Red-Hot Tavares Is Mr. Dependable For Maple Leafs

By beating the Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs turned down the heat that had been on the franchise since it slunk into a .500 points percentage and a spot in the lower half of the Atlantic Division standings. But one win will not keep the wolves at bay for very long at all. Unless the Leafs come out of this coming week with three wins over the four games they’ll play against the Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Vegas Golden Knights, and Pittsburgh Penguins, the critics will remain prominent for Toronto, and there will be much angst in Leafs Land.

And if they are to win at that rate, the Leafs will need captain John Tavares to step his game up, in much the way he did against the Flyers, scoring a hat trick and generating four points Wednesday. Don’t get us wrong – nobody is suggesting Tavares has to score three goals every game for Toronto to win much more than they lose. Rather, the reality is that the Buds need Tavares to be a consistent contributor on offense, and the good news for Leafs fans is that’s what Tavares has been through his entire NHL career.

Indeed, in his 13 previous NHL seasons, the 32-year-old Tavares has been nothing if not consistent: in nine of those seasons, he has been at, close to, or above the point-per-game pace. Last season, he posted 76 points in 79 games. The year before that, he amassed 50 points in 56 games. The year prior to that, he had 60 points in 63 games. The year before that, he had 88 points in 82 games. And the year before that, he had 84 points in 82 games. It is a testament to his determination and skill that he’s been able to be this productive for this long.

And here we are now, 11 games into Toronto’s season, and Tavares has seven goals and 14 points. Even if you take away his outstanding night against Philly, Tavares has six goals and 10 points in 10 games – once again, a point-per-game pace. Despite playing on Toronto’s second line, that has had one of the two wing positions rotate in a different cast of talents, Tavares and regular winger William Nylander have combined for 25 points. That’s impressive.

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Now, you can argue that Tavares makes more than even a point-per-gamer should earn – that his salary cap hit of $11 million is the payday of players such as Colorado superstar Nathan MacKinnon or fellow Leafs superstar Auston Matthews. However, how much is it worth to have a dependable, durable, elite-level talent like Tavares in the lineup, night after night, playing some of your team’s most important minutes? There are many GMs who would happily pay $10 million for a player like that. The extra million or so the Leafs are paying Tavares is a little bit more than the cost of one player on a league-minimum contract. That’s a sacrifice many teams would make to have Tavares on their side.

It’s true the Leafs need Matthews and fellow first-liner Mitch Marner to drastically improve their games right now, but if they don’t get adequate secondary scoring, it won’t matter how much the top line produces. Toronto needs Tavares to produce the way he currently is, especially if its bottom two forward lines are focused more on defensive play than their output at the other end of the ice. But that’s not an unfair ask of Tavares. He’s heading into the back nine of his excellent career, but he doesn’t look like someone who is coasting toward retirement.

Tavares is still out there, as hard on the puck as any NHLer you’re likely to see, going nose-to-nose with his opponent’s top defenders, and coming out of it doing what he’s done for the majority of his career. The Leafs knew what they were getting into when they signed Tavares, and they have no regrets about his contributions thus far. He’s Mr. Dependable, and that’s what Toronto needs him to continue to be.