Maladroit
Registered User
It's not really about owing the Islanders anything or not, it's about treating them with respect. Tavares himself admitted that he had made his decision long before they let anyone else know. It's the same thing with the other 4 teams he met with, they deserved to be told they were out of it. Tavares had every right to choose the Leafs, he earned that right, but he should have handled the situation better.
I don't think that the Maple Leafs are his best chance at winning a cup in the next 5 or 6 years, I think Tampa Bay would have been a better choice.
Weren't most reports that he didn't decide between NYI and TOR until late on Saturday night? I guess he could have told the other teams they were out of the running but maybe if the Sharks' mega-offer was off the table the Leafs would have tried to get him at $10mil/year or not offered the bonus structure he was looking for. Ultimately Tavares and his agent have to look out for their own interests not those of the Dallas Stars or Boston Bruins.
Tampa would have had to trade multiple pieces to fit him in though whereas the Leafs were able to add him without losing anybody in the short term. Ideally they'd be dumping guys like Callahan and Killorn but it's likely they would have needed to trade Tyler Johnson or an even more important player than that to fit Tavares and Kucherov in. Also the Lightning core of Stamkos/Kucherov/Hedman is significantly older than Matthews/Marner/Nylander - the Leafs are going to have at least five postseasons where their star players are at or close to their career peaks while the Lightning have already blown those years.