John Tavares reportedly took a significant annual average pay cut to stay with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.
NHL Insider Jeff Marek believes “Tavares probably could have gotten $8 [million] x 2 [years] with Anaheim.” Marek also wondered if the Utah Mammoth would enter the sweepstakes.
The Maple Leafs locked in their former captain (2019-23), turned alternate captain on a four-year, $17.52 million deal. That $4.38 million AAV is nearly half of what the Ducks might have offered him.
It should not come as a big surprise that Tavares, 34, opted not only for the comfort of Toronto but for the extra two years, too.
Tavares should be on his way to the Hall of Fame with a few more productive offensive seasons, and the Maple Leafs, as crazy as it may sound, provide him with the best opportunity to finally hoist the Stanley Cup. That ring would all but secure his Hall odds.
Even in his later years, he is still a skilled forward who plays a solid 200-foot game. Tavares recorded 38 goals and 74 points over 75 games this year and can serve as the team’s second-line center for the foreseeable future.
The 80-point outputs from his New York Islander days and early Toronto days are probably in the rearview mirror, but it is still encouraging that he chose to stay with the contending Maple Leafs rather than serve as a mentor for the on-the-rise Ducks.
That relatively minor cap hit should ease some of the pressure from the Maple Leafs’ intense fanbase and media, but their goals remain aligned: win in the playoffs.
