In the Tavares race, NHL teams have a secret weapon: grandmas
By David Rouben
The John Tavares sweepstakes has become a full-blown arms race, and certain teams have gone to their nuclear option: their players’ grandmas.
John Tavares’ free agency is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the NHL. A star player hasn’t hit the market and commanded this much attention since…well, Steven Stamkos two years ago. And for him, teams were pulling out all the stops. One of his primary suitors, the Toronto Maple Leafs, brought the Mayor and CEO of Canadian Tire to their meeting. But it didn’t work, as he decided to stay in Tampa Bay.
Clearly, teams have learned from that incident and are determined to do everything they can to woo Tavares away from New York this time. The Leafs, ironically, were one of the first teams to meet with him. They sat down for over two hours, while Toronto media covered it like it was the Trump-Kim summit. Afterwards, they engaged in psychological warfare by hiring Tavares’ long-time mentor.
However, the San Jose Sharks are one of his biggest suitors as well, since a big-time free agent moving to the Bay Area has never happened before. And not to be outdone, they went to their long-time ace in the hole, Grandma Pavelski.
I think that @91Tavares should join the Sharks!
— Mary Ann Pavelski (@Grandmapavs8) June 26, 2018
It’s a simple, yet effective, message. And really, how can you say no to that? As long time admirers of Grandma Pavelski, we commend her for her work here.
Once the Leafs saw the Sharks go to their grandma, they had to do the same. With the clock ticking down, and out of fear of losing him, Kyle Dubas’ grandma dusted off her fingers, opened up her Twitter app and threw down the gauntlet:
John Tavares a good Canadian hockey Player should be playing for a Canadian hockey team namely @MapleLeafs no negotiations necessary. Cmon Tavares you know you want to..
— Marietta Dubas (@grammadubie) June 29, 2018
She made much more of an effort than Pavelski’s grandma, as she really played up the Canadian angle in her pitch. It’ll be hard to see how Tavares turns this down.
Next: 1 reason every John Tavares suitor could land him…and 1 reason it might not
Even before grandmothers got involved, this is already one of the craziest free agent pursuits in recent memory. However, the Sharks and Leafs just pulled the nuclear option, making them the two clear front-runners for Tavares’ signature come July 1.