TSN: Darren Dreger on Toronto Maples and pending UFA John Tavares and how it could play out.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Host: “The interesting thing Darren is, is that, you know, we talk about distractions with contracts, but not just Marner, but Marner, Tavares, and Matthew Knies. Who you know of his 11 goals, 10 of them are even strength. All three of these guys, where there, oh, there might be a distraction. All of them are playing really well. I would say all three are playing above expectations.”
Dreger: “Yeah, I Well, they’re certainly playing well. And maybe, as far as John Tavares concerned, he is playing above expectation. But that, to me, is the work that John puts in every single day, and he’s been doing that his entire career.
But it does feel like you’re right, Matt, there’s a different focus here. And because of that, you know, the, the execution, the consistency in Tavares’ game is is right up there with the best he’s ever played, in my opinion. And he’s different than when he first broke into the National Hockey League.
You know, again, like I said with Marner, it’s pretty obvious that, you know, given a choice, Tavares would, would choose to stay with the Maple Leafs and play out his career. Different bracket, given what he’s earning today on an $11 million flat annual average salary, and what he’s going to make, you know, moving forward.
And you know, I’m sure that to a point he wants market value, but establishing what that is, is tricky, because if he were to go to open market July 1st, you know, given the way he’s played, I think we could envision a contract that far exceeds what the Maple Leafs are going to be able to afford to pay Tavares.
So, you know, look, they’re not going to insult, insult Tavares with, you know, a one or a two-year deal, I don’t think, and the money is going to be fair. It’s going to be what Toronto can afford. But I think that there’s also going to be a willingness to look beyond.
You know, I think Tavares is at a point in his career, Dave correct me if I’m wrong, where he’s got to be thinking about, ‘Okay, what am I doing post-career? ‘And in some ways, it sort of reminds me of the Jason Spezza scenario, and, and, and Tavares, in my opinion, is similar to Spezza, in that these guys are hockey nerds, they just consume hockey 24/7. If they’re not spending time with their family, they’re just, they’re reading about hockey. And I’m not talking about, you know, speculation and rumors. That’s not what they’re after. They’re studying other players and looking at statistics and all of that.
Well, that speaks to a hockey mind that probably isn’t going to go away post-career. Maybe there’s an opportunity for John Tavares within the Maple Leafs management group. You know, they’ve done it before. They’ll do it again.
So in his case, I think it’s going to be interesting to watch it unfold, but I think it’s more likely he stays.”
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