John Tavares

[ndgolden]

Yes let's worry about the guy who almost won the Art Ross this year, turned the franchise around, and is the captain of this team. That makes no sense whatsoever. Lee has been given a chance on many lines this season and has been invisible. So yes, I am more worried about Lee not bouncing back rather than Tavares.

I would add Lee is second on the team in puck possession corsi, top 60 in the league in all Corsi scenarios. SOG are tops on the team per 60/PGM despite not playing 4 v 4 or OT. 4th forward on team in hits. The big difference is shooting % at nearly 6% were career is a 12+, Playing with Frans who is playing for a big contract will have him seeing less passes and looking for more rebounds. Franz is doubling his SOG this year and for good reason.

Lee makes 2 million this year fyi, and yet to ever miss a game due to injury. The tide will change I predict. I can accept the reduction in goal production for now, as his overall game and skating has greatly improved in other areas.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

Yes let's worry about the guy who almost won the Art Ross this year, turned the franchise around

And how many playoff series have the Isles won since he turned it around?

and is the captain of this team.

Absolutely, how dare I be critical of the Isles captain. I'll make sure i'm the first and last to do it.

That makes no sense whatsoever. Lee has been given a chance on many lines this season and has been invisible.

And JT has been visible, visibly frustrated, hesitant to use his line mates and the majority of the time, completely uninterested in playing defense in our zone.

Once again, if the guy who almost won the Art Ross has 7 more points than the guy you deem 'invisible', shouldn't that be a cause for concern?

So yes, I am more worried about Lee not bouncing back rather than Tavares.

Lee is a complimentary player, him being on his 'A' game helps us.
Tavares is a key cog, him being on anything less than his 'A' game for extended periods hurts us.

I don't expect him to light up the lamp every night, but he's got 3 points in 10 games. For a total of.....

* Get the marching band out *

1 More Point than Lee.

I can't tell you who to worry about and we all have our opinion. Please watch him tonight and tell me sincerely your impressed with his effort and play.

 

[YearlyLottery]

And how many playoff series have the Isles won since he turned it around?



Absolutely, how dare I be critical of the Isles captain. I'll make sure i'm the first and last to do it.



And JT has been visible, visibly frustrated, hesitant to use his line mates and the majority of the time, completely uninterested in playing defense in our zone.

Once again, if the guy who almost won the Art Ross has 7 more points than the guy you deem 'invisible', shouldn't that be a cause for concern?



Lee is a complimentary player, him being on his 'A' game helps us.
Tavares is a key cog, him being on anything less than his 'A' game for extended periods hurts us.

I don't expect him to light up the lamp every night, but he's got 3 points in 10 games. For a total of.....

* Get the marching band out *

1 More Point than Lee.

I can't tell you who to worry about and we all have our opinion. Please watch him tonight and tell me sincerely your impressed with his effort and play.

How many teams has JT had given to him that should have won a playoff series.. Really? You want to argue about him not turning the franchise around? Who was our last franchise player before him? Oh right, our hope was Josh Bailey

Tavares is going through a rough streak, did I say I thought he looked awesome? No. Lee has looked terrible, remember when Colin McDonald outplayed him in the playoffs and took his spot?

You take the last 10 games and I'll take the last 3 years worth of production. Tavares will rebound soon enough, let's all calm down.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

How many teams has JT had given to him that should have won a playoff series.. Really? You want to argue about him not turning the franchise around? Who was our last franchise player before him? Oh right, our hope was Josh Bailey

Tavares is going through a rough streak, did I say I thought he looked awesome? No. Lee has looked terrible, remember when Colin McDonald outplayed him in the playoffs and took his spot?

You take the last 10 games and I'll take the last 3 years worth of production. Tavares will rebound soon enough, let's all calm down.

I've said it many times, and it was said by some during his draft year. Some guys are great alone and make everyone else around them shine. Then other guys need good support to stay at their ceiling and can't elevate everyone all the time. JT to me is the second one but that isn't how the club is built.

 

[Rhino1985]

Strome had an interesting quote a few weeks back about what it feels like to play with Tavares.

“Johnny can be a tough guy to play with,†Strome said. “You have to learn as you go, and sometimes just take the bull by the horns. That’s why Kyle is so good with him. He’s got his own game. That’s something I’m trying to develop.â€

I've never thought Okposo and Tavares were a good combo, but Strome does bring up an interesting point. Okposo is a seasoned veteran who knows what his game is and has the confidence to make a play. Strome, Nelson, and Lee spend a lot of time watching Tavares or looking to get him the puck instead of making the right play. Sometimes it seems like they are more concerned with being complimentary players than they are with making the right hockey play.

 

[HumphreyBrogart]

Strome had an interesting quote a few weeks back about what it feels like to play with Tavares.

“Johnny can be a tough guy to play with,†Strome said. “You have to learn as you go, and sometimes just take the bull by the horns. That’s why Kyle is so good with him. He’s got his own game. That’s something I’m trying to develop.â€

I've never thought Okposo and Tavares were a good combo, but Strome does bring up an interesting point. Okposo is a seasoned veteran who knows what his game is and has the confidence to make a play. Strome, Nelson, and Lee spend a lot of time watching Tavares or looking to get him the puck instead of making the right play. Sometimes it seems like they are more concerned with being complimentary players than they are with making the right hockey play.

On a recent episode of MvsW they were talking about part of the difficulty of finding Sid a winger is that for all his talent, Sid can be tough for wingers to play with. There's a reason why he played so much with Kunitz and Dupuis and that's because they worked well with him. Tavares also thinks the game at a very high level, so that can be tough for others to adapt to.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

Just an aside, as of last night Tavares was the second highest forward in the league in the average time per shift category at 54+ seconds. Only Ovechkin was ahead of him and the numbers dropped drastically from there. OV is a physical freak of nature and could probably play 30 minutes a game in 4th or 5th gear so I wouldn't get all excited that Tavares is finally stepping his time down. He was better at it in the beginning of the season, but that corrected itself in a negative way over the past 20 games.

If the coaching staff can't correct this problem and if his team mates won't touch the subject it will remain a problem.

 

[kmo429]

For me, Tavares's rough stretch is exactly that. Players, even the generational talents like Crosby, Gretzky, etc., go through them. He has 3 goals and ZERO assists in the last 11 games. He was 10-10-20 in 19 games before this rough stretch. Just as he is going through the rough stretch, John will go through insanely hot stretches this season. His biggest problem to me is that not only have line mates changed multiple times this year, but the #1 PP unit has not even been consistent all year. Just as (as someone posted above) Strome said it is tough to play with JT, implying it takes a veteran who has their own game to mesh with JT, JT NO DOUBT has a tough time playing with other guys when he has to adjust tot different style of play in his line mates constantly. Now he's had Okie and Nelson on his line for a bit, so some chemistry could have been established, but once again, he's going through a tough times.

Sooner or later (My guess is within the next 3/4 games,) JT will break out with a really solid multi-point effort, and go on to have a crazy hot stretch (something like 25 points in 15 games,) as we've seen him do so many times before. All of a sudden he'll be above a PPG again and on pace to meet/exceed his points total last year.

Hopefully Lee, in KO's place, can click with JT. I really think that is the combo that will work. Tavares is always gonna be the kind of guy to create his own space. If you have someone on his line who can focus on playing between the dots and net, eventually once they establish the chemistry, it will be a deadly combination. Personally, I think Lee-JT-Strome, although it has been tried and failed, can be one of the best lines in the NHL as soon as this year if they can learn to play together and establish chemistry.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

I've never thought Okposo and Tavares were a good combo, but Strome does bring up an interesting point. Okposo is a seasoned veteran who knows what his game is and has the confidence to make a play. Strome, Nelson, and Lee spend a lot of time watching Tavares or looking to get him the puck instead of making the right play. Sometimes it seems like they are more concerned with being complimentary players than they are with making the right hockey play.

True. Okposo and Tavares wind up playing right on top of one another as linemates. Many time I noticed they are chasing the same puck, both trying to gain possession, drive the play, etc. This is good under certain circumstances but when the puck get's turned over it's an odd man rush back towards our end.

I really respect Tavares and it's obvious what his strengths are. He's wearing too many hats right now, we need a reliable, shifty player to gain the zone and then get him the puck, let him work his magic once we've gained the zone. Seems like he tries to do everything and it is counter productive.

 

[The Underboss]

John Tavares thru 32 Games Played:

2014: 12 G 15 A - 27 Points
2015: 13 G 12 A - 25 Points

Doesn't seem like it, right? #Isles

Maybe his slumps isn't so bad.

 

[crasherino]

Maybe his slumps isn't so bad.

I think we're forgetting how slow a start he had last year. Mostly because the team was playing so well. He got hot when the team became mediocre. I'm not sure what the correlation is there, but it happened pretty much in tandem.

 

[doublechili]

I recall posting last winter that I had a crazy feeling JT would end up among the league scoring leaders by the end of the year. Meaning, he was so far down that the idea seemed crazy at the time.

 

[doublechili]

I have a crazy feeling JT will end up among the league scoring leaders by the end of the year.

There, that's taken care of.

 

[FourRings]

Maybe his slumps isn't so bad.

I saw this too but then I remembered that he was coming back from an injury last season. I hope his production picks up drastically.

 

[Seph]

I saw this too but then I remembered that he was coming back from an injury last season. I hope his production picks up drastically.

He started off last season playing great (11 pts in the first 7 games) so it certainly didn't seem like the injury was a factor.

 

[42]

November and December have been Tavares' weakest months for production. He shines in January every year.

Month GP Points
October 62 65
November 79 58
December 79 61
January 75 86
February 66 58
March 71 61
April 32 37

 

[A Pointed Stick]

Maybe his slumps isn't so bad.

How many goals go in against us when he is on the ice though?

 

[PWJunior]

How many goals go in against us when he is on the ice though?

I'd like to know how JT is defensively with and without Okposo. Johnny is no defensive whiz, but I suspect KO is a major contributor in making him look worse defensively - via eye test or through the stats.

KO's ability to turn the puck over high in the offensive zone while JT and the LW'er are down low is amazing.

 

[stranger34]

he misses Moulson

 

[crasherino]

That drop pass to Brock was vintage JT. Strength and vision. Hopefully that's what we see more of post-Xmas.

It was also quintessential Brock Nelson who has shown a good, quick wrist shot this year.

 

[Abe Vukota]

I'd like to know how JT is defensively with and without Okposo. Johnny is no defensive whiz, but I suspect KO is a major contributor in making him look worse defensively - via eye test or through the stats.

KO's ability to turn the puck over high in the offensive zone while JT and the LW'er are down low is amazing.

Okposo is absolutely brutal in his own zone. Charlie posted some great stuff about this over the summer, but I feel like anyone watching the games has intrinsic knowledge of KO's defensive ability (or lack thereof).

 

[Lame Lambert]

he misses Moulson

And he's going to Toronto

 

[redbull]

And he's going to Toronto

Van Riemsdyk Tavares Marner
Lupul Stamkos Nylander

and my favourite

Grabner Kadri Parenteau

on Leafs Lunch (TSN radio): "Why does Grabner even need a stick"?

hilarious.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

on Leafs Lunch (TSN radio): "Why does Grabner even need a stick"?

Solid gold that one is. They could add, why does he need hands?

 

[charlie1]

Just eyeballing the game logs this December has been about the worst month of his career.