Tavares

[Menzinger]

Tavares’ blueprint for success is a basically a high end grinder, but a poor man’s Crosby. Good grind, cycle down low game with a scoring touch in the slot and garbage goals in front. But when he’s off he’s virtually useless in open ice. And Marner is not matching up well with him.

I'd like to see Nylander back with him at some point this series

 

[Gabriel426]

I'd like to see Nylander back with him at some point this series

I tend to agree with that.
1. Don’t think Hyman-AM-Willie played a game together or maybe they did for past season. But either way, Willie played his best with JT and whoever at LW-Soup, AJ, Kap, Kerfoot and Engvall.
2. Don’t understand why Hyman-AM-Marner are not together.
3. Hyman is awesome but last night just reminded me why I wanted him off AM’s wing the first two seasons.
Funny thing is, with all the forechecking from BJs, wont the Stretch pass be something that can break that and keep them more honest?

 

[Iapyi]

Tavares plays a fundamental game and does all the little things, middle things and big things right.

He has a very high hockey IQ and understands and plays to the intricacies and nuances of the game like few others.

Inexperienced hockey fans will struggle with appreciating his value. Let's face it most fans have no idea about the details of the game, especially the experts who have never played and/or don't even know how to skate.

 

[Stephen]

Tavares plays a fundamental game and does all the little things, middle things and big things right.

He has a very high hockey IQ and understands and plays to the intricacies and nuances of the game like few others.

Inexperienced hockey fans will struggle with appreciating his value. Let's face it most fans have no idea about the details of the game, especially the experts who have never played and/or don't even know how to skate.

Tavares has no explosive separating speed and isn't great in open ice, so what you want from him is to support his defensemen at center ice, probaby receive a short pass from the defenseman and distribute to an open winger. Traditionally on the Island, he played with more grind type guys, so one of them, let's say Okposo, can lug the puck up, chip and chase and buy enough time and puck recovery to set up the down low cycle. Once this is set up, Tavares has a few options like crash the net, hang in the top of the slot or engage down low and use his core strength to cycle, pull defense out of position, etc. What I'm describing is a poor man's Sidney Crosby.

When this model doesn't work, Tavares is getting caught in open ice by a swarm of defenders and backcheckers and forced into a turnover.

In summary, when you're talking about a $11 million AAV, all the little things he's doing in that sequence doesn't matter that much if he's not producing offense.

 

[showtime8]

I like watching Tavares play, but his current play wants me feeling like he could be doing a lot more.

I keep waiting for a dominant below the red line shift where he finishes with a goal in front.

No issues with his overall play, but just looking for that next level I know he's capable of.

 

[Havoc]

Tavares + Nylander is a winning formula.

Confuses me why Keefe didn't go with the lines that built chemistry.

There's no preseason we don't have time to build chemistry. Guys have to click from game 1.

 

[Iapyi]

Tavares has no explosive separating speed and isn't great in open ice, so what you want from him is to support his defensemen at center ice, probaby receive a short pass from the defenseman and distribute to an open winger. Traditionally on the Island, he played with more grind type guys, so one of them, let's say Okposo, can lug the puck up, chip and chase and buy enough time and puck recovery to set up the down low cycle. Once this is set up, Tavares has a few options like crash the net, hang in the top of the slot or engage down low and use his core strength to cycle, pull defense out of position, etc. What I'm describing is a poor man's Sidney Crosby.

When this model doesn't work, Tavares is getting caught in open ice by a swarm of defenders and backcheckers and forced into a turnover.

In summary, when you're talking about a $11 million AAV, all the little things he's doing in that sequence doesn't matter that much if he's not producing offense.

Professional sports teams conduct full-on asset evaluations when spending money, particularly on a big dollar item. They don't just look at goals and assists. They also look at the full style and structure that the asset {player} provides. The two assessments are then put together and assessed as a third entity.

There is just importantly within an organization off-ice evaluation considerations that are conducted.

The on-ice and off ice evaluations are then combined and assessed even more rigidly.

A decision is made.

Many fans look strictly at the on-ice aspect and many of these only focus on goals and assists and then some fans even take it further to only caring about goals scored. They like the sizzle.

They don't know or care to know the harder to think about full picture.

 

[Leafsfan74]

I haven't even been paying much to individual stats this year, I'm of the opinion the team wins in the playoffs, or I don't care if a player scores 100 (though I'm sure it would be a fun ride). Though, sure, I wanted to see Matthews hit 50 for instance, but not if it meant no playoffs.

Little details are going to matter in order to beat a team oriented, well structured and well coached team like CBJ. In my mind, I'd like to see Tavares take a spot in front of the net and draw some penalties if he isn't on the score sheet in some other contributing capacity.

If this team hasn't figured out after 3 months away that "team" is about doing all together is needed to win, there is no amount of time that will allow that philosophy to sink in.

 

[Gabriel426]

I haven't even been paying much to individual stats this year, I'm of the opinion the team wins in the playoffs, or I don't care if a player scores 100 (though I'm sure it would be a fun ride). Though, sure, I wanted to see Matthews hit 50 for instance, but not if it meant no playoffs.

Little details are going to matter in order to beat a team oriented, well structured and well coached team like CBJ. In my mind, I'd like to see Tavares take a spot in front of the net and draw some penalties if he isn't on the score sheet in some other contributing capacity.

If this team hasn't figured out after 3 months away that "team" is about doing all together is needed to win, there is no amount of time that will allow that philosophy to sink in.

Agree. The only individual trophy I care about is the Conn Symthe. Other players can win the Hart, Rocket, Norris... but the Conn Symthe is the one trophy I want any Leafs to win.
I could careless if AM scores 30 goals a season, as long as the Leafs is in the playoffs and win the Cup, that’s all it matters.

 

[Holymakinaw]

What happened to this guy? Ever since we gave him the C he’s been getting worse and worse. The injury excuse doesn’t fly anymore so what’s the deal? Extremely concerning to see him moving like a slug out there. At times it almost looked like he couldn’t keep up with the pace of the play.

LOL. What are you talking about? They ALL had an off game......not the worst I've seen but not the best either.

Blaming one or two guys is ridiculous.

 

[SwissMountaineer]

11 million a year for his current level of play is not good enough.

Well, it's not his fault that he gets 11m a year. No offense, but somebody building a team by having 4 players earning the salary of the nr. 1 playmaker of any team, should perhaps reconsider the strategy. You need a balanced team, with various player types for various roles. When you have 4 guys earning that much, supposedly because "they're worth it", then why the heck should anyone else even try? Even the 4 superstars themselves don't REALLY have to try, because there's so many of them, somebody else will score the goals for sure. And defense is for losers anyway.

Everyone needs to have a clear role, with clear expectations, and straight accountability. "The TEAM cannot win, unless YOU do exactly THIS, every game, every shift, every second of every shift". Does Toronto have that? No. They have 4 superstars, who are jointly incompatible with anything else.

Rewind to summer of 2015. Toronto had 4th and 34th picks. Right after that, on the 35th pick, Carolina took... .... Sebastian Aho. You also need to look at further than goals & assists when drafting players.

Don't blame Tavares, heck who wouldn't want to play in Toronto, making 11M a year??? What should he have done, turn the offer down?

 

[weems]

 

[Orfieus]

I'm way more concerned about Marner, at least JT wins faceoffs and makes passes Marner isn't doing anything

 

[CincoHolio]

I tend to agree with that.
1. Don’t think Hyman-AM-Willie played a game together or maybe they did for past season. But either way, Willie played his best with JT and whoever at LW-Soup, AJ, Kap, Kerfoot and Engvall.
2. Don’t understand why Hyman-AM-Marner are not together.
3. Hyman is awesome but last night just reminded me why I wanted him off AM’s wing the first two seasons.
Funny thing is, with all the forechecking from BJs, wont the Stretch pass be something that can break that and keep them more honest?

yes to using the stretch pass some more. It feels like they've completely taken it out of their arsenal. With Babs it was used too much and now too little. lol

And totally agree on putting Nylander back with Tavares. He played his best and most engaged while with Johnny. Mitch and Auston were also fine together so I'm not quite sure why Keefe has decided now to switch. Seems like strange timing.

 

[Gabriel426]

yes to using the stretch pass some more. It feels like they've completely taken it out of their arsenal. With Babs it was used too much and now too little. lol

And totally agree on putting Nylander back with Tavares. He played his best and most engaged while with Johnny. Mitch and Auston were also fine together so I'm not quite sure why Keefe has decided now to switch. Seems like strange timing.

More to do with matching up JT against opposing top line. As Marner is a better defensive wing compare to Willie. But with how BJs are playing, I don’t think Keefe needs to line match as they don’t have a top line like Boston.

 

[LeafSteel]

Tavares plays a fundamental game and does all the little things, middle things and big things right.

He has a very high hockey IQ and understands and plays to the intricacies and nuances of the game like few others.

Inexperienced hockey fans will struggle with appreciating his value. Let's face it most fans have no idea about the details of the game, especially the experts who have never played and/or don't even know how to skate.

Great post.

Well said. Sadly it will still go over many peoples heads in here....

 

[2ndGenIslander]

Tavares’ blueprint for success is a basically a high end grinder, but a poor man’s Crosby. Good grind, cycle down low game with a scoring touch in the slot and garbage goals in front. But when he’s off he’s virtually useless in open ice. And Marner is not matching up well with him.

As someone who watched every game he played from 2009-2018, this is probably the best description of his game i've seen

 

[Merrrlin]

Big goal for el Capitan.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

he looked truly unstoppable out there. It's early but so far he's generated an insane 15 high danger chances at 5v5 for himself/60. Crosby is 2nd in the league so far at 14.5

 

[BertCorbeau]

JT's 70% on the face-off dot through 2 games

 

[Stephen]

he looked truly unstoppable out there. It's early but so far he's generated an insane 15 high danger chances at 5v5 for himself/60. Crosby is 2nd in the league so far at 14.5

He wasn't faster out there today but had the idea to never stop skating hard. You notice when Tavares is playing well that he's skating with that extra push like a sprinter stretching his arms on every stride, which he doesn't have on an off night. Which you respect a lot in a bounce back game. But let's face it, he scored a goal which is what he's paid to do.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

He wasn't faster out there today but had the idea to never stop skating hard. You notice when Tavares is playing well that he's skating with that extra push like a sprinter stretching his arms on every stride, which he doesn't have on an off night. Which you respect a lot in a bounce back game. But let's face it, he scored a goal which is what he's paid to do.

yes, he does have to produce. But in order to produce, you have to get chances and so far he's been great at that. Tavares has never been a fast skater and won't start now, but that's not an excuse for him. He just has to work harder and be smarter than everyone else to be effective

 

[BorntoLose]

couldnt believe my eyes when he had that much space for a breakaway so rare to see him get them with how slow he skates.

 

[stickty111]

Tavares just reminded the hockey world why he is considered one of the best centres in hockey when he is on.

 

[robertmac43]

Played well tonight, I think him and Nylander compliment each other well.