The Maple Leafs have two prominent pending unrestricted free agent forwards in winger Mitch Marner and center John Tavares. While it appears that there haven’t been many discussions with Marner, Chris Johnston of The Athletic reported in a recent TSN Insider Trading segment that Toronto has engaged in talks with Tavares though obviously, the two sides aren’t in agreement on a new deal just yet.
Tavares signed a seven-year, $77MM contract with his hometown team back in 2018 and while the $11MM price tag was among the league leaders at the time, the 34-year-old has delivered. Tavares has three seasons of at least 76 points over that span and overall, has 440 points in 462 games with the Maple Leafs. That 0.952 points-per-game average is actually slightly better than the 0.928 he put up with the Islanders. His playoff performance hasn’t been as strong, however, as Tavares has collected 24 points in 38 postseason outings with Toronto.
But while Tavares has produced at or near the level of a top-line center for the majority of his time with Toronto, it’s also fair to assume it’s unlikely this will be the case much longer; he’ll be entering his age-35 season in 2025-26. While he could still put up above-average production for a little while longer, he’s certainly not going to be able to command $11MM on the open market at this stage of his career. Accordingly, a drop in pay is a near certainty.
How much of one is the big question. At this point, he’s still producing as a top-six forward at a minimum so it’s not as if Toronto can conceivably ask him to cut that price tag in half (or by even more) even though, as Johnston noted, Tavares has made it clear he doesn’t want to test free agency and wants to remain with the Maple Leafs. His value on the open market might still be in the $7MM to $8MM range if he were to actually make it there.
One way around that might be to utilize deferred compensation. Carolina utilized that with a pair of contracts over the summer while the Maple Leafs also took advantage of it on the recent Jake McCabe extension. Using deferred salary would allow the cap hit to go a bit lower while still giving Tavares’ camp the total compensation it might be seeking. How long he’d have to wait for that deferred salary would ultimately dictate how much cap savings Toronto could receive.
At his age, it’s quite possible that this is the final contract that Tavares receives so there is a bit of incentive to consider deferred salary when he’d be in a lower tax bracket and potentially a jurisdiction with lower tax rates. We’ll see in the coming weeks if that’s enough to bridge the current gap between the two sides to keep Tavares in Toronto a little longer.
Leafs should use some of Tavares’ money to sign Marner. Let the old man walk. Wilts in the Spring.
A fair comp would be Geno, so 3 years at $6 M AAV.
BUT…if the Leafs and Tavares want to win, they should go to him and ask him to play for $4 M AAV and he should agree.
The Leafs (and Oilers) paying their team(s) as if they already won Cups is why they’ve never won Cups.
Among other things, it’d be compensation for all those years of overpayment, which could have been used for a complementary piece. I don’t often disagree with Brian, but here I do: beyond Tavares’ first season in Toronto, he’s fallen well short of earning that kind of money. In only one season since then has he so much as cracked the top thirty skaters in scoring (and in only one other did he crack the top forty), which is not the production a Leafs fan would want to see out of one of the highest half dozen paid forwards in the game.
Tavares has certainly been a quality, top-line scorer. $11 MM is superstar money, though, and he’s just hasn’t been one. He might be worth, say, $8 MM on his next deal, but he’ll be 35 at the start of the season, and I wouldn’t give him $8 MM for more than two years. Someone will, though, and being a Bruins’ fan, I really do hope it’s Toronto that gives him an inedible deal.
Besides Nurse, who on Edmonton is currently paid like they’ve won cups?
The Oilers lost in game 7 of the finals last year. They have proven they are good enough to win a cup as constructed.
Counterargument: They got as mathemetically close as a Cinderalla team can, but are still 4 key players away from what they need to actually win. 2 D, 1 impact bottom six and a G.
And you are ignoring the many years in McD’s peak that have already been squandered. As of now, he’s tracking to be Hockey Dan Marino. Getting back to the big stage is never assured.
…. point per game avg. You’ll cry when he walks over you 4MIL offer. Smh, common sense
@66, the definition of a Cinderella team is one that goes on an unexpected run once and then goes back to expectations. The Oilers have lost to the eventual cup Champions 3 seasons in a row while being favorites entering the season.
The Oilers are far from a perfect team, but those don’t exist in the salary cap era. They have gotten better in the playoffs year to year over the past 3 seasons. Lost in game 7 of the cup finals last year to the cup winners. Lost the previous year in the Conference finals, to the eventual cup champions. Lost the previous season in the division finals, to the eventual cup champions. Seems like growth to me, not one Cinderella run.
Let him walk then. They’ve won jack with him. They can win jack without him.
Let him go make $7 M on a bottom feeder and cry into his Leafs bedsheets when he never lifts a Cup.
Until that roster has better balance, they will not win. They can’t do that overpaying the modern day Pierre Turgeon.
The Oilers problems have been so obvious for so long, I’ve given up hope that they will see or fix them. Especially with Holland and now Bowman.
They have the core. Have had it for years.
He’s had nice stretches and goalies develop at weird times (Hill, Kuemper, Binnington) so maybe he will be one day, but I don’t see Skinner as a Cup winning goalie. They need better.
Great top 6, but most winning teams have a 2 C playing 3C or some sort of impact bottom six player, they lack that.
They need two more D man. 3 if they trade Nurse to create the pool of money they’d probably need to ice a few more good D men. Admittedly, the D men they need are theoretical. Whether such D men are available is a different question.
Not sure why this is the name in my head, but a Matt Niskanen type guy who can just be solid all around on the second pair and a better than average guy for their third pair and now we are talking.
Cinderella? Where do you come up with this stuff?
This article is all of why the Leafs are stuck in neutral.
100
Toronto is already the 3rd oldest team in the league. By keeping Tavares, they’re shortening their playoff window even more so, not that I care. Toronto has already tied themselves to long-term deals on Tanev (34), Ekman-Larsson (33), Reaves (37) [that deal hasn’t paid off at all but will end after next season] & etc. Those contracts will not age well. Toronto could end up finding itself in a Pittsburgh situation in a few years time.
What also doesn’t help Toronto is they tend to have to overcompensate players to come play there. You also have players like Matthews & Nylander who didn’t help the team by taking the most money they can for themselves which straps the team financially even more in the near future.
Toronto seems to be considering to keeping their “Core 4” which is their choice but history has shown the results will be the same as it’s been since 1968 in being the most overrated franchise in the NHL as they’re the equivalent to the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL.
Somone who gets IT. Exactly
I cant recall a time when Tavares was ever a top 10 player in the league. Yes he was extremely good for a while but top 10? Yet he is currently paid like he is a top 10 player currently in the league. Clearly Brian is a Leafs fan and letting his homerism leak in this article.
Some headlines just tell you that a visit to the forum below must be made to read the ranting, raving, and babbling of the blowhards, know-it-all’s, and amusing yappers that infest this site. This article had one of those headlines and the locals absolutely delivered. Way to go boys!