MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
here's the facts
-they tried to re-sign him during the season
-he wouldn't sign
New York Islanders John Tavares Have Not Had Negotiations Yet (Report)
As the New York Islanders head to Montréal for the night, questions surrounding John Tavares' contract have inevitably surfaced. And according to one rep...
eyesonisles.com
But according to Pierre LeBrun, John Tavares, and his agent, Pat Brisson have held no real negotiations with the Islanders so far. (Sorry, it’s in French. And you can’t Google Translate video…as far as I know anyways).
Here's Tavares on Dec 20 of that season talking about the new NYI arena approval
Tavares, though, stood out, simply by being his typically stoic self. “For my situation it’s really exciting news,” he said. “I’m not going to say it’s going to change or ultimately make my decision, but everything that’s involved in my daily life plays into it and going to the rink — playing games — is a big part of that.”
That's pretty non commital for a guy who allegedly was committed to staying on the Island.
It was the owners who vetoed the idea of trading Tavares at the deadline, Tavares made no private committments to the club
JT apparently wanted the organization to bring in help at the deadline as they were on the playoff bubble
Hoping he’d make a desperate move to impress his franchise player, rival execs made enormous asks. Barzal’s name came up. Snow rejected that. From what I understand, the next most-requested package involved one of their two 2018 first-round draft picks (both of which ended up in the lottery) and 23-year-old KHL goaltending prospect Ilya Sorokin. “If [Snow] knew Tavares was locked in,” says the above GM, “I think he would have done that to get someone.”
With the uncertainty, Snow chose not to. The Islanders made two moves: a third-round draft pick to Edmonton for Brandon Davidson; and Jason Chimera to Anaheim for Chris Wagner. “The most disappointed I ever saw John with the team was when Kyle Okposo left [before the 2016–17 season],” says one former teammate. “He almost never showed it, but he was upset at that. He really leaned on Kyle. This [deadline] was worse, though. Everyone was down.”
Fast forward, the Islanders miss the playoffs by one point. Leafs fire Lou, Isles hire Lou. Lou fires Snow & Weight...gong show.... Lou promises changes and then the pitches happen. Rumour is that the pitch in Toronto focused heavily on "look at all of this fucking skill you'll get to play with" and it resonated with John after his experience with the Islanders.
The facts are that John wasn't nearly as verbally committed as is being claimed, that he was uncomfortable with the new ownership focusing so much on him
“Please, please, please understand what I’m saying here,” says one former Islander. “I think [Malkin and Ledecky] have their hearts in the right place. They want to be great owners and do right by the fans. But going to John with everything was a mistake. It added pressure and stress. He wants to concentrate on hockey. This gave him things to worry about that he shouldn’t have had to worry about. He won’t have to concern himself with any of this in Toronto.”
He was tired of missing the playoffs every year.
This entire narrative Redline is trying to spin is way off.