John Tavares
By Cory Wright
John Tavares’ arrival was highly anticipated on Long Island back in 2009. It had to be, given the kid from Oakville, Ontario was on the NHL radar as a 14-year-old -- the first teenager ever to be granted exceptional player status by the Ontario Hockey League, meaning he could be drafted into the OHL at 15, one year early.
Of course, this made Tavares one of the most exciting and talked about prospects in recent decades and the phenom lived up to the billing in junior. By the time he was drafted by the Islanders, Tavares had set the OHL goal-scoring record, won two gold medals at the World Junior Hockey Championships, and won the CHL’s Top Draft Prospect Award.
Drafted number one overall, the expectations for Tavares were high. That’s okay, Tavares made clear, scoring his first goal in his first NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and showing a glimpse of what was to come. The new face of the franchise finished his rookie season with a team-high 54 points, including 24 goals, which tied him for first among rookies that season.
Tavares spent nine seasons with the Islanders, five of them as their captain. He recorded 621 points in orange and blue, fifth all-time in franchise history and is the only player in the top-10 who didn’t play in the offensively-charged 1980’s. Tavares led the team in scoring in seven of his nine seasons – and never finished lower than second.
Even early on, Tavares’ extraordinary hockey sense made him a pragmatic superstar, a player able to process the game and find paths to prime scoring areas. He had the skills to match, one time transferring his stick around his body to retain possession while wrestling off a defenseman before finding a soft spot in the slot and sniping top shelf. He was a multidimensional player, a deceiving playmaker, a four-time 30-goal scorer and one-time Accuracy Shooting champion, and a student of the game. Tavares’ discipline was second to none -- whether to improve his skating in his early years, or revamping his off-ice lifestyle to make him a more productive player.
A quiet, but intense competitor, Tavares was the centerpiece of the Islanders’ rebuild in the early 2010’s and was at the center of some of the biggest moments in the era. He helped lead the Islanders to the 2013 playoffs, finishing third in MVP voting in the process. He scored the OT winner in Game Three against the Washington Capitals in 2015 and helped set up Nikolay Kulemin’s winner in Game Six. But those feel minor compared to Tavares’ top moment as an Islander in 2016; single handedly delivering the Islanders’ first playoff series win in 23 years. First, he scored the game-tying goal with under a minute to play to force overtime, then he followed that with an amazing individual effort, beating Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo on a wrap around to clinch the series in double overtime. It was exactly the type of performance envisioned when the Islanders drafted him.
Tavares scored 42 game-winning goals in blue and orange, notched eight hat-tricks, recorded two five-point games and was the Islanders’ best player on most nights during his tenure. He was the face of the franchise during his nine seasons, living up to the lofty individual expectations set on him before he ever arrived. Perhaps no one – the franchise, fans, or the hockey world at large – set the bar higher than Tavares, who set the example for a future generations of Islanders players with his work ethic and professionalism.
No Tavares story is complete without touching on his departure. His tenure ended on a sour note, when he signed with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018, but while he was an Islander, he was a great (ninety) one.