Should the Maple Leafs Extend John Tavares?

Will Toronto Extend John Tavares or Just Let Him Walk

TSN: Hockey Analyst Frankie Corrado was on SportsCenter with Jay Onrait and asked if we should discuss a contract extension for John Tavares with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

** NHLRumors.com Transcirptions

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Jay Onrait: “Frankie, so much time talking about Mitch Marner and his contract situation; we never talk about John Tavares and his contract situation, and we don’t talk about it, especially in terms of a contract extension, and I don’t really understand that.Personally, myself Frankie because I feel like the entire fan base has been extremely disrespectful to this player.

It blows my mind that he returned to his hometown. He signed a deal. He turned down bigger money elsewhere. He’s done nothing but show up every night. Play his heart out. He scored almost 30 goals last season. And the fan base wants him out of town after this deal is done. Now, he is turning 34 at the beginning of next season. Am I crazy to think that you wouldn’t want to maybe extend him for three years? Like you’re extending Crosby for three years in Pittsburgh?”

Frankie Corrado: Jay, the only differences are that the Maple Leafs haven’t won, and they’ve doubled down on this core, and John Tavares is a part of that core at $11 million. He’s a part of that core. And if you get him down to a more manageable number on an extension, he’s still a part of the core group that hasn’t won.

So this is the question you have to ask yourself. Do you want John Tavares at, you know, whatever the fair market value is after this year, is it $6 million? Like, I don’t know what exactly that looks like, because it’s a unique situation. Yes, he’s an aging player, but he still puts up points, but a lot of those points seem to be powerplay points. And, you know, he’s not exactly a play driver.

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Regardless, I think if you look at the Tampa Bay Lightning and realize that they were willing to walk away from Steven Stamkos, who won two Stanley Cups there, who was a captain, who did all the stuff that John Tavares does in Tampa Bay. Took less money to stay, except he won twice. And they said, actually, no, we’re gonna move on.

There’s probably going to be Jay, a fair market value or a market value for Tavares and then there should be the Toronto market value. Which should be significantly cheaper because they have not won with this core group of players. So to stick around in Toronto, it’s going to have to be a heavy, heavy discount. If you want to make more money. There’s probably going to be more elsewhere for you.”