Tavares considered Bruins 'quite a bit' before signing with Maple Leafs

[Bood12]

Look my whole point is this. You previously said Tavares tried to get the most $ out of Toronto, when the reports are San Jose offered him more $ on a 7 year contract.

it was not about the money, he wanted to go to Toronto and the whole thing was to get the most money he could from them, if he does not have these meetings or says how much he wants to stay on the Islanders, people are going to speculate wildly about him going to the Leafs, and than with all their contracts coming up what is the most they are going to offer him maybe, maybe a 9.5-10/7 years?

 

[LeafsNation75]

it was not about the money, he wanted to go to Toronto and the whole thing was to get the most money he could from them, if he does not have these meetings or says how much he wants to stay on the Islanders, people are going to speculate wildly about him going to the Leafs, and than with all their contracts coming up what is the most they are going to offer him maybe, maybe a 9.5-10/7 years?

For the last time you previously said Tavares wanted to get as much money from Toronto.

it is not that he went to Free Agency, it is that he essentially lied and snaked his way out of the Islanders, and probably used them to get the most money he could from the Leafs

If that was true he would have told Kyle Dubas the Sharks are offering him 7 years and $91 million and got that contract from him, however he ended up signing for 7 years and $77 million. Although I guess in the opinion of Islanders fans such as yourself and a lot of your fan base, since Tavares took less from Toronto that meant he was planning on signing with them 1 year before he was to become a UFA. If so there is no reasoning with you about Tavares and his decision.

 

[Bood12]

For the last time you previously said Tavares wanted to get as much money from Toronto.



If that was true he would have told Kyle Dubas the Sharks are offering him 7 years and $91 million and got that contract from him, however he ended up signing for 7 years and $77 million. Although I guess in the opinion of Islanders fans such as yourself and a lot of your fan base, since Tavares took less from Toronto that meant he was planning on signing with them 1 year before he was to become a UFA. If so there is no reasoning with you about Tavares and his decision.

yes he did, he wanted to get the most money he could from Toronto, not the most money, if the Leafs were only offering maybe a 5 year deal at 8 Million a year I am guessing he would have second guesses about going there, but the fact he was able to get a very large contract from them was all he was hoping for

 

[LeafsNation75]

yes he did, he wanted to get the most money he could from Toronto, not the most money, if the Leafs were only offering maybe a 5 year deal at 8 Million a year I am guessing he would have second guesses about going there, but the fact he was able to get a very large contract from them was all he was hoping for

Look you can back track all you want, the fact is San Jose was offering more than Toronto and he still choose the Leafs. So stop with this he tried to get the most money possible from them.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

Prison sentence? you mean by getting paid millions of dollars to play hockey? and again, it is not that he went to Free Agency, it is that he essentially lied and snaked his way out of the Islanders, and probably used them to get the most money he could from the Leafs, if he had been honest ( "I am testing Free Agency") or at least not said anything ("I am not answering any questions about my upcoming contract") like alot of Free Agents do, there would not be this animosity

[mod] sign an extension or test ufa

when you sign an extension you get a contract... you sign it... it gets filed with the league. theres not a lot of mystery left to the imagination. its quite legal

if you tell a team… I am definitely willing to come back {but I cant sign now because I might get a better offer} then how have you lied to anyone or misled anyone? simply put, he did get the better offer he hoped for.

but how would he know that he would get this better offer in jan/feb? hes not allowed to agree to a deal with Toronto until july

so... he says to islanders... I like it here... if nothing better comes along, of course id be happy to stay. and no, im not signing a deal until I find out if I will get the better offer.

islanders management at that point holds onto him because lets remember they are trying to get an arena deal and cant be perceived as a mickey mouse operation. they cross their fingers and hope for the best. ultimately their front office is all fired and lose their jobs. there was a lot of incompetence there and Tavares time was very disappointing that the team sucked.

if islander fans delude themselves that he wasnt telling them all he was 100% leaving... really what the hell does it matter? its not the fans that make decesions. management KNEW HE WASNT SIGNING AN EXTENSION! they had a right to trade him, but I doubt ownership wanted him traded because its more important to get an arena deal.

on july 1st... Tavares weighed offers from a few teams... he gave islander deal consideration. he chose Toronto. in Toronto he goes home and has a chance to lead an original 6 team to its first cup in 50 years. he could become a legend comparably to steve yzerman. he could go down in history as a top 5 player in leafs history. to great players like Tavares, legacy is often very important.

islanders legacy might be a team that doesnt have an arena to play in for the next several years. and even if the islanders win a cup, Tavares wouldnt be considered greater than trottier/bossy/Potvin. that was the islander team that goes in the history books.

im sorry... I fully believe Tavares might have come back to ny if Toronto only offered him 7-8 mill a year. Toronto paid a crap load of money. the us/Canada exchange rate is way more important than a no-tax benefit. tavares is a Canadian kid that loves his hometown.

islander fans are butthurt but its their own naivity and delusion if they think Tavares acted dishonorable

{and the pajamas/blanket stuff was pretty self indulgent crap... blame him for being selfish if you want, but if you are blaming him for hurting the islanders chances thats stupid. all teams are fully aware that if a guy makes it to july 1st they might leave.

*just as players are fully aware if they dont get a new contract before july 1st their team might just go sign someone else and say goodbye to you. not every player that wanted a contract on july 1st gets one. not everyone is allowed to come back with the team they want.}

islanders brass decided to hold onto Tavares after enjoying him for his first 7 years at a bargain price. if they wasted that time by surrounding him with crap, then its not his fault.

 

[LeafsNation75]

[mod] guys have 2 choices... sign an extension or test ufa

when you sign an extension you get a contract... you sign it... it gets filed with the league. theres not a lot of mystery left to the imagination. its quite legal

if you tell a team… I am definitely willing to come back {but I cant sign now because I might get a better offer} then how have you lied to anyone or misled anyone? simply put, he did get the better offer he hoped for.

but how would he know that he would get this better offer in jan/feb? hes not allowed to agree to a deal with Toronto until july

so... he says to islanders... I like it here... if nothing better comes along, of course id be happy to stay. and no, im not signing a deal until I find out if I will get the better offer.

islanders management at that point holds onto him because lets remember they are trying to get an arena deal and cant be perceived as a mickey mouse operation. they cross their fingers and hope for the best. ultimately their front office is all fired and lose their jobs. there was a lot of incompetence there and Tavares time was very disappointing that the team sucked.

if islander fans delude themselves that he wasnt telling them all he was 100% leaving... really what the hell does it matter? its not the fans that make decesions. management KNEW HE WASNT SIGNING AN EXTENSION! they had a right to trade him, but I doubt ownership wanted him traded because its more important to get an arena deal.

on july 1st... Tavares weighed offers from a few teams... he gave islander deal consideration. he chose Toronto. in Toronto he goes home and has a chance to lead an original 6 team to its first cup in 50 years. he could become a legend comparably to steve yzerman. he could go down in history as a top 5 player in leafs history. to great players like Tavares, legacy is often very important.

islanders legacy might be a team that doesnt have an arena to play in for the next several years. and even if the islanders win a cup, Tavares wouldnt be considered greater than trottier/bossy/Potvin. that was the islander team that goes in the history books.

im sorry... I fully believe Tavares might have come back to ny if Toronto only offered him 7-8 mill a year. Toronto paid a crap load of money. the us/Canada exchange rate is way more important than a no-tax benefit. tavares is a Canadian kid that loves his hometown.

islander fans are ******** but its their own naivity and delusion if they think Tavares acted dishonorable

{and the pajamas/blanket stuff was pretty self indulgent crap... blame him for being selfish if you want, but if you are blaming him for hurting the islanders chances thats stupid. all teams are fully aware that if a guy makes it to july 1st they might leave.

*just as players are fully aware if they dont get a new contract before july 1st their team might just go sign someone else and say goodbye to you. not every player that wanted a contract on july 1st gets one. not everyone is allowed to come back with the team they want.}

islanders brass decided to hold onto Tavares after enjoying him for his first 7 years at a bargain price. if they wasted that time by surrounding him with crap, then its not his fault.

We saw Steven Stamkos meet with the Maple Leafs before he re-signed with the Lightning. Plus the contract he eventually re-signed for was offered to him months before and Steve Yzerman never took away because Stamkos exercised his right to meet with other teams like Leafs.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

We saw Steven Stamkos meet with the Maple Leafs before he re-signed with the Lightning. Plus the contract he eventually re-signed for was offered to him months before and Steve Yzerman never took away because Stamkos exercised his right to meet with other teams like Leafs.

I guess thats where islander fans clung to their delusion that somehow Tavares was coming back? if stamkos met with other teams and went back to tampa then it was reasonable to think Tavares would too??? his not signing his extension shouldnt be taken as a clear indication he wanted to leave???????

we know stamkos met with Toronto... do we know the offer?
we know stamkos got the pony show to convince him to come... do we know he liked that?
we know Toronto wanted to convince him they were going to win... do we know if he believed?

tampa is a nicer place to live then ny for warm winters and beach life
the lightning have been run much better than the islanders
tampa paid stamkos much much much more money early in his career building loyalty
tampa had much better players to play with than the islanders

if Tavares resigned in ny he was going to be doing it with new management that he hoped he would get along with... he wasnt going to know where the team might be playing... or how long until the owner flakes off

in the end... stamkos didnt sign in Toronto so I guess thats why islander fans convinced themselves Tavares wouldnt too. I am an idiot thousands of miles away in Canada and I knew he was going to Toronto. im sorry islander fans. if this caught you by surprise you simily were delusional

 

[LeafsNation75]

I guess thats where islander fans clung to their delusion that somehow Tavares was coming back? if stamkos met with other teams and went back to tampa then it was reasonable to think Tavares would too??? his not signing his extension shouldnt be taken as a clear indication he wanted to leave???????

we know stamkos met with Toronto... do we know the offer?
we know stamkos got the pony show to convince him to come... do we know he liked that?
we know Toronto wanted to convince him they were going to win... do we know if he believed?

tampa is a nicer place to live then ny for warm winters and beach life
the lightning have been run much better than the islanders
tampa paid stamkos much much much more money early in his career building loyalty
tampa had much better players to play with than the islanders

if Tavares resigned in ny he was going to be doing it with new management that he hoped he would get along with... he wasnt going to know where the team might be playing... or how long until the owner flakes off

in the end... stamkos didnt sign in Toronto so I guess thats why islander fans convinced themselves Tavares wouldnt too. I am an idiot thousands of miles away in Canada and I knew he was going to Toronto. im sorry islander fans. if this caught you by surprise you simily were delusional

From what I remember reading about the Stamkos meeting with Toronto it was reported his contract would have been for 7 years and at least $10 million AAV, so it was more AAV than the $8.5 million AAV he got from the Lightning. When I say $10 million AAV that's my guess on the low end. However it was also reported that Lou Lamoriello made him feel uncomfortable because they say the president of Canadian Tire was in the meeting who would have told him all the endorsements he could get by playing in Toronto as a home town kid Toronto's Mayor John Tory was also reportedly at the meeting as well.

So that's why Kyle Dubas had a completely different approach to his meeting with Tavares and did not make those same mistakes Lou Lamoriello did with Stamkos.

In the end maybe the problem for Tavares is Lamoriello who has a history of not being able to sign or re-sign big named UFA's. We saw that with Tavares and Stamkos, along with losing Zach Parise and Scott Niedermayer as UFA's during his time as the Devils President & GM.

 

[LeafsNation75]

I forgot to mention that from the time the Islanders officially hired Lou Lamoriello as their President of Hockey Operations and 1 week later he fired Garth Snow so he could name himself the new GM and Dough Weight on the same day, he was working for them just for 40 days until July 1, 2018 happened and Tavares signed in Toronto. So it's not like Tavares owed him any loyalty and there were reports how he was very close with Doug Weight and Garth Snow.

 

[sabremike]

I don't have the time or desire to shoot down all the nonsense I've seen posted here but I would just appreciate it if posters would stop lying about the arena situation. Belmont was made official before John left, is the pet project of the Governor who could essentially hold the job for life because of his position in a political party that isn't going to lose another statewide election for at least the next 100 years and the thing won't cost taxpayers a dime. And if you want to complain about the arena situation blame the league. Malkin is more than willing to play the next few seasons entirely at the Coliseum and sacrifice short term revenue for long term benefit. The league (as usual) would rather be penny wise and pound foolish and only think about today and not the future.

 

[LeafsNation75]

I don't have the time or desire to shoot down all the nonsense I've seen posted here but I would just appreciate it if posters would stop lying about the arena situation. Belmont was made official before John left, is the pet project of the Governor who could essentially hold the job for life because of his position in a political party that isn't going to lose another statewide election for at least the next 100 years and the thing won't cost taxpayers a dime. And if you want to complain about the arena situation blame the league. Malkin is more than willing to play the next few seasons entirely at the Coliseum and sacrifice short term revenue for long term benefit. The league (as usual) would rather be penny wise and pound foolish and only think about today and not the future.

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought I heard that said Tavares didn't like splitting games at the Coliseum and Barclays Center until their arena in Belmont was completed.

 

[ThreeLeftSkates]

how stupid are you making the islanders management and their fan base out to be? guys have 2 choices... sign an extension or test ufa

when you sign an extension you get a contract... you sign it... it gets filed with the league. theres not a lot of mystery left to the imagination. its quite legal

if you tell a team… I am definitely willing to come back {but I cant sign now because I might get a better offer} then how have you lied to anyone or misled anyone? simply put, he did get the better offer he hoped for.

but how would he know that he would get this better offer in jan/feb? hes not allowed to agree to a deal with Toronto until july

so... he says to islanders... I like it here... if nothing better comes along, of course id be happy to stay. and no, im not signing a deal until I find out if I will get the better offer.

islanders management at that point holds onto him because lets remember they are trying to get an arena deal and cant be perceived as a mickey mouse operation. they cross their fingers and hope for the best. ultimately their front office is all fired and lose their jobs. there was a lot of incompetence there and Tavares time was very disappointing that the team sucked.

if islander fans delude themselves that he wasnt telling them all he was 100% leaving... really what the hell does it matter? its not the fans that make decesions. management KNEW HE WASNT SIGNING AN EXTENSION! they had a right to trade him, but I doubt ownership wanted him traded because its more important to get an arena deal.

on july 1st... Tavares weighed offers from a few teams... he gave islander deal consideration. he chose Toronto. in Toronto he goes home and has a chance to lead an original 6 team to its first cup in 50 years. he could become a legend comparably to steve yzerman. he could go down in history as a top 5 player in leafs history. to great players like Tavares, legacy is often very important.

islanders legacy might be a team that doesnt have an arena to play in for the next several years. and even if the islanders win a cup, Tavares wouldnt be considered greater than trottier/bossy/Potvin. that was the islander team that goes in the history books.

im sorry... I fully believe Tavares might have come back to ny if Toronto only offered him 7-8 mill a year. Toronto paid a crap load of money. the us/Canada exchange rate is way more important than a no-tax benefit. tavares is a Canadian kid that loves his hometown.

islander fans are ******** but its their own naivity and delusion if they think Tavares acted dishonorable

{and the pajamas/blanket stuff was pretty self indulgent crap... blame him for being selfish if you want, but if you are blaming him for hurting the islanders chances thats stupid. all teams are fully aware that if a guy makes it to july 1st they might leave.

*just as players are fully aware if they dont get a new contract before july 1st their team might just go sign someone else and say goodbye to you. not every player that wanted a contract on july 1st gets one. not everyone is allowed to come back with the team they want.}

islanders brass decided to hold onto Tavares after enjoying him for his first 7 years at a bargain price. if they wasted that time by surrounding him with crap, then its not his fault.

Boy, am I bored with this subject. Rather than get wordy, let me break it down for you:
Pajama Boy(I will NEVER call him anything else)lied to management and the fans about his intentions, being sure to keep the band together in Toronto while he slithered away during the night.

 

[sabremike]

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought I heard that said Tavares didn't like splitting games at the Coliseum and Barclays Center until their arena in Belmont was completed.

When the players learned half the games were being moved from Barclays to Nassau their response was wildly celebrating.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Boy, am I bored with this subject. Rather than get wordy, let me break it down for you:
Pajama Boy(I will NEVER call him anything else)lied to management and the fans about his intentions, being sure to keep the band together in Toronto while he slithered away during the night.

When I see a reply like what you just said, I will never forget Tavares scoring the game winning goal against the Islanders this season that clinched Toronto's playoff spot, giving him a new career high in points and the look on Islanders fans after he scored.

 

[Incognito]

Boston dodged a bullet. Tavares is the definition of someone who disappears when it matters. The modern day Pierre Turgeon.

This post is a great example of somebody who has absolutely no clue what they're talking about. And for some reason, it tends to be the ones who don't know what they're talking about that do the most talking.

 

[Bood12]

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought I heard that said Tavares didn't like splitting games at the Coliseum and Barclays Center until their arena in Belmont was completed.

again this is things he all knew about when he said how much he wanted to stay on the Islanders, you are a good troll however, you got me sucked into that whole "most money from the Leafs" thing above

 

[Bood12]

When I see a reply like what you just said, I will never forget Tavares scoring the game winning goal against the Islanders this season that clinched Toronto's playoff spot, giving him a new career high in points and the look on Islanders fans after he scored.

ha you think that hurts any Islander fan, I admit that hurt in the sense I thought it would get him closer to #50 which I was convinced he was going to get when he had like 46 goals with like 6 games left, the fact he never got it is extremely satisfying however

 

[LeafsNation75]

ha you think that hurts any Islander fan, I admit that hurt in the sense I thought it would get him closer to #50 which I was convinced he was going to get when he had like 46 goals with like 6 games left, the fact he never got it is extremely satisfying however

It was very satisfying that Tavares set a new career high in points with that goal against the Islanders. The fact he finished 3rd in the NHL in total goals is a bonus and history shows his first season in Toronto was better than any of his 9 years with the Islanders.

 

[Bood12]

I was very much satisfying that Tavares set a new career high in points with that goal against the Islanders. The fact he finished 3rd in the NHL in total goals is a bonus and history shows his first season in Toronto was better than any of his 9 years with the Islanders.

woop dee doo, individual achievements, congrats

 

[Little Psycho]

How is this thread still alive? Let it die.

 

[BlueBaron]

28K posts? I hope they aren't all like this.

Folks, this why you don't spend too much time on these boards. You'll end up like this.

You can hear the foaming at the mouth.

 

[LeafsNation75]

woop dee doo, individual achievements, congrats

Don't be jealous that you wanted to see Tavares fail and he had his best season in the NHL.

 

[Bood12]

Don't be jealous that you wanted to see Tavares fail and he had his best season in the NHL.

and don't be upset you really wanted to see him get that #50 which I am guessing the majority of your fan base thought he was going to get and know it is probably a once in a lifetime chance to have

 

[LeafsNation75]

and don't be upset you really wanted to see him get that #50 which I am guessing the majority of your fan base thought he was going to get and know it is probably a once in a lifetime chance to have

I'm not upset and if he got 50 goals it would have been a bonus. The fact he got 47 goals is more than any Leafs fan could have asked for prior to the start of this season.

 

[Bood12]

I'm not upset and if he got 50 goals it would have been a bonus. The fact he got 47 goals is more than any Leafs fan could have asked for prior to the start of this season.

ha yea sure