Just a casual John Tavares conversation

[TorontoTrades]

Let's not get crazy, just have a little chat about Tavares as a free agent.

Do the Leafs make a play for him?

yes we have a young core that we need to sign to contracts but would they take a shot at building around

Matthews - Nylander
Tavares - Marner


it's hard to keep that many top players but if we look at Chicago they have 32 million tied up in their top four fowards (when Panarin's deal kicks in) and are still able to have 16 million spent on their big 3 defenders.


Look at guys like Barkov, Tarasenko etc. it's realistic we could lock our kids up on good AAV contracts and have no problem fitting in Tavares' contract.

given our forward prospects and the great job our scouting team has done to restock the cupboards they could fill in the surrounding area with younger cheaper guys as our core grows.


Not speculating on him hitting FA or even wanting to play in TO.. just curious if you guys think Toronto would be interested in setting that as their core 4 moving forward.

Click to read more...

 

[Steven1562]

If they went after Stamkos you can bet they will be in on JT.

 

[Pi]

If they went after Stamkos you can bet they will be in on JT.

Not too sure about that one. When we went after Stamkos, we didn't know how well Marner, Nylander were going to be. I'm sure they knew Matthews is an above average first overall pick but lots could still have gone wrong with Marner and Nylander.

Now we know, they are not only good but will get paid a lot of money in their next contracts.

I'd still go after Tavares if he makes it to free agency because that offense is set for decades and the money it would cost to get him can mostly come from trading/letting go of JvR and Bozak. Tavares makes players around him better...we can stick him with Marner and a cheap ELC forward and they would still be one of the best lines in the league.

I see Nylander at about 6M long term (likely depends on Pastrnak deal this summer), Marner around 6-7M and Matthews around 7.5-8M long term (depends a lot on Eichel contract).

We have money, and spending it on a guy like Tavares is better than giving JvR and Bozak a modest raise or going after a mediocre top 4D. Free agent defenseman rarely pan out...Yandle, Demers, Goligoski etc all got signed to decent money but are largely busts for their team so far.

 

[PuckMagi]

I heard that guy was pretty good. We should sign him.

 

[weems]

Not interested.
Matthews, Marner and Nylander are going to command massive contracts.
We have way more than enough offense and more coming.
If we're going to be dumping assets or signing a bigtime FA it should be on D.

Matthews will be a better player by next season if he already isnt.

 

[LeafFever]

No. The Leafs do not need Tavares. There is no room.
Spend the money on D.

 

[LeafFever]

If they went after Stamkos you can bet they will be in on JT.

Eh, the situation is quite different now in regards to need.

 

[Pi]

Not interested.
Matthews, Marner and Nylander are going to command massive contracts.
We have way more than enough offense and more coming.
If we're going to be dumping assets or signing a bigtime FA it should be on D.

Matthews will be a better player by next season if he already isnt.

Nylander and Marner aren't going to command massive contracts unless you think 6-6.5M is massive. Only player commanding a massive raise will be Matthews.

Tavares is better than spending money on D unless the D you're spending money on is Drew Doughty.

 

[Steven1562]

Eh, the situation is quite different now in regards to need.

Not saying it's gonna happen but i think every team will at least think about adding a premier player like Tavares. Leafs need D obviously but if you can replace JVR and Bozak with a player like Tavares you do it. We can address the defense in other ways.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

If he gets to UFA, I'm sure they'll make him an offer but it won't be the highest.

BUT you don't ignore a player like Tavares.

I think it depends on the backend and how that's corrected this off-season. They'll want to get that part of the cap somewhat fixed before contemplating Tavares.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Not interested.
Matthews, Marner and Nylander are going to command massive contracts.
We have way more than enough offense and more coming.
If we're going to be dumping assets or signing a bigtime FA it should be on D.

Matthews will be a better player by next season if he already isnt.

Gaudreau got 6.75.
Scheifele got 6.125.
Tarasenko got 7.5.

Only Matthews might justify something higher depending on what McDavid ends up getting. The other two should settle into the players mentioned above.

Tavares could fit but he'd have to take something in the 7-8M region.

 

[Mats13]

If they went after Stamkos you can bet they will be in on JT.

Stamkos has 2 Rockets and has captained his team to the SCF and ECF (I know he was injured).

Tavares has no personal award and has led his team no where.

Now I know Stamkos has a good supporting cast and Tavares doesn't, so don't start lecturing me on team accomplishments vs personal accomplishments.

I'm just saying, I think part of the reason we wanted Stammer was to lead our young team because he'd proven he could do it.

Tavares isn't Stamkos.

I'd still love to have him, but not anywhere near 10 M. And I'm not ok trading for him either.

 

[Warden of the North]

If they went after Stamkos you can bet they will be in on JT.

I dont think so. The kids have shown they can be elite, last summer we didnt know. Weve got dollars that need to be spent on D

 

[Morbo]

spend it on D...what D?

 

[Steven1562]

Stamkos has 2 Rockets and has captained his team to the SCF and ECF (I know he was injured).

Tavares has no personal award and has led his team no where.

Now I know Stamkos has a good supporting cast and Tavares doesn't, so don't start lecturing me on team accomplishments vs personal accomplishments.

I'm just saying, I think part of the reason we wanted Stammer was to lead our young team because he'd proven he could do it.

Tavares isn't Stamkos.

I'd still love to have him, but not anywhere near 10 M. And I'm not ok trading for him either.

Their career numbers aren't far off. Stamkos is the better goal scorer for sure but JT is the better playmaker. I think the Leafs will at least give it a thought but might pass if the price makes signing Matthews, Marner or Nylander impossible. Also you don't think Tavares is a leader? He's been handed a terrible situation with the Islanders barely surrounding him with talent and he's still clawing his way into a playoff spot.

 

[HEAVY DUTY]

no. dont want him. our C depth is very good already IMO. Matthews, Nylander, and Kadri are great. is JT an upgrade over Nylander and kadri? yea absolutely. but i have enough confidence that our trio of centres can get the job done going forward.

most of you are probably going to say its better to have Tavares/Matthews as our #1/#2 centres and kadri as our #3 centre and moving nylander to the wing will give us a better top 6 core. you are absolutely right, but i don't like the idea of our cap being tied in our forward group and not having any money for our D going forward. you can bet your ass our big 3 are going to make bank after their ELCs are up.

so IMO, stay away from JT, and keep our current guys while spreading the money towards improving the D core.

 

[SprDaVE]

If he ever makes it to free agency, I'm sure we'll try to sign him --- just like Stamkos.

 

[burpsalot]

Sign Tavares as a free agent, he's good. Don't trade away anything, unless they are not good.

 

[hotpaws]

Stamkos has 2 Rockets and has captained his team to the SCF and ECF (I know he was injured).

Tavares has no personal award and has led his team no where.

Now I know Stamkos has a good supporting cast and Tavares doesn't, so don't start lecturing me on team accomplishments vs personal accomplishments.

I'm just saying, I think part of the reason we wanted Stammer was to lead our young team because he'd proven he could do it.

Tavares isn't Stamkos.

I'd still love to have him, but not anywhere near 10 M. And I'm not ok trading for him either.

but but but one way Johnny scored 72 goals as a 16 year old in the O

 

[TmlHockeyFan]

I'd love to have Tavares. Imagine if he was on our team (let's say we theoretically JVR and Bozak are gone)

Leivo-Tavares-Marner
Kapanen-Matthews-Nylander
Komorav-Kadri-Brown
Hyman-Gauthier-_______

I highly HIGHLY doubt we get him though.

 

[Jozay]

tavares would put us in some serious cap hell.

can you keep all of matthews, marner, nylander, rielly and tavares while having decent depth behind them?

unless the cap were to rise A LOT, im pretty hesitant.

 

[Warden of the North]

spend it on D...what D?

The D we need to acquire and will inevitably have to pay to win a Cup.

If we're paying JT, MM, AM, and WN we wont be able to afford D sufficient to get us a Cup.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Tavares is overkill and not a smart use of cap space at this point.

 

[Kiwi]

I'd love to have Tavares. Imagine if he was on our team (let's say we theoretically JVR and Bozak are gone)

Leivo-Tavares-Marner
Kapanen-Matthews-Nylander
Komorav-Kadri-Brown
Hyman-Gauthier-_______

I highly HIGHLY doubt we get him though.

Now work out the cap implications
I'd love to get the guy but that's a ******* expensive forward group in a few years time

 

[Menzinger]

I can see them making an offer like they did with Stamkos but not sure if it'll be enough to land him. Problem is, the Leafs need to save money for their big three and there's also the fact that when he hits Ufa Tavares' best seasons are likely behind him.

Gaudreau got 6.75.
Scheifele got 6.125.
Tarasenko got 7.5.

Only Matthews might justify something higher depending on what McDavid ends up getting. The other two should settle into the players mentioned above.

Tavares could fit but he'd have to take something in the 7-8M region.

Matthews will likely get just under McDavid, and I'd expect Marner and Nylander to get more thanb6.5 (probably closer to 7.5) because trends in salaries is gat star rookies tend to get paid big dollars post ELC these days.

Mirtle has been talking about Matthews potentially getting as much as 10 million on his next deal.