LATEST | Former Islanders GM drops a bombshell regarding current Maple Leafs captain John Tavares
John Tavares caused a massive stir in the Hockey world when he chose to leave the New York Islanders for the Toronto Maple Leafs, especially after the Islanders had taken nine years to groom him into the star and the captain he became.
Garth Snow was the Islanders' GM back then, and yesterday he made a surprising comment about John Tavares.
Islanders ultimately drove the car off the cliff
"The decision by Scott Malkin was that we weren't going to trade him under any circumstances," Snow said. "He was totally committed to re-signing him. I think the quote I said is, 'Are you willing to drive the car off the cliff if you go through the season and get to free agency?' He was comfortable with that. That's the bottom line."
Snow takes a stand behind his former captain
Ever since Tavares took off to sign with his childhood team, he's been trashed and has received tons of hateful messages due to his decision. Even today, he gets booed every time he touches the puck in Long Island. Snow took a stand behind his former captain and relieved some of the faults upon the Islanders' shoulders:
"I feel so bad that [Tavares] gets trashed for something that wasn't his fault," Snow said. "The Islanders could have traded him if they wanted to, but that decision was made. So it's not his fault the Islanders didn't trade him."
The Maple Leafs struggling with extensions
Tavares walked into free agency and got one of the biggest contracts ever paid on the free agency market, as the Leafs offered him a massive $77M over seven years. Now that the 32-year-old has two seasons left on his deal and a full No-Move-Clause, the Leafs are going to be facing an interesting dilemma.
Matthews and Nylander's contracts are due by the 2023-2024 campaign, while Tavares and Marner will need new deals at the end of the 2024-2025 season. Will Tavares take a discount to stay put on this team? How are the Leafs going to manage to keep them all?
CREDIT: Hockey Patrol
| POLL | ||
AOUT 21 | 551 ANSWERS LATEST | Former Islanders GM drops a bombshell regarding current Maple Leafs captain John Tavares Who's leaving first? | ||
| JT91 | 104 | 18.9 % |
| AM34 | 94 | 17.1 % |
| MM16 | 80 | 14.5 % |
| WN88 | 273 | 49.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
MUST READ
