Quoting: Penguinstanleycup
Quoting: DarylthePony
If I’m John Tavares right now I’d be looking for a way out of New York. He’s in his prime and his window is limited like all players. The Isles will do all they can to keep him but in the end a sign and trade may be the solution. Tavares deserves a good team, a good GM, and a good arena, and NYI can’t give him that.
My top destinations (not listed in order):
Carolina Hurricanes
Montreal Canadiens
St. Louis Blues
I think he will be gone by at least December for trash
Watch him go to
1. Carolina Hurricanes
2. New York Rangers
3. Toronto Maple Leafs
4. Colorado Avalanche
5. Dallas Stars
All of these will be a steal trade the team get Traveres and the Islanders will get trash
Carolina makes sense, as they desperately need a 1C to supplement the rest of their team, which looks good enough to contend. But as always, they're in the discussion of possible relocation, and if Tavares doesn't want to stay in New York because of no assurance of stability, I don't know why he'd want to go to Carolina. Maybe the new owners (has that even happened yet?) can provide some stability for him.
The Rangers also could make a jump, as they are hungry for a Cup with Lundqvist at the helm. Although, they did trade away Stepan and Brassard in an attempt to get younger with the 7th overall, DeAngelo, and Zibanejad. They're a team that's in a limbo state, where they have good young players (Zibanejad, Skjei, Hayes, Miller), but they also have an older group that they want to win a Cup with (Lundqvist, Nash, Zuccarello, McDonagh, Shattenkirk, Smith). It all depends on what direction management wants to take them.
Toronto is going to be tight against the cap when it comes time to signing Matthews, Nylander, and Marner. Don't expect them to go for the big fish in free agency. They're not going to shell out big money for Tavares when they can give the same (or less) money to a younger Matthews with an extra year added on. Not to mention that Matthews is a 1C and they're not going to pay 1C money for a 2C. Pittsburgh is the only team that's wily enough to do that.
Colorado may want to sign Tavares, but I can't see him actually wanting to go to a team that was historically terrible just a season ago. He's in his prime and wants to lead a team to a Cup while he still can. Plus, MacKinnon is still looking Colorado's 1C for the foreseeable future. They already have a decent, young top 6. They'll be more likely to upgrade their blue line and forward depth first.
Dallas is already tight against the cap and have a plethora of centers. Plus, with Spezza having another year at $7.5 million, that prevents any big money moves for at least another year. Then Seguin's extension is going to come up the following season, so I don't see them making a jump at Tavares. Dallas has a lot of money tied up for the near and far-ish future: Benn, Radulov, Bishop, Hanzal, Klingberg, Seguin's extension. Plus extension's needed for their other depth players like Lindell and Faksa.