The John Tavares sweepstakes are over, and the Toronto Maple Leafs have landed the superstar center on a seven year contract.
Months and months of speculation are all over. John Tavares has made his decision on where he wants to play next season, and he has decided to leave the New York Islanders and join his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The superstar center has agreed to a seven year contract worth $77 million dollars. Meaning the contract will count $11 million against the salary cap for the Maple Leafs for the next seven years.
Over the past few weeks, all eyes have been watching Tavares’ every move as he met with several teams to decide his future. Teams like the Sharks, Bruins, Lightning, and Stars were also in the mix to get Tavares. The decision took painstakingly long, and finally it came out from The Athletic that Tavares would be leaving the Islanders, and the announcement came soon after that.
David Pagnotta got the scoop, and revealed first that Tavares would be coming to his home town of Toronto. Tavares released a few statements on his decision on Twitter, saying it’s time to live up to his childhood dream of suiting up for his hometown team:
Of course, nothing Tavares says will alleviate the harsh feelings that the Islanders faithful will hold against him for the rest of his career. Tavares played nine seasons with the New York Islanders after being picked first overall in the 2009 NHL draft and scoring 621 points since then. They did everything to appease him with a brand new general manager, a new head coach, and a great draft, but it wasn’t enough.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs, this news could not be any better. Down the middle at center, the Leafs now boast John Tavares, Auston Matthews, and Nazem Kadri. You could argue that’s perhaps a top three center core in the entire league, and adds yet another star player to their already lethal offense.
Next: Every current NHL franchise’s most beloved head coach
This is a great signing for both Tavares and the Maple Leafs. Tavares gets to come home and live out his childhood dream, and the Maple Leafs have become Stanley Cup contenders for years to come. For the Islanders however, they’ve got to find a way to recover from perhaps the biggest gut punch in franchise history, but they do have the pieces to be dangerous again soon.