True, but I think he plays a stronger all around game now than back in that rookie season he had where he had less responsibility and also taking into the account lost point production when JT was on the team and factoring in secondary versus primary coverage. Even if the points don't show it, he is a far better player and the team itself has played around it.
Since Tavares’ departure, the Isles have gone further than the Leafs all 3 years
- Thread starter The Wahligator
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True, but I think he plays a stronger all around game now than back in that rookie season he had where he had less responsibility and also taking into the account lost point production when JT was on the team and factoring in secondary versus primary coverage. Even if the points don't show it, he is a far better player and the team itself has played around it.
Archijerej
Registered User
He also had a completely different role on a badly coached team.
Today, he's a legitimate #1 center who can play in any situation, while being game-planned against.
There's a difference between scoring a bunch of meaningless points and being a leader of a successful team.
Yea this version of Barzal is a much better player than the rookie version. Points aren't everything.
There would be no way to verify that Matthews or Marner would be good players. Actually this year's series was lost because Tavares was injured. Heck Matthews is over rated. They treat him as if he is a generational type player, and by far he is not. Don't get me wrong, he is a really good player, just not in that tier of prime Crosby, Ovi or Even Malkin. Heck even a Patrick Kane. What is Unique about the players mentioned above is, these players were mvp's and flat out carrier their team when they were short staffed due to injuries and single handedly won playoff series regardless of who was covering them.
Who cares. He just didn't want to play there anymore. How long are these fans going to bring this up and cry about it.
Bluto
Don't listen to me, I'm an idiot. TOGA! TOGA!
- Dec 24, 2017
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If you go back to the Islanders boards when the Tavares thing happened, you'll see my posts saying how Tavares leaving was a blessing for NYI and how I wished I was wrong about it as an NYR fan.
I was met with jeers and mockery from Islanders fans who thought i was gloating which is understandable.
I was right. So eat crow isles fans, your team is better than my team and Tavares was part of the problem on Long Island, just like i said at the time. Hahahaha
Tavares is overrated and overpaid.
I was met with jeers and mockery from Islanders fans who thought i was gloating which is understandable.
I was right. So eat crow isles fans, your team is better than my team and Tavares was part of the problem on Long Island, just like i said at the time. Hahahaha
Tavares is overrated and overpaid.
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I wouldn't blame the Leafs for the Tavares signing since getting him made them an absolute juggernaut offensively (on paper) and he's a hometown boy to boot. Hard to pass up on him.
The real problem is how much money Matthews, Marner and Tavares are getting paid. That's way too much even for how skilled they are. Let's be real, just scratch off 1.5M each and you can have much needed cap space to add a few more key pieces that could help out the Leafs, especially defensively (either a defenseman or a defensive-minded forward)
The real problem is how much money Matthews, Marner and Tavares are getting paid. That's way too much even for how skilled they are. Let's be real, just scratch off 1.5M each and you can have much needed cap space to add a few more key pieces that could help out the Leafs, especially defensively (either a defenseman or a defensive-minded forward)
Isles have had a better defense (especially last year before losing Toews), and better goaltending. It's not about Tavares per se, it's about roster construction.
Blowfish
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GermanSpitfire
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They were up 3-1 in the series; without Tavares. Don’t think the Tavares injury is the reason they lost.
NotNotALeafsFan
Registered User
If you watched the series, or even looked at the box score, you would’ve seen where our issue is. We didn’t score more goals than our opponent, but you’re still citing our defence???
Voight
#winning
Agreed. The big difference is losing Tavares forced them to get better coaching and management which has now resulted in playoff success. If he had resigned, I doubt they would have made such drastic changes.
Fatass
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The Isles basically traded Tavares for Lou Lam. Which of those two is the proven winner?
This thread is about the past three years and not specifically just this past year, genius.
HockeyWooot
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Barzal at 7m>>> Tavares at 11m
That's because he played in the open Doug Weight system back then.
DFAC
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How much of it is Tavares and how much is Trotz? BT has the Isles playing a great system designed to win in the POs
ScaredStreit
Registered User
They made those changes before Tavares left. I actually think it hurt his chances at staying since he was/is very close to Snow/Weight (especially Weight).
Can the leaf fans that have been telling me I’m wrong about dubas being an awful gm the past few years please stand up?
The Winter Soldier
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You can only judge by results. Isles are a much better team without Tavares. Isles would not be able to afford Jean Gabriel Pageau if they had Tavares under contract. I don't think any Isles fan would want to imagine their team without Pageau right now. Nor would Anders Lee be their Captain whom the Isles team takes after his personality and that's when the Isles started turning the corner. JT would not fit the Isles culture. They are better as a team without a 11M cap hit. Deeper teams go farther in the playoffs. Isles don't have one cap hit over 7M. This allows them to ice the best 4th line in hockey, where Cizikas scored in OT last night to tie up the series. Isles are far better off with the way they are constructed post Tavares.
That isn't a knock on Barzal. It's a testament to how different the systems are between Trotz and Weight. Every player's scoring went down after the transition. I'm confident that if Barzal was on an offensive oriented team like the Leafs that he could do 90-100 pts over 82 games..
JT is a great offensive player, but he was practically invisible outside of scoring. He's just not cut out to be a captain, I think TML needs to hand the C to someone else.
SirKillalot
Registered User
Unless the Islanders get any further than the 2nd round I don't see it as any difference.
Neither is a cup run so. But, like said when Tavares left, hockey is not a one man show and Islanders as a team is better now than then.
Neither is a cup run so. But, like said when Tavares left, hockey is not a one man show and Islanders as a team is better now than then.
Pure Slaughter Value
Registered User
It's worked out, which (short-term) I don't think many of us Isles fans figured it would. Hell, Lamoriello said he expected 50% roster turnover the first year. Most of us expected Lee, Eberle, Nelson, etc to be jettisoned at the trade deadline when it was clear we wouldn't be making the playoffs.
Had we still had JT, who knows what would've happened? Chances are we wouldn't have signed the reigning Conn Smythe winner and leader for it this year in Leo Komarov (who signed with us at a bargain rate), wouldn't have gotten back Matty Marts, etc.
We could be rebuilding on the fly the way Snow tried a couple of times with first round and out results.
We got lucky that Trotz was able to get the team on the same page. I think the "THAT'S US NEXT YEAR BOYS" when the Caps received their rings comment which followed Trotz addressing the Caps on a job well done and that "You're going to have to go through the f'ing Island" in order to repeat had a HUGE effect on the players.
Probably wouldn't have had the same effect if there was a player there head and shoulders above everyone else.
Definitely worked out for us, though we need a winger with star potential in order to take the next step (imo).
Had we still had JT, who knows what would've happened? Chances are we wouldn't have signed the reigning Conn Smythe winner and leader for it this year in Leo Komarov (who signed with us at a bargain rate), wouldn't have gotten back Matty Marts, etc.
We could be rebuilding on the fly the way Snow tried a couple of times with first round and out results.
We got lucky that Trotz was able to get the team on the same page. I think the "THAT'S US NEXT YEAR BOYS" when the Caps received their rings comment which followed Trotz addressing the Caps on a job well done and that "You're going to have to go through the f'ing Island" in order to repeat had a HUGE effect on the players.
Probably wouldn't have had the same effect if there was a player there head and shoulders above everyone else.
Definitely worked out for us, though we need a winger with star potential in order to take the next step (imo).
The Wahligator
Registered User
They literally made the conference finals just last season
