Player Discussion John Tavares: The man, the myth, the legend

[TopCheeseShotta]

Now that the overpaid narrative is over with, we need a new Player Discussion thread - as it's time to discuss the Player again.
The year he's having is staggering by all accounts. It was supposed to be an albatross contract a few years ago, but this final year might be his best season outside the Career Year he had in his first as a Leaf!

Since his signing he's outperformed his Islander pace, including Points per game (.942 vs .958 as a Leaf) Face off percentage (51.3 vs 57.3), etc., etc.. making him a better Leaf than he was an Islander. Maybe a Top 5 Free Agent signing the Leafs have ever made?

That said, let's continue to discuss our boy JT - a man that actually had the sac to come back home (looking at you Nash, Stamkos, etc.) despite all the terrible karma(s) around this Franchise - and knowing he'd be crucified in NY.

Salute!!!!!

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[ToneDog]

Playing for one last contract. Let's see him do this in the playoffs and earn it.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Still say he has been grossly overpaid his entire contract, and I'm hoping this resurgence doesn't mean we repeat the same mistake again.

That said, I'm really glad he's playing well especially with Matthew$ being useless this year.

 

[thewave]

Amulet is really working hard for the money.

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

Playing for one last contract..

.....cries the broken Leaf fan.

But that's definitely not the case, here. Aside from a dip last year, he's literally Mr. Consistent - as this has been his near point per game pace since he joined the NHL.

Still say he has been grossly overpaid his entire contract, and I'm hoping this resurgence doesn't mean we repeat the same mistake again.

That said, I'm really glad he's playing well especially with Matthew$ being useless this year.

He's better now than the day we paid for that contract. Even you have to admit that's kinda impressive/insane. But we've all kinda beat the old contract to death by now.

Statistically better as a Leaf than he was an Islander..??? That's more than most thought was possible, I'd wager.

 

[ToneDog]

.....cries the broken Leaf fan.

But that's definitely not the case, here. Aside from a dip last year, he's literally Mr. Consistent - as this has been his near point per game pace since he joined the NHL.

I've backed JT since before he came here. Fact is he has been the least productive of the core 4 in the playoffs. 12g and 12a in 38 playoff games. That's a 52 point pace. He's also been a less than stellar leader.

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

I've backed JT since before he came here. Fact is he has been the least productive of the core 4 in the playoffs. 12g and 12a in 38 playoff games. That's a 52 point pace. He's also been a less than stellar leader.

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Easy... you just said "playing for a contract", and that's demonstrably false per, you know - history and stuff.

 

[ToneDog]

Easy... you just said "playing for a contract", and that's demonstrably false per, you know - history and stuff.

So you do not believe he is playing for his last contract? We saw it last year with Willie and now Marner. Tavares is no different.

 

[hotpaws]

JT has played the exact same way his entire time here , he hangs around the crease/slot and waits for his elite play driving wingers to create for him . This year he's benefitted from Mathews being out but he hasn't played any better than he has the last 4/5 yrs .In the playoffs the slot/crease gets covered more and his ppg drops significantly .

unfortunately we're obligated to re-sign him for some reason to another overpayment then spin it as another discount while at the same time shifting any blame from early playoff exists away from him to the rest of the team

 

[JEI]

Amulet is really working hard for the money.

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

So you do not believe he is playing for his last contract? We saw it last year with Willie and now Marner. Tavares is no different.

No NHL player is different. What's your point?

But in JT's case, he's literally playing at the same pace he has for 15 of 16 years, so - no discernable difference. Looks like you're projecting from being sore about Willy and Mitch, which i can understand - but JT is the same ol' same ol' every year.

JT has played the exact same way his entire time here

Exactly.. shoulda stopped right there for me.

 

[ToneDog]

No NHL player is different. What's your point?

But in JT's case, he's literally playing at the same pace he has for 15 of 16 years, so - no discernable difference. Looks like you're projecting from being sore about Willy and Mitch, which i can understand - but JT is the same ol' same ol' every year.

Not true. He was going off a cliff last year. His skating was terrible and he was a turnover machine. Not the case this year. Maybe it is the amulets?

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

Not true. He was going off a cliff last year. His skating was terrible and he was a give away machine. Not the case this year. Maybe it is the amulets?

View attachment 953387

Not true? I literally said 15 of 16 years. So - demonstrably true. The same player aside from a dip last year.

Anyway, back to the player. He seems to have more zip this year. Like, the hand skills are off the charts. There have been a couple dirty danglez and breakaway moves that I haven't seen from homie. I think the summer was spent the right way, for sure.

 

[hotpaws]

Exactly.. shoulda stopped right there for me.

what's funny is you believing if i stopped right there it would have been a positive reflection on his play

JT's plays a losing style of game and that's why his teams have never done shit in the playoffs the last 20 yrs going back to jr .

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

what's funny is you believing if i stopped right there it would have been a positive reflection on his play

No, no. That's just the only part of your thoughts I could twist into something relevant.

JT's plays a losing style of game and that's why his teams have never done shit in the playoffs the last 20 yrs going back to jr .

Phew.. lotta anger there, you should unpack that a bit.

Look - do I think he's a playoff saviour - No. None of these ninnies are. But he's actually the only one that literally won us a series in all these years. Well see how it goes this year.

 

[hotpaws]

No, no. That's just the only part of your thoughts I could twist into something relevant.

you can twist yourself into a pretzel if you like trying to prove JT is something he's not but the fact remains Tavares in a career loser on the ice and that's why the Islanders had the best playoff success they had in 4 decades the second he left while we just spun our wheels since he joined us

 

[fancy lad]

I have nothing to add really other than I think it’s great that he’s been one of the better players this year. Genuinely surprised.

I thought he was done as a major contributor after last season. I’d be fine with offering him a 2 year contract at a home town discount.

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

I have nothing to add really other than I think it’s great that he’s been one of the better players this year. Genuinely surprised.

I thought he was done as a major contributor after last season. I’d be fine with offering him a 2 year contract at a home town discount.

That's more like it. Nuanced and adds context.

I agree - we all thought last year was gonna somehow be JT moving forward. But we shoulda known from every other year hes ever played - he's nothing if not consistent. Dude is on fire again!

 

[hotpaws]

Phew.. lotta anger there, you should unpack that a bit.

Look - do I think he's a playoff saviour - No. None of these ninnies are. But he's actually the only one that literally won us a series in all these years. Well see how it goes this year.

77m for a lucky bounce off a foot , lol

I like how you brought the others into the conversation to try to deflect away from JT's very poor play in the playoffs but the facts are he's been the worst of the 4 by far and he's been an anchor to his team in every playoff series save 1 with the Islanders in his 15 yr NHL Career .

 

[BrannigansLaw]

He's been amazing.

That said, I think he's playing for his last paycheck. I still only want him on a max three year deal at a hometown discount.

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

He's been amazing.

That said, I think he's playing for his last paycheck. I still only want him on a max three year deal at a hometown discount.

He has been.

And sounds reasonable, but truthfully gang - the term is neglible. You could give him 19 years on his next contract - the only years that are gonna matter for this core, are years 1, 2 and 3 of his next deal. The rest is "blow it up" territory.

Keep the dollar amount down, but term is kinda not the big deal it usually is at this point in the teams makeup.

 

[Gary Nylund]

No, no. That's just the only part of your thoughts I could twist into something relevant.


Phew.. lotta anger there, you should unpack that a bit.

Look - do I think he's a playoff saviour - No. None of these ninnies are. But he's actually the only one that literally won us a series in all these years. Well see how it goes this year.

The team has won one series in the six years he's played for us, are you saying he's the only one that deserves credit for that? Literally? Please do explain.

Overall, M&M&JT have all sucked in the playoffs but nobody has produced less in relation to their cap hit than JT. Having a great season but just like everyone else on the team, I'm going to base his final grade mostly on the playoffs.

The real season starts in 14 weeks or so. I hope these "ninnies" don't embarrass again, this is the most loyal fan base in the NHL and the long suffering fans deserve much better than we've gotten with this core.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Not true. He was going off a cliff last year. His skating was terrible and he was a turnover machine. Not the case this year. Maybe it is the amulets?

View attachment 953387

He looks much better this year for sure. I don't think anyone can know what's going on in his head and if this being a contract year is a factor here or not, but it is interesting that Nylander was so productive until he signed last season and now Marner and JT are playing so well but in any case, they need to step up in the playoffs, period. I'm baffled that so many people still seem to care so much about how these guys play in November. After all these years of playoff failure after playoff failure ... baffling.

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

The team has won one series in the six years he's played for us, are you saying he's the only one that deserves credit for that? Literally?

Ya.. literally here just means he scored the winning goal in the only playoff series we won. So, literally. He also scored the only other potential series winning goal on a beauty against Tampa in another series too - but you know... Justin Holl got in the way!

Lmaoooooo

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

I liked the deal from the start but if you had told me on the 7th year of this deal Tavares would be objectively the 3rd best forward on the team and on a 40 goal pace, I would have loved the deal even more. This guy completely lived up to his end of the bargain. The only question is what to sign him for moving forward. Very complicated question. I would hope after getting paid $77M he'd take a team friendly deal, but who knows. Anything more than $4Mx3 and it's a hard no for me no matter how much I like him.