Should there be any validity to the "unsupported garbage" how would we know anyway?
The reality is ...
- Many speculated Tavares would sign in Toronto dating back MULTIPLE years, some of which are respected hockey personalities and media figures.
- Tavares himself dismissed this kind of speculation, which was well documented here: Complete Encyclopedia of Tavares telling the Leafs to get lost [Updated 9/7/17]
- Tavares talked a big game about wanting to be "an Islander for life" and referencing the Dynasty era guys quite regularly.
- Tavares referenced all that goes into a decision like the direction of the team, arena, etc. - A brand new state of the art facility approved, Lamoriello and Trotz were not good enough to keep him around
- There are conflicting reports on whether or not he asked not to be traded at the deadline or whether Snow told him he would not be traded - he felt as Captain he needed to stay and go on a cold streak in the thick of the season.
- Based on his statements, on no account did he entertain the idea of himself being traded for the sake of preserving assets for the NYI organization and moving the team forward - he talked about "the process" and "lifting a cup here" an awful lot for a guy that went into free agency and treated the Islanders no different then any other team, participating in the Hollywood-esque spectacle that was his listening period
- Shortly after inking a deal with the Leafs, he spoke of his "Childhood Dream" - the one he just recalled after all of those years, serendipitously, during the listening period. There he is, elementary aged, clad in Leafs PJ's, adorable.
- Referring to Barzal as "the kid who won the calder"
- The PR job he spun up on the Players Tribune in response to the aforementioned.
I don't know what you are expecting in terms of conclusive evidence - what do you want? A journal entry? An audio file of him saying he's out? An SMS Emoji he sent Babcock? Considering all of the circumstantial evidence, this stinks like sh!t and i'm surprised as a veteran fan of the game that you haven't caught a whiff yet.
Perhaps, this wasn't as vindictive as some claim, but it certainly doesn't feel as pure and innocent as the apologists make it. The bottom line is the final failure falls on management, because they bought the bull story John was selling, till the moment he signed in Toronto. Tavares at the very least wanted to explore FA at the TDL, that is fair to say. The Isles brass was completely enamored with their franchise guy and totally blind to the reality that he was likely walking. A trade at the deadline that yielded a 1st Rounder and Prospect at MINIMUM would in no way shape or form interfere with Tavares ability to re-sign with the Islanders if he was in fact interested in returning. He wasn't.
He put up with a ton of crap and endured some awful seasons on Long Island, that's very true. But the last few seasons he moped around and many on these boards speculated he had one foot out the door (including myself), we were mocked and told to stop reading between the lines. Except when all was said and done, there was something to read between the lines and actually happened to be true.
Panarin has no connection to Columbus and he and his camp are being transparent with that organization, to the degree that they will likely get significant assets for him in a trade. Tavares earned the right to be a free agent and he didn't break any rules but he did string along an entire locker room and an entire fan base in a very long drawn fashion. I'm done writing on the topic, since it gets old very fast. I think Tavares is an excellent hockey player and great professional, as his teammates have called him. But I have doubts about how fit he was for captaincy. I for one do not know of any so called leaders who jump ship when things get tough, even if they've earned the right to do so and especially after they talked about getting that ship on course to the destination (the cup) so many times.