Marner is far more productive with Matthews than Tavares. Last season, he was only 10th in even-strength production. Had he played a full season with Tavares, that number would’ve been even lower.
In 2018, Marner played with a 28-year-old Tavares, who had been a Hart finalist twice by then. At 28, Tavares wasn’t washed up. Marner is now the same age and has zero Hart nominations, despite playing with far superior linemates compared to what Tavares had in New York.
Watch the highlights of Marner and Tavares, and it’s clear Tavares had elite hands in tight and was an elite player. The article wasn’t rubbish at all. It’s interesting how Marner fans don’t bother to analyze individual plays but label others' extensive research as "rubbish" without providing any counterarguments. Somehow, their 15-second dismissals hold the same weight as someone else's 15+ hours of work..
That work was driven with the purpose of reaching a define conclusion, it was the start of the Tavares apologists.
If you believe Tavares had a huge impact in 2019 go and watch his goals and breakdown of his coverage.
The writer who did the "analysis" is stating an opiniated comments that are not justifiable without doing your own self deep dive into 2018-2019 season usage and play for marner and tavares. This would be the first time I have seen a net front and tap in guy get more credit than the play driving assist man (Kredier doesnt get that credit from Panarin, hyman doesnt get that credit from Mcdavid/Draisailt)
I have watched Tavares highlights from that year and he wasnt elite in tight, he had a better shot from far out which explained part of his goal rise, but he also was getting set up for tap ins, and wasnt generating anywhere near as much for marner in exchange despite being a center (matthews got marner at a ~40goal pace in 2022, scored 30G in 2023, and a ~35 goal pace in 2024).
Tavares at his prime was a better player than marner sure in 2015
His 2013 hart nomination was a gift that wasnt deserved (he wasnt a top 5 or maybe even top 10 player that year but got it due to isles making the playoffs) but it was made up by 2014 where he would have been a hart finalist if healthy
Tavares by 2019 had begun his decline, he played horrible in r1 vs Boston, and contined that into 2020 when he went 60 in 63 and then 51 in 56 the next two years at 29 and 30 years of age. His 47G and 88 point season was propped up playing with Marner, if he was elite he wouldnt have seen his play drop as far as it did the next two years. He became dependent on Nylander to drive his line since 2021-2022 to now.
I'm not a marner fan, but he was more valuable and better than tavares in 2019 for me and since then, despite playoff failures he has been bettee than Tavares by a lot. The leafs failures trace back to Tavares and Dubas decision to sign an unneeded, overpaid and declining center whose play falls of a cliff in the playoffs
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