I wrote a long post yesterday about how I felt the Leafs biggest weakness was their top 3 forwards being flawed in some way or another, but the text didn't save. Anyway, I want to talk about the John Tavares signing for the Leafs and how it has played out over time. For a lot of Leaf fans, the move will always be a no-brainer, while fans outside the fanbase saw the move as troublesome for the financial future of the team.
What nobody could've foreseen was the fact that in 2 seasons time, Tavares would have declined into a sub-replacement level player. It's really hard how this happened as the fall-off has been so quick. At the time of signing, John Tavares was regarded as a top 10 player in the NHL. During his career with the Islanders, he averaged 33 goals and 78 points every 82 games. If you consider the linemates he mostly played with, those are exceptional numbers. In my opinion, the signing was a no brainer at the time. He was well worth the money.
What I want to explore is how someone went from a 48 goal, 88 point season to only scoring at a 75 point pace, while being below-replacement in terms of play driving? He hasn't suffered from serious injuries over the course of the last 3 regular seasons. In fact, he's been very healthy. Sure, you can argue he's in his 30s, but most elite level athletes maintain their form in the early part of this decade. Plus the decline for Tavares began in 2019/20 when he was only 28. So what happened?
Something is not known by the public is that when Tavares joined the Leafs, he was 200 pounds. After that, he started to put on weight. Went to 215 in his second season and now he's at 220. We understand that athletes sometimes add muscle to enhance their performance, but Tavares was coming off the best season of his life. What did he need to change? It can only be said that his weight gain is due to poor discipline and not enough commitment to training. Cuz one thing we know for sure is that ever he started gaining weight, his performances have decreased.
The Tavares situation in my opinion represents a mentality issue with the entire team. Most of the players are not committed enough to training and improving their game, therefore, when they face an opponent that plays with more intensity, they get battered. The conditioning of the team is so poor. You can cherry pick specific players and make them the scapegoat but for me, the captain needs to set a good example for his teammates, which Tavares hasn't done. I know everyone likes to point at issues such as the defence, the forward depth, the goaltending. But just think about how different of a situation we'd be in if the Leafs top 3 players actually stepped up to the level they're capable of. vvv
Very unrealistic RFA and UFA signings. Hey don't like the Tavares signing fine, but it doesn't affect the salary structure of so many of the others players.
Very unrealistic RFA and UFA signings. Hey don't like the Tavares signing fine, but it doesn't affect the salary structure of so many of the others players.
Like my last ACGM, Brown and Hyman take discounts to stay in Toronto, same with Cizikas. My honest opinion is that if Marner never played with Tavares, he’d have a 60 point season into the RFA negotiation. And those types of players are worth 5 million maximum.
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
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