Rumor: TOR and John Tavares close to a deal: 3 years at 7 million

[Confucius]

If you take away PP goals and points.

Bennett has the same number of goals as JT and only 5 pts less than JT this season.
Who Do you think can maintain this season pace for the next few years, Bennett or JT?

Bennett showed he can performs in the playoffs while JT showed he choked in the playoffs.

Bennett is giving me prime ROR vibe while JT is giving me Patty Marleau vibe.

I don’t understand anyone fascination of JT remaining as a Leafs beyond this season if Leafs crashes out in the first round again.

Let’s stop acting like JT is Sid 2.0 or Sid Lite bc he is not even close

He’s a 7 million dollar player and I prefer him to Bennett.

Would you rather Marchand over JT?

I would

Yeah but going forward we would give Marchand 10 plus, so there is that

 

[BigBlu]

 

[Suntouchable13]

Stay with me here guys, but if you take away a whole bunch of reasons JT is better than Bennett, he's then only 18% better points wise than Bennett.

Points, points, points, who cares? Who has the ring? JT has 2 series wins in his career, congrats. All those points sure got him far.

 

[jiggy35]

Get JT closer to 5 and ship out 2/3 of Kampf/Jarnkrok/Domi in the offseason and there should be space for an impact forward (Bennett) add

Knies - Matthews - Marner
Tavares - Bennett - Nylander
McMann - Laughton - Robertson/Cowan
Lorentz/Holmberg/Jarnkrok/UFA(tanev?jeannot?)

 

[seanlinden]

Not my point at all.

Point is, any other team looks at that 3x7 contract as a bad contract.

——
We don’t owe Johnny anything. His next contract needs to be exceedingly value-oriented. After the last overpay and no Cups, the failed Captain owes us that. 3×7 is embarrassing and toxic across the league.

Out of principle, sure that would be nice... but here's the reality.

There's a ton of "new money" into the system this summer. Mikko Rantanen is now off the board. Mitch Marner is the #1 guy.

John Tavares, Sam Bennett, Brock Nelson and Matt Duchene are the top centres available. There's a lot of teams that would love to add a centre, and there's a lot of teams that have the cap space to spend $7m or more on one of these guys.

I don't think there's any chance Nelson is signing in Canada. Matt Duchene could be an underrated pickup, but also certainly seems to have found a very good home in Dallas.

Sam Bennett, is likely going to be looking for $8-9m on a long term deal that's not likely to age well given the way he plays.

If the Tavares deal is $7m x 3 with a bunch of defferred money bringing the cap hit closer to $6m.... that's a really good deal compared to the alternative of Bennett at $9m.

One thing to remember, Sam Bennett has career earnings of $23.6m; with a lot of escrow in that time as well. He needs to hit it big on his deal this summer.

Tavares has career earnings of $103m. He needs to be paid "fairly", but the guy isn't at all short of money, and has already created generational wealth for himself.

 

[BobClarkesfrontteeth]

Out of principle, sure that would be nice... but here's the reality.

There's a ton of "new money" into the system this summer. Mikko Rantanen is now off the board. Mitch Marner is the #1 guy.

John Tavares, Sam Bennett, Brock Nelson and Matt Duchene are the top centres available. There's a lot of teams that would love to add a centre, and there's a lot of teams that have the cap space to spend $7m or more on one of these guys.

I don't think there's any chance Nelson is signing in Canada. Matt Duchene could be an underrated pickup, but also certainly seems to have found a very good home in Dallas.

Sam Bennett, is likely going to be looking for $8-9m on a long term deal that's not likely to age well given the way he plays.

If the Tavares deal is $7m x 3 with a bunch of defferred money bringing the cap hit closer to $6m.... that's a really good deal compared to the alternative of Bennett at $9m.

One thing to remember, Sam Bennett has career earnings of $23.6m; with a lot of escrow in that time as well. He needs to hit it big on his deal this summer.

Tavares has career earnings of $103m. He needs to be paid "fairly", but the guy isn't at all short of money, and has already created generational wealth for himself.

By adding Laughton the need for Bennett is far less. Laughton is Bennett lite. I have watched him play alot as a Flyer's fan and also because his parents live on the same street as a good friend. He would come out and play hokcey with the kids before he was drafted. He is going to surprise a lot of Leaf fans. He also doesn't have to drive the offense on the 3rd line with McMann and Domi on it. Tavares with deferred money so his AAV at 5.5 to 6 is the best fit for the Leafs second center spot moving forward unless there is a trade in the summer for a younger 2C.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Truth is we may not be able to afford Tavares and Marner . Tavares better look at a hometown discount or his money could go elsewhere i.e younger C. If the Leafs only win one round it may be time to move on.

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

I’d be quite disappointed if that was the AAV.

Yes it’s true, there aren’t any better options out there in FA and John is earning that amount this season, but I have my doubts about him being a $7M player in 2027/28 at age 37.

If you really want to be a Maple Leaf you don’t need to line your agent’s pocket. Fire him and either take 2 years or sign for $5M. Simple as that.

 

[the real Fox mulder]

If we give Tavares that deal. It will become even harder to sign another impactful forward in the off-season without trading 2 out of the 3 of Domi, Kampf, and Jarnkrok.

I'll be honest with you, I'll be okay with giving him the same deal, like the Tanev one, at $4.5M at 6 years.

 

[indigobuffalo]

I really hope the rumour misheard and his new AAV is dropping BY $7M

 

[IronHookem]

We should do what Tampa did and let someone else sign him for 8x4 a la Stamkos so that we can spend the money elsewhere, but sadly we wont.

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

If we give Tavares that deal. It will become even harder to sign another impactful forward in the off-season without trading 2 out of the 3 of Domi, Kampf, and Jarnkrok.

I'll be honest with you, I'll be okay with giving him the same deal, like the Tanev one, at $4.5M at 6 years.

I wonder if he’d be interested in a deferred ‘retirement’ contract to lower the cap hit. Same for Matthews when he’s up.

 

[Phion Keneuf]

He’s worth every penny of $7M

 

[Racer88]

He’s worth every penny of $7M

Ya because we have won so much with him the last 7 years

 

[aingefan]

7 sounds like a modest number considering the future supply and demand of a thinnish UFA crop at C and a rising cap.
Stamkos comp (though not perfect) exists before the cap rise.
He’s got a chance to make it more team friendly with deferrals.

 

[Confucius]

Ya because we have won so much with him the last 7 years

Well he may be taking a 4 million cut. For the same reasons how much of a cut can we expect from Mitch?

 

[ULF_55]

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/team-wants-to-take-its-time-which-i-totally-get-tavares-remains-~3094706

'Team wants to take its time, which I totally get':​

First part is about marner, but then it gets around to his contract.

So the team is in a wait and see what happens mode?

 

[TMLAM34]

I wouldn’t go higher than a 6 million dollar cap hit, defer as much money as you want but keep the AAV at 6 or less.

 

[ToneDog]

I wouldn’t go higher than a 6 million dollar cap hit, defer as much money as you want but keep the AAV at 6 or less.

IMO we are not winning a cup with an older John Tavares as our #2C. Use the money to bring in Bennett and give JT 3rd line money.

 

[Racer88]

Well he may be taking a 4 million cut. For the same reasons how much of a cut can we expect from Mitch?

We can expect zero team friendly anything from Money Mitch.
As far as Tavares unless I see some real improvement in the playoffs I wouldn’t give him the 7 million. I would walk away and try something else.
We need players that hate to lose not just players that like to win

 

[Confucius]

We can expect zero team friendly anything from Money Mitch.
As far as Tavares unless I see some real improvement in the playoffs I wouldn’t give him the 7 million. I would walk away and try something else.
We need players that hate to lose not just players that like to win

Why does everybody just ignore that he scores more goals and is just a dozen points less 5 on 5 than Marner. And look how much people want to throw at Marner.

 

[Racer88]

Points, points, points, who cares? Who has the ring? JT has 2 series wins in his career, congrats. All those points sure got him far.

Exactly. Some times you just have to walk away from players that just can’t get it done

 

[Racer88]

Why does everybody just ignore that he scores more goals and is just a dozen points less 5 on 5 than Marner. And look how much people want to throw at Marner.

I get that but sometimes more then points is needed. The “it” factor. Some players have it and some don’t .
I really have nothing against him but if they flame out again this years we will have had 7 years of him and 8-9 years of the rest of the core to show us they simply don’t work together. Our only 2 legit options for change are Marner and Tavares

 

[Confucius]

I get that but sometimes more then points is needed. The “it” factor. Some players have it and some don’t .
I really have nothing against him but if they flame out again this years we will have had 7 years of him and 8-9 years of the rest of the core to show us they simply don’t work together. Our only 2 legit options for change are Marner and Tavares

Yeah I understand you wouldn’t want either back if it’s an overpay, it’s the people who say 5 for JT and then claim 12 or even more is ok for Mitch. Sure Mitch is better but that much?

 

[Racer88]

Yeah I understand you wouldn’t want either back if it’s an overpay, it’s the people who say 5 for JT and then claim 12 or even more is ok for Mitch. Sure Mitch is better but that much?

I hear ya and I’m a 5 and 9 guy for Tavares and Marner or bye bye