Photo credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
TSN’s Mike Johnson provided an update on contract negotiations with John Tavares and the Maple Leafs following the former captain’s overtime winner against Capitals.
In a summer full of change that included handing over the captaincy to Auston Matthews, John Tavares assured Leafs fans that despite no longer being captain, he wanted to remain a Maple Leaf.
Tavares’ season got off to a bit of a rough start, with the veteran missing most of training camp battling an injury, but he has been outstanding since the regular season started with 9 goals and 16 points through 17 games.
Following the Leafs’ thrilling third period comeback and overtime victory on Wednesday, with Tavares scoring the game winner, TSN’s Mike Johnson was asked by Jay Onrait on SportsCentre about the potential for a new Tavares deal being done in short order.
Unfortunately for fans, Johnson doesn’t believe it will be done before the New Year. He did, however, ensure that it would be done at some point with JT taking a significant pay-cut.
“I don’t think it’s coming sooner rather than later, Jay, because there’s no need. I think the Leafs know that John Tavares wants to stay in Toronto. They’re certainly not going to trade him this year, so you have until the end of the year.
He will look to return to Toronto first and foremost, because he’s so set in here, so I don’t think there’s a rush to get it done. I don’t think the dollar value is going to fluctuate very much with a good or bad performance down the stretch so I think they can wait to the deadline, post deadline to next summer. But when the deal gets done I think he’s going to get around probably three years between $5M and $6M.”
As the Leafs continue to struggle finding a third-line center, Johnson noted that if they are able to find even a younger second-line center, having Tavares as a 3C at $5M or $6M per season would be a huge benefit to the team, given his production.
The 34-year-old former first-overall pick looks like he turned back the clock this season, with many believing it is due to him playing more freely without the ‘C’ on his jersey, which is hard to argue given his start.
Through 1,126 career games, Tavares has tallied 465 goals, 591 assists and 1,056 points.
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