Who's better Tavares or Stamkos?

David

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Feb 28, 2002
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John Tavares is only 6 months older then Stamkos.

At this stage and age of a young hockey player's development, you should know that 6 months can mean night and day...just as a reference, see how Sidney Crosby was at his last WJC and 6 months later at the Penguin's training camp.

Also, as noted above, Tavares is younger than Stamkos.
 

toastman344*

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David :
think that this was more of a knee jerk reaction by many to the poor showing that Tavares had during the Russia Canada series...

Its true that most expected considerably more from Tavares in the Summit series...Still in my mind , he was a bit snake bit . He did have a lot of great scoring chances & missed. Furthermore, at the end ( if I'm not mistaken ) he still somehow managed to finish second in team scoring, behind Gagner...

Less we forget, Gagner did next to nothing ( other than take foolish penalties ) @ the WJ's at 17...

So its fair to say that a 16yr old Tavares in the Summit was much > than a 17 yr old Gagner in U20's...

Btw where was Stamkos during the Summit ? ...Ah yes, watching on TV :)

Fast forward to November, and Tavares at 17 is making mincemeat of the OHL...AGAIN

Of course Tavares > than Stamkos....Hell, its a NO BRAINER !
 

Safir*

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Which current or ex-NHL players compare best to Tavares and Stamkos?
 

TheLeastOfTheBunch

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Jun 28, 2007
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What is so wrong?

Tavares has an incredible nose for the net, just like Bossy. Stamkos is more flashy and has a great wrist shot, great hands, hockey sense..

Bossy is the purest and best sniper ever to play in the NHL. Joe Sakic has an incredible, incredible vision, playmaking abilities, etc. BTW, I don't even see Joe Sakic in Stamkos.

John Tavares is more like Brett Hull.
 

Granlund2Pulkkinen*

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Tavares is Phil Esposito
Stamkos is a talented (more talented that is) Maxim Afinoganov
 

Safir*

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Esposito is a nice praise for Tavares. Wow! Afinogenov? Stamkos has exhibited the abilty to score goals in bunches. The Russian winger tends to rack up more assists.

How do players like Hawerchuk or Lafontaine compare to the two young OHL'ers? (forget to mentioned those two in my post, earlier.)
 

Blind Gardien

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Apr 2, 2004
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Bossy is the purest and best sniper ever to play in the NHL. Joe Sakic has an incredible, incredible vision, playmaking abilities, etc. BTW, I don't even see Joe Sakic in Stamkos.

John Tavares is more like Brett Hull.
I don't find Tavares to be like Brett Hull as much. I like the Bossy comparison a lot better. I don't know how many people around here anymore even really saw Bossy play. But I think he tends to be underrated for some of the things he was capable of doing, but maybe wasn't necessarily known for... his puckhandling and vision - when he chose to display those attributes - were good, and he could play at both ends too when called upon. I see those things emerging in Tavares. Everybody thinks, wow, he might score 80-100 goals, so he's a pure finisher/sniper/etc. But he's doing more with the puck every year, he will walk around guys and make some sweet passes and so on more frequently now than ever. And he gets a lot of goals a bit closer in to the net too, not so much of a one-timer-from-the-slot machine like Hull was.

I don't think I've settled yet on who I want to compare Stamkos to. There are things which don't click for me on a Sakic or Yzerman level. Although maybe again, thinking back to the young Yzerman, before he really established his warrior legend, well, that might be close. I mean, just basing it on what he does with the puck, how he moves in the offensive zone, etc. Leaving aside the character/leadership/warrior side of it for now. :dunno:
 

RUSqueelin*

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Nov 2, 2005
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Bossy is the purest and best sniper ever to play in the NHL. Joe Sakic has an incredible, incredible vision, playmaking abilities, etc. BTW, I don't even see Joe Sakic in Stamkos.

John Tavares is more like Brett Hull.

JT doesn't play anything like Brett Hull.
 

Tinalera

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Feb 3, 2007
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No real offense intended towards Justin DiBenedetto or Devin Didiomete, but I just find it's hard for a single player to really control play 5-on-5 anymore. Those guys just aren't Brett MacLean. But then when you add Wilson and Katic on the point, get Didiomete doing his thing down low, it's a much better opportunity for the line to function to its strengths. I think it's a situation that's very common in the OHL these past few seasons. A really good PP unit can really pile up the points with the frequency of minor penalty calls these days. And despite the somewhat slow start for Sarnia overall, I think the Stamkos line has generally been + or even so far.

I find Stamkos to really be paying attention (sometimes too much attention?) to watching his duties, to coming back, maybe not always taking the risks and chances that he could be. I've only seen 3 games, mind you.

That said, I've also been impressed with Tavares so far this year... with Clutterbuck gone, I guess it's natural that Tavares would start taking some more responsibility, and he's looking better in the faceoff circle and on the PK than I ever recall. It's a natural progression for a player to step up with such responsibilities as he gains seniority in the league, but it's still good to see that the progression is there with Tavares.

I get a chance to watch Stamkos every game, and he does score a fair bit on even strength, he's not just about PP. From what I've read about Stamkos and seen, he's trying to learn all aspects of the game-he wants to be on PP, PK, even strength. Sometimes he may be paying too much attention, but I think I'd rather see that with them wanting to learn the game and where the play is going to be, not where it currently is, and he's getting the instincts for that.

As far as vs Travares, they're two different players entirely, both talented, who do different things really well.

I do see Stamkos as a Yzerman in ability, he's got great hockey sense, isn't afraid to share the puck if it's a better opportunity and seems to have the respect of his teammates- does he have leadership? Hard to say, but I'll give him a few years to work on that.
 

DayQuil*

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No

Tavares is a generational talent.

Stamkos is not.

That is not a knock on Stamkos, he is a great player, but Tavares has a much higher ceiling.
 

Qubax

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I'm really starting to wonder who will be better...maybe Tavares is a VERY GOOD player who happened to develop earlier physically then most kids of his age group making him appear like a GREAT player...

it could be that his age group is catching up....

interms of Stamkos he'll go number 1....I'm becoming convinced of that and I'd think the gap between them is shrinking...

gonna be a feather in Stamkos hat if he makes the WJC and Tavares does not...
 
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Shane

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Why is everyone getting down on Tavares? He's still leading the OHL in scoring. And he has 17 more points than Stamkos. So he's not dominating as some people expected, big deal. He's still the best player in the league, and still the best prospect in next year's draft.
 

SilverSeven

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Apr 16, 2007
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I'm really starting to wonder who will be better...maybe Tavares is a VERY GOOD player who happened to develop earlier physically then most kids of his age group making him appear like a GREAT player...

it could be that his age group is catching up....

interms of Stamkos he'll go number 1....I'm becoming convinced of that and I'd think the gap between them is shrinking...

gonna be a feather in Stamkos hat if he makes the WJC and Tavares does not...

Except that Tavares was playing with people older than him last year...kind of throwing that theory out the window.
 

Qubax

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Well yah but maybe at 15 years old Tavares has the body of a 17.5 year old...then once Tavares hit's 17.5 years old he's only improved to 18 years old...MEaning that he really developed 2 and a half years ahead when he was younger....and now that he's getting to be closer to his draft date....other kids, older then him, younger then him....in and around the same age as him aren't looking as inferior...
 

5mn Major

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Jan 14, 2006
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Compared to other years top draft picks Stamkos seems quite overrated. Much of it has to do with the inbred nature of the board.

Stamkos would have been below:

Ovechkin
Crosby
EJ
Kane

...and unless there's an implosion..

Tavares
 

DayQuil*

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I think the story should be Stamkos vs Doughty, I know they play different positions, but these are the 2 kids fighting for the #1 spot in the coming draft.

Im more high on Doughty than Stamkos... both are great players, but Doughty has just really impressed me from what I have seen from him... I think it will be down between those 2 for the number one pick, I personally would go with Doughty...
 

SilverSeven

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Apr 16, 2007
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Well yah but maybe at 15 years old Tavares has the body of a 17.5 year old...then once Tavares hit's 17.5 years old he's only improved to 18 years old...MEaning that he really developed 2 and a half years ahead when he was younger....and now that he's getting to be closer to his draft date....other kids, older then him, younger then him....in and around the same age as him aren't looking as inferior...

Well....even if he was 17.5 he would have been COMPLETELY dominant last year.

Hell he coulda been 19 and it woulda been amazing.
 

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