How Good Is Tavares Right Now?

[dlawong]

He is probably one of the hardest working captain out there and take his games very seriously, also a very good teammates and friend. He has incredible body strength and handles the puck extremely well and definitely not selfish when it comes to play. However he does not yet have the elite shot from outside the parameters and his release need to be faster to reach 40 + goals per season.

He however is not without some weakness - shoot out, defensive zone coverage when fore-checked and sometimes those blank passes I do not know why he makes. He is very decent on the draw but there are centers in this league with better averages. He tried very hard on PK but I do not think he has the speed nor puck blocking skill for that role but can fill in as needed. He does get frustrated when being blanket checked.

I do believe his greatest assets is his intangible and that is valuable when you coupled with skills and competitiveness. I do think his confidence can go to another level and that will help him to reach his full potentials.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

He is probably one of the hardest working captain out there and take his games very seriously, also a very good teammates and friend. He has incredible body strength and handles the puck extremely well and definitely not selfish when it comes to play. However he does not yet have the elite shot from outside the parameters and his release need to be faster to reach 40 + goals per season.

He however is not without some weakness - shoot out, defensive zone coverage when fore-checked and sometimes those blank passes I do not know why he makes. He is very decent on the draw but there are centers in this league with better averages. He tried very hard on PK but I do not think he has the speed nor puck blocking skill for that role but can fill in as needed. He does get frustrated when being blanket checked.

I do believe his greatest assets is his intangible and that is valuable when you coupled with skills and competitiveness. I do think his confidence can go to another level and that will help him to reach his full potentials.

He's entering his age 28 season, with almost 700 NHL games played. There's no reason to talk about "potential".

 

[snakeye]

You think you’re so smart and hip as a bip with this answer

Yet you went with “centre’s”

I bet “the sedin’s” just retired too

He got "re-signs" right. Just sayin'

 

[rielledup]

There might be nobody in the NHL that elevates the performance and production of his line mates more than Tavares.

- PA Parenteau scored 67 points with Tavares.
- Matt Moulson scored 69 points with Tavares.
- Kyle Okposo had 69 points with Tavares.

None of these 3 players had played 30 NHL games before they joined the NYI. None of them scored more than 45 points in a season after they left the Islanders. Moulson and Parenteau played their last NHL games before the age of 35 and at age 30 right now, I'm not expecting Okposo to buck that trend.

Now, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey are having some serious success with Tavares. Anders Lee just scored 40 goals. Josh Bailey just had 70 points. You've got a bunch of guys who were not NHLers before they played with Tavares, and all of a sudden, they start playing with big Johnny T, and they're all producing like above average first line forwards? And as soon as they leave Tavares, none of them can score 50 points once?

Tavares is an elite franchise superstar Stanley Cup #1C; no questions asked.

Parenteau and Molson both left NYI as they were entering their 30's but their seasons immediately after leaving NYI suggests that in their prime they were better than people gave them credit for. Parenteau had 43 points in 48 games the year after leaving NYI and was tied with Duchesne for most points on the Avs. Matt Moulson had 29 pts in 44 games with the sabres in the season after he left the NYI on an absolutley atrocious offensive team where Cody Hodgson led the team with 44 points. That puts him on pace for a team leading 54 points.

JT is an star player but he is not a superstar and not as good as a lot of people think he is. He played on a good offensive team this year that had the 8th most goals in the league and he was still only 16th in points, well behind the true superstars in the league and not even first on his own team.

 

[FerrisRox]

He may hit the free agent market this summer. Is a top 10 player? A top 10 centre?

He hasn't cracked the top 15 in scoring since 2015. This past season he finished second in scoring on his team. He finished in the top 10 in Selke voting in 2017, but some believe he is not good at all defensively.

Where would you rank him among Cs and players and how much would you pay him?

He is very good.

He is not a top ten player.

I recently ranked top ten centres and for me, he came in at #6

 

[WillyFirstofhisName]

You think you’re so smart and hip as a bip with this answer

Yet you went with “centre’s”

I bet “the sedin’s” just retired too

You think you're so smart (and bip as hip ) thinking it's reasonable to spend any amount of time thinking of a lame retort to one typo

 

[tony d]

Top 10 player right now.

 

[ScaredStreit]

That seems like a crappy criteria, to be honest. That hurts guys like Ovechkin and Stamkos, who were picked ahead of Malkin and Hedman, while it helps guys like Phillips and Berard, who only has to compete with guys like JP Dumont and Wade Redden.

Parenteau and Molson both left NYI as they were entering their 30's but their seasons immediately after leaving NYI suggests that in their prime they were better than people gave them credit for. Parenteau had 43 points in 48 games the year after leaving NYI and was tied with Duchesne for most points on the Avs. Matt Moulson had 29 pts in 44 games with the sabres in the season after he left the NYI on an absolutley atrocious offensive team where Cody Hodgson led the team with 44 points. That puts him on pace for a team leading 54 points.

JT is an star player but he is not a superstar and not as good as a lot of people think he is. He played on a good offensive team this year that had the 8th most goals in the league and he was still only 16th in points, well behind the true superstars in the league and not even first on his own team.

Moulson scored 30+ goals 3 years in a row with Tavares (the 4th year was the lockout, but scored 15 in 47 games). Before that he had 6 career goals, after his goal high has been 14.

PAP's career high in points before Tavares was 8. Scored 54, then 67 with him. Afterwards his career high was 43.

Okposo with Tavares was a ~65 point player, he hasn't scored more than 45 points since.

In 47 games with Tavares Vanek scored 44 points. He's still been a good player since-but his PPG percentage is significantly lower.

Since his breakout season (2012) Tavares is 3rd in goals and 6th in points.

 

[Mortiest Morty]

If Tavares signs in Toronto he will be overrated according to fans of other teams on HFBoards.

If Tavares re-signs with the Islanders or any other team but Toronto, he's ranked where he should be among other centre's in the NHL.

Poor Leafs fans

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

I'm not so sure... If McDavid is a 10 then maybe Tavares is an 8?

 

[Scott Stevens]

You think you're so smart (and bip as hip ) thinking it's reasonable to spend any amount of time thinking of a lame retort to one typo

It happened immediately
And I am so f***ing far away from places and things like smart and hip as a bip that I would need a hundred years in a Ferrari to get there.

 

[Scott Stevens]

He got "re-signs" right. Just sayin'

So he’s kinda smart. Plan the parade.

 

[rielledup]

Moulson scored 30+ goals 3 years in a row with Tavares (the 4th year was the lockout, but scored 15 in 47 games). Before that he had 6 career goals, after his goal high has been 14.

PAP's career high in points before Tavares was 8. Scored 54, then 67 with him. Afterwards his career high was 43.

Okposo with Tavares was a ~65 point player, he hasn't scored more than 45 points since.

In 47 games with Tavares Vanek scored 44 points. He's still been a good player since-but his PPG percentage is significantly lower.

Since his breakout season (2012) Tavares is 3rd in goals and 6th in points.

Both were late bloomers that didn't stick in the nhl until mid 20's, their first year post NYI shows they were pretty good in their own right.

Using JT's overall points isn't very relevant for the discussion at hand which is how good is he right now, some of the players who are better than him weren't around during the start of that time period. Right now he was only 16th in points on a very good offensive team. So what's the logical argument for how he is a true superstar?

 

[ScaredStreit]

Both were late bloomers that didn't stick in the nhl until mid 20's, their first year post NYI shows they were pretty good in their own right.

Using JT's overall points isn't very relevant for the discussion at hand which is how good is he right now, some of the players who are better than him weren't around during the start of that time period. Right now he was only 16th in points on a very good offensive team. So what's the logical argument for how he is a true superstar?

So you're saying those players go from waiver wire material (literally) to 1st/2nd line players just because of their age and it's a coincidence that they played with Tavares? Right... Again Moulson went from being a 5 goal player to a 30 goal scorer with Tavares...and since leaving the Islanders his high in goals is 13. You might consider that "pretty good", but when a guy is consistently scoring 30 goals and then turns into a 10 goal scorer that's a drastic drop.

Also pointing out that the Isles had a very good offensive team helps Tavares's argument as he was their offensive leader.

Looking at just one season's production is indicative of what the player is always going to do, you need a larger sample size. By this logic Cheechoo Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Selanne, etc.

How Tavares not a star player?

 

[CartographerNo611]

He has made careers fot Moulson, Lee, and Okposo so there is that. If he leaves the Islanders its going to set back the Islanders a decade.

 

[Kamiccolo]

If Tavares signs in Toronto he will be overrated according to fans of other teams on HFBoards.

If Tavares re-signs with the Islanders or any other team but Toronto, he's ranked where he should be among other centre's in the NHL.

Pretty accurate post based on what I have been reading the last week or so.

 

[PsYcNeT]

Man you wouldn't know that Toronto had a competitive team with the amount of self-martyring the fanbase does every day.

 

[HarrisonFord]

Forwards that are definitely better than him:

McDavid
Crosby
Malkin
Kucherov

Forwards he's in the conversation with:

Kopitar
Giroux
Stamkos
MacKinnon
Ovechkin

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Pretty accurate post based on what I have been reading the last week or so.

Oh, the self righteous martyr bump.
SURELY, this will get people to feel sypathetic about my fan base.

But let’s just ignore all the ridiculous shit also said by my fan base because we are victims.

 

[Damisoph]

Pretty good

 

[66-30-33]

Since he's now a Leaf...him and Matthews are the best players in the NHL.

Right? right?

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

Tavares is around 6-7 best Centers in the game.

Ehhh. Thinking about it.. he’s close to my top 5 centers. I’d give him a tie at 5th.

 

[ijuka]

Probably so good that Leafs now have 2 top 5 centers in NHL.

 

[X66]

He's a franchise center that is elite both offensively and defensively.

Over the last 3 years, he's a top 5 center in the NHL.

Just to show, I believed this before he signed with Toronto and I had him for a lock with the Sharks.

 

[Damisoph]

Since he's now a Leaf...him and Matthews are the best players in the NHL.

Right? right?

he said it, not me.