C John Tavares (2009, 1st overall, NYI) III & IV

[Granlund2Pulkkinen*]

The statement was ridiculous. Anything that starts with "Hey if Joe Thornton can do it...". That's like me saying Hall can score 60 goals and qualifying it by saying "Hey if Alexander Ovechkin can do it...".

Not necessarily.

Tavares could easily end up being better than Thornton... Hall has never been hyped to be better than Ovechkin.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Not necessarily.

Tavares could easily end up being better than Thornton... Hall has never been hyped to be better than Ovechkin.

The only thing the two share in common is being centers. Tavares is a scoring center, Thornton is a playmaking center. If Tavares ever manages to put up 2 consecutive 90 assist seasons, then you can have my liver.

Being better in this comparison is extremely subjective. It's not like comparing Savard to Thornton, whose styles are similar.

 

[Tavaresmagicalplay*]

Not necessarily.

Tavares could easily end up being better than Thornton... Hall has never been hyped to be better than Ovechkin.

Where is this coming from? Tavares is a great young player but he's getting overrated. He could EASILY end up being better? Come on really?

 

[Balls Mahoney]

How many games of Tavares have you seen?

 

[Leaf Rocket]

the sky is the limit...this kid will be better than stamkos.

 

[msv957]

Wow... Some of the these posts are really hyping up Tavares.

He has a lot of things to work on in his game to get to these levels.
120 points???? WOW... Easily better than Joe Thornton?? WOW...

JT has to work on getting stronger and improving his skating/quickness to
get close to these levels. It is a long way to go... IMHO...

Tavares does have great hockey IQ and a great sense to be in the right
place but in order to be at the star level in the NHL he has to work
on his weaknesses. His glaring weakness is skating... Everyone knows this.

I can see Tavares getting 30 goals 30 assists this year.
His best year could be 50 goals 45 assists or so...
I can see Tavares being a consistent top 15-20 point producer
in the NHL which is not bad at all...

 

[mm11]

Wow... Some of the these posts are really hyping up Tavares.

He has a lot of things to work on in his game to get to these levels.
120 points???? WOW... Easily better than Joe Thornton?? WOW...

JT has to work on getting stronger and improving his skating/quickness to
get close to these levels. It is a long way to go... IMHO...

Tavares does have great hockey IQ and a great sense to be in the right
place but in order to be at the star level in the NHL he has to work
on his weaknesses. His glaring weakness is skating... Everyone knows this.

I can see Tavares getting 30 goals 30 assists this year.
His best year could be 50 goals 45 assists or so...
I can see Tavares being a consistent top 15-20 point producer
in the NHL which is not bad at all...

one thing I am not sure you know about JT is he is a very determined young man. He knows his weaknesses, his first year he just sat in the weeds and took everything in. i do recall a ton of chances he set up only to have guys whiff or basically not expect to get the puck. JT's playmaking skills are almost elite IMO as well.

I see Joe Sakic numbers one day. Sniper/playmaker mix with a ton of determination. Joe was not the greatest skater as well IMO. Used his edges like an art form to which hopefully JT can master. If so, guys like Okposo, el Nino, Moulsen, comeau, Bailey, Schremp, Kabanov and co better learn to be finishers or the Isles will bring in hired guns to play with JT. Very underrated in this department I feel and was quite shocked it was this good

the folks who studied his game in junior, did he set up plays all game or just pounced on chances and buried them, because JT was a magician just about all year with limited help


good thread

 

[Bjorn Le]

Where is this coming from? Tavares is a great young player but he's getting overrated. He could EASILY end up being better? Come on really?

Tavares easily has a top 5 Hockey IQ in the league, probably even top 3. And hes only 20.

Its completely ok to think its possible for Tavares to easily pass Thornton. His potential is so high.

 

[dubey]

I don't think he has the speed to score more than 40-45 goals or 85-90 points in the NHL. He'll still put up great numbers though.

 

[91Kadri91*]

It's great that you have these high expectations but look at Crosby and Ovechkin and their supporting casts and neither has come near those type of point numbers. I think that's a stretch expecting that.

First of all, Crosby doesn't have a supporting staff. I mean, sure Pittsburgh has the best 3 center tandem in the league, but Crosby doesn't play on a line with Staal or Malkin (although they are trying to convert Malkin to wing, but we'll see how that turns out), and sure, they're defense has improved, but Crosby has absolutely nobody on his wings. If you want to talk about supporting staff, talk about Ovechkin.

As for you're line about neither have come close to those numbers, I think you might want to look up your stats. Crosby got 120 points in his 2nd year in the league.

 

[Charlie McAdaddy]

I think there's some serious overating going on here. I predict 40ish goals and 95 points max for his best season.

 

[Felix Unger]

The only thing the two share in common is being centers. Tavares is a scoring center, Thornton is a playmaking center. If Tavares ever manages to put up 2 consecutive 90 assist seasons, then you can have my liver.

Tavares won't put up 90 assists, but the comparison to Thornton for someone who actually watches Tavares a lot isn't so bizarre. Tavares doesn't have that kind of size or strength, but his puck protection and passing along the boards is reminiscent of Thornton.

Tavares will neither be a pure goal scorer nor a pure playmaker. He'll flash both. I think he'll end up being a far more complete player than Thornton.

I also think he's going to develop into a far better defensive player than people expect.

I think the chances of JT winning the Conn Smythe someday exceed his chances of scoring 60.

Cheers,

Dan-o

 

[Granlund2Pulkkinen*]

Nobody was saying Tavares=Thornton... We were just talking about who'd be better.


Like I said ... two types of people.
People who over rate players today vs players of tomorrow (no prospect will ever turn out as good as any players playing today) and people who overrate players of tomorrow vs players of today (prospects today will be better than any player who has played lately)

 

[startainfection*]

top 3 in scoring for consecutive years

 

[Jumbo*]

Tavares might be the most overrated player on this forum. Guy is slow as a turtle, he's looking at a ok career, nothing HoF worthy.

 

[Granlund2Pulkkinen*]

Tavares might be the most overrated player on this forum. Guy is slow as a turtle, he's looking at a ok career, nothing HoF worthy.

Players don't really need speed to be great when you have the smarts Tavares does...

 

[bert]

If Spezza's skating can improve the way it has since he was a teen (which is roughly what Tavares skating is/was).

I see now reason why Tavares cant.

I actually see him more as a power forward type with excellent hockey sense. I think his max out will be 50 and 50 which is incredible....

 

[smokes lets go]

well i've heard islanders fans say that his skating has tremendously improved since being drafted and he worked on it all last summer, if he improves his conditioning so he is able to handle an 82 game scheadule this year i can see a 70 point campaign from him

 

[The Scouting Report]

Players don't really need speed to be great when you have the smarts Tavares does...

He's not that slow either, that's pretty erroneous statement from the previous poster. Tavares has deceptive speed and he can make high end moves at his top speed, those are both two highly underrated skills that a hockey player can have.

 

[Granlund2Pulkkinen*]

Let's take Matt Duchene and John Tavares to the Island of Dr. Moreau and get them combined.

 

[msv957]

Tavares might be the most overrated player on this forum. Guy is slow as a turtle, he's looking at a ok career, nothing HoF worthy.

Tavares does get some serious hype on these boards.. However, he was drafted first overall for a reason and most scouts seem to know what they are doing... Most first overall drafts do pan out, but there have been some exceptions... Tavares definately needs to work on his skating/quickness. However, He has every other quality besides skating that a star player needs to be a star player....

 

[Hale The Villain]

If Spezza's skating can improve the way it has since he was a teen (which is roughly what Tavares skating is/was).

I see now reason why Tavares cant.

I actually see him more as a power forward type with excellent hockey sense. I think his max out will be 50 and 50 which is incredible....

This. Spezza was an average skater coming out of the OHL like Tavares and now can fly. He's not the quickest guy but give him the puck for an end-to-end rush and there's no stopping him.

Tavares could be the same in a couple of years.

 

[Mulletman*]

Can we compare John Tavares to Patrick Kane actually?

Can we compare John Tavares to Patrick Kane actually? Who do you guys think will ahve the better career point-wise?

 

[boredmale]

Not that I think Tavares game is anything like these guys but I see Tavares career at a level like Thornton or Lecavalier, basically he will be a star player/borderline superstar

 

[GetThePuckOut]

I think Tavares will be better than Thornton.

It's kinda ridiculous how timid people are with their projections on this board. I've seen people say Paajarvi will top out at 60 points. And that Tavares will be an 80 point player for his career?? People have no idea what they're talking about here.