Everybody loved the JT move and anyone who says otherwise is lying.

I'm still glad we made the move and still want him to stick around at a reasonable cap hit.

Remember when we had Bozak as our 1C? Yeah, things could be a lot worse.

JT has been aging just fine and if he signs a 5M deal, that's not outrageous for him to play 3C or the wing down the road.

Players are way more fit than they used to be too, and JT is a fitness freak who's had very few injuries over the years, so there is reason to believe that he'll be an effective player in 3+ years time.
- gravyface

Uggie loved it a lot ...

This is the third of three spectacular things I thought I'd never see.

The first was drafting Mitch Marner.

Then, winning the lottery and getting Austen Matthews.

Now, the first true star player to leave his original team, during his prime, to take less money, accept more pressure and play for his home town team. Not even Niedermayer did what Tavares is doing as he had already won his Cups.

For this, I will forever be a fan of Tavares just for actually being crazy enough to do this.

(frank)ing yes...finally. Thank you Johnny T.

EvolvingHockey has projected Tavares next contract to be $7.14m x 3 years.
- GalacticStone

Cool.
Didnt they predict Crosby's would be 10m+?

Cool.
Didnt they predict Crosby's would be 10m+?
- Fakepartofme

Yeah and he took a discount

its not a prediction, its a value estimator.

Uggie loved it a lot ...

This is the third of three spectacular things I thought I'd never see.

The first was drafting Mitch Marner.

Then, winning the lottery and getting Austen Matthews.

Now, the first true star player to leave his original team, during his prime, to take less money, accept more pressure and play for his home town team. Not even Niedermayer did what Tavares is doing as he had already won his Cups.

For this, I will forever be a fan of Tavares just for actually being crazy enough to do this.

(frank)ing yes...finally. Thank you Johnny T.

- The Law

Yep, and Rare_Jewel is one of his alts, which makes sense, because he thinks he can backpedal with impunity on JT now.

EvolvingHockey has projected Tavares next contract to be $7.14m x 3 years.
- GalacticStone

Tavares UFA sweepstakes. round 2!

Tavares UFA sweepstakes. round 2!
- senstroll

He's going to San Jose for $14m x 7.

new blog everyone

Yep, and Rare_Jewel is one of his alts, which makes sense, because he thinks he can backpedal with impunity on JT now.
- gravyface

100%

Yep, and Rare_Jewel is one of his alts, which makes sense, because he thinks he can backpedal with impunity on JT now.
- gravyface

is that really him?

hilarious if so
makes sense tho. ultra confident in his opinion and states as fact.

he is probably frantically going back and editing his posts now

Everybody loved the JT move and anyone who says otherwise is lying.

I'm still glad we made the move and still want him to stick around at a reasonable cap hit.

Remember when we had Bozak as our 1C? Yeah, things could be a lot worse.

JT has been aging just fine and if he signs a 5M deal, that's not outrageous for him to play 3C or the wing down the road.

Players are way more fit than they used to be too, and JT is a fitness freak who's had very few injuries over the years, so there is reason to believe that he'll be an effective player in 3+ years time.
- gravyface

I didn't have one post in that whole thread....kinda found that odd TBH. Dozzer deleted them probably.

So I guess I can continue with my "I hate JT" schtick or "he screwed up the Cap for years with the overpayments for the Core 3".

the signing plus the fact that the cap went flat was the reason. if there was the gradual rise like normal, the leafs could have kept some others like Hyman
- senstroll

It was still an overpayment and he didn't deliver.

No, because thats foolish. Hes 34 not 38.
Tanev just signed a 6 year deal for $6m at ar 34, i could see Tre offering JT something similar. Tre likes his old vets.
Maybe a 5x$5m.
- Fakepartofme

Treliving is an idiot for signing that many guys over 35. Adding Tavares would only make him dumber.

What do you mean, "he didn't"?
He was a ppg player his first 3 years and is now average 0.80ppg since he signed (hes a ppg this short season).
We knew the last two years of the contract would be bad, but he had 65pts last season. Its not his fault the leafs and the young core choked away playoff games and series. Its not his fault dubas overpaid matthews and marner.
Its not his fault covid killed any chance of the cap going up as was expected year over year.
Just stop.
- Fakepartofme

He was full value for his contract when he first came to Toronto. Is he now? No. But we all knew that was coming.

He scored the OT goal that won NYI their first playoff round in a couple of decades, he scored the OT goal that won TOR it's first playoff round in almost two decades. He was knocked out in the first game of the playoffs against MTL. I don't buy the argument that he's not a playoff performer. How many cups has Little Joe won?

He didn't get the job done, but it wasn't all about him. It's a team sport. Depth, defence, and goaltending win Stanley Cups, not stars.
- Kinger34

PPG isn't enough to be the 2nd highest paid player. Didn't win the playoffs enough either.

I do not subscribe to these point of view.

These ARE NOT FACTS but your opinion.
- dmnted

No, it's a verifiable fact he was the 2nd highest paid player in the NHL and did not win enough to justify that contract.

TL;DR: I would agree that Tavares probably created around a $13m expense against the cap, but unless the Leafs had a crystal ball, they wouldn't have landed the only player that would have improved their blueline considerably: Pietrangelo in 2020.
- Monkeypunk

They didn't need a crystal ball however, when the opportunity presented itself, they could have done it. That's the benefit of having cap flexibility which they no longer had because they spent too much money on forwards and not enough on defense / goaltending.

You also have to remember the possibility of adding players via trade with the cap space. It's not all about UFA signings.

Everybody loved the JT move and anyone who says otherwise is lying.

I'm still glad we made the move and still want him to stick around at a reasonable cap hit.

Remember when we had Bozak as our 1C? Yeah, things could be a lot worse.

JT has been aging just fine and if he signs a 5M deal, that's not outrageous for him to play 3C or the wing down the road.

Players are way more fit than they used to be too, and JT is a fitness freak who's had very few injuries over the years, so there is reason to believe that he'll be an effective player in 3+ years time.
- gravyface

Everybody loving the signing doesn't make it a good signing by the end of the contract. What was expected was much more than what was delivered. There was no Rocket Richard, no Art Ross, no Hart, no Conn Smythe and most important there was no Stanley Cup. That was the reason for the excitement. It wasn't just to have him wear the jersey. It was supposed to bring results with it. And it hasn't.

If the Leafs had signed Reaves to a contract for 10 AAV per year and everybody was happy about it, it still doesn't mean it's going to win a Cup.

Regardless of how happy everybody was about the Tavares signing, the fact remains, it absolutely has not worked to the Leafs benefit. It hasn't even come close. Unless they win the Cup this year, it won't be.