John Tavares Versus Nicklas Backstrom

[Buck Naked]

Perhaps team success but he has also played on better teams.

In both -19 and -20 Tavares played for some pretty good teams but still couldn't put it together. The Islanders became a playoff power house without him.

 

[Mulletman]

Jesus tap dancing chirst how far can John Tavares fall? Tavares used to be pushed as the 2nd best player in the league back in the day, now he's losing polls to a guy who's been carried by Ovechkin his whole hockey career...

 

[biturbo19]

This is a tricky one. I feel like Tavares has had the bigger, more dynamic absolute "peak" in some respects. But Backstrom has been consistently such a steady top performer all-around, for so long. That's what it really comes down to for me...and i could very easily be swayed either way. But at the moment, i'd be inclined toward the rock steady reliability and all-around ability of Backstrom.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I like Backstrom here. Better all around player.

 

[wetcoast]

In both -19 and -20 Tavares played for some pretty good teams but still couldn't put it together. The Islanders became a playoff power house without him.

True enough but Backstrom stepped into the prime of the best goal scorer of all time.

Their respective playoff resumes aren't that different, except that JT scores more goals, Backstrom gets more assists and up until the Leafs JT had very poor support while Backstrom had a way better supporting cast.

I think that they are close enough that it could be either going when it's all said and done but JT also has the higher true peak between the 2 player here and sometimes that's the difference.

 

[AvroArrow]

But tbh, Tavares has been EXTREMELY underwhelming. The amount of hype this dude got and he has almost nothing to show for it.

Not true. Tavares has been an elite player his entire career. He just never reached that Crosby/Malkin level he was projected to when he was in junior. Almost nothing to show for it is a terrible statement. He's been a legitimate 1C his entire career. He didn't hit his ceiling we all expected but this is a hot take. There's countless elite players who never won a cup. Up until a few years ago Backstrom had never won a cup, JT still has time. I vote Backstrom here, he's the most under rated player maybe ever.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

In both -19 and -20 Tavares played for some pretty good teams but still couldn't put it together. The Islanders became a playoff power house without him.

He scored almost 50 goals in 2019 so I'd say that's pretty good. Playoffs is another story.

 

[Bob and 200 others]

Not true. Tavares has been an elite player his entire career. He just never reached that Crosby/Malkin level he was projected to when he was in junior. Almost nothing to show for it is a terrible statement. He's been a legitimate 1C his entire career. He didn't hit his ceiling we all expected but this is a hot take. There's countless elite players who never won a cup. Up until a few years ago Backstrom had never won a cup, JT still has time. I vote Backstrom here, he's the most under rated player maybe ever.

It is true. Forget about Crosby/Malkin/OV, he never even reached Stamkos level. Zero 90 point seasons only one 40+ goal seasons. Definitely never reached the ceiling most thought he'd have.

 

[Bob and 200 others]

Jesus tap dancing chirst how far can John Tavares fall? Tavares used to be pushed as the 2nd best player in the league back in the day, now he's losing polls to a guy who's been carried by Ovechkin his whole hockey career...

I feel like going to Toronto actually ended up hurting his legacy(so far). Can't use the bad line mates excuse anymore for failing to reach the sort of personal stats that many expected.

 

[Iapyi]

I think Backstrom gets this just because he has the completeness of resume we've kind of waited on Tavares to have throughout his career that hasn't quite materialized (yet?). Looking back at Tavares' pre-Leaf days he never really caught up to his contemporary comparable Steven Stamkos in pure production, didn't quite manage to have the "intangible" success of a Jonathan Toews with the Islanders, and never really separated himself as that generational player people thought he would be scoring 70 plus goals in the OHL 2x years out from his draft year.

The expectations for Backstrom at the beginning of his career was nowhere near as high as Ovechkin's sidekick, but has methodically crossed off a 100 point season, a Stanley Cup, closing in on 1,000 points, etc.

Just to be clear, and not to put words in your mouth, but are you saying that regardless of how these two have fared in their careers that you're picking Backstrom based on what each guys expectations were coming into the NHL?

 

[Varan]

Not true. Tavares has been an elite player his entire career. He just never reached that Crosby/Malkin level he was projected to when he was in junior. Almost nothing to show for it is a terrible statement. He's been a legitimate 1C his entire career. He didn't hit his ceiling we all expected but this is a hot take. There's countless elite players who never won a cup. Up until a few years ago Backstrom had never won a cup, JT still has time. I vote Backstrom here, he's the most under rated player maybe ever.

Nothing really stands out for me when it comes to him. He isn't a good skater, he's a solid all-around player, and that's kind of it. He really struggled in his first few seasons.

I don't think he's going to the HOF

 

[Midnight Judges]

In both -19 and -20 Tavares played for some pretty good teams but still couldn't put it together. The Islanders became a playoff power house without him.

Indeed these past two years have not gone well for Tavares, and it's never a good look when a big name player leaves a team and they get significantly better without him. Happened to Bobby Orr as well.

That said, Backstrom's stats are propped up tremendously by playing with Alex Ovechkin, and it seems a lot of posters are just looking at the points here. Since Tavares entered the league, Backstrom leads the NHL in secondary assists by a pretty large margin - 291, next is 255. JT has 167. An unusual amount of Backstrom's points are powerplay secondary assists - the weakest of all points. Often times those are mundane uncontested perimeter passes back to the point (Green and later Carlson) who then pass to Ovechkin for the one-timer.

In terms of primary points since 09-10, Tavares has 652 to Backstrom's 532. JT has 364 goals to Backstrom's 222.

I don't think there is much difference between them defensively.

I don't know why people are talking so much about hype. It's irrelevant.

JT has been the better player.

 

[Fatass]

I feel like going to Toronto actually ended up hurting his legacy(so far). Can't use the bad line mates excuse anymore for failing to reach the sort of personal stats that many expected.

To be fair to JT he is getting older and isn’t the player he used to be.

 

[AvroArrow]

It is true. Forget about Crosby/Malkin/OV, he never even reached Stamkos level. Zero 90 point seasons only one 40+ goal seasons. Definitely never reached the ceiling most thought he'd have.

Prime Stamkos rivaled Ovechkin. Over 99 percent of the league has never reached Stamkos level.

 

[Stephen]

Just to be clear, and not to put words in your mouth, but are you saying that regardless of how these two have fared in their careers that you're picking Backstrom based on what each guys expectations were coming into the NHL?

No, I’m saying Backstrom has done more in his career in the NHL which makes him better, and Tavares’ reputation has been inflated based on early career expectations.