is a fraud. He doesn't deserve it. He's lead nothing but the Knights team to victory, which arguably was Kadri's team. I miss Naz. #43 was a true Leaf too.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Nazem Kadri and John Tavares Reunited

The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to re-claim the dynamic chemistry between Nazem Kadri and John Tavares while being line-mates in London.

www.google.com

 

[IPS]

Tavares has six shots in three games in this series so far. That's with playing big minutes on the top powerplay unit, second line center and that's all he can muster up? Six shots? You can't score goals unless you get more rubber to the net and be impactful on the scoresheet.

I'm happy the Leafs are up 2 to 1 in the series as of this posting, but if he doesn't step up and provide offense, the Leafs will not be successful long term. You can't expect Kampf to score more goals than he does and he already has two, one being the game winner.

He was -1 in game 3 and along with Nylander, were hemmed in their own zone for much of their time on the ice together at even strength.

I think it's fair that I harp on him despite the Leafs winning the game instead of only picking on him whenever the Leafs lose the game.

He's GOT to be better, he's not paid the big bucks to be a face-off specialist. He plays the first powerplay unit with arguably two top ten talents in the NHL in Marner and Matthews. If you fail to be a factor offensively with elite generational talent like that, can't click with Nylander, then what else can you do for him?

Keefe has tried playing Kerfoot with him, Nylander, Kase, none of it alters his game or provides any sort of boost or benefit. Maybe give Bunting a try on there for a period or some shifts? I don't know what to say anymore, he's just disappointing to watch out there.

Honestly I'm ready to take Tavares off of PP1 - dude bobbles every pass he takes and has been killing so many chances. Bunting can be the net front guy.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

If you thought Tavares was going to be a flashy player when he signed on, I suggest you watch more hockey. The guy isn't and never was a Matthews or Marner type. He's a grinder who puts up 80 points a year and you'll barely notice him. The grass isn't always greener. You take Tavares off this team and you create a giant hole on the 2nd line.

 

[Leafblooded]

If you thought Tavares was going to be a flashy player when he signed on, I suggest you watch more hockey. The guy isn't and never was a Matthews or Marner type. He's a grinder who puts up 80 points a year and you'll barely notice him. The grass isn't always greener. You take Tavares off this team and you create a giant hole on the 2nd line.

80 is the new 65 and there are so many of those for half the money, so we could have easily had two. It's just simple math, no wild analytics. Depth wins playoff games.

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

WOULD YOU SIGN TAVARES ? (Source)








Wrong as usual.

I do like Tavares and in any other scenario I would have loved to have signed him but then in 2017 it just did not seem like what we needed at the time. It accelerated the rebuild a bit to fast while at the same time meant there was not much room financially to really build a strong team.