National Post (National Edition)
Line for Tavares starts on the left
The scene outside the Creative Artists Agency offices in Century City, Calif., is akin to travelling medieval nobles trying to impress the prince at his castle gates.
The top contenders for John Tavares’s services are reportedly Boston, Dallas, San Jose, Toronto and Tampa Bay, while Team Tavares stays in contact with a couple of other clubs. Also on hand and carefully observing it all are GM Lou Lamoriello and the New York Islanders, hoping the NHL’S biggest free-agent prize stays put.
While a news blackout was imposed Monday, here’s what some of the principals were pitching in addition to money:
❚ The Leafs, who overplayed their hand when Steven Stamkos was in this same spot two years ago by inviting the mayor and head of Canadian Tire to the meeting, were said to have created a high-tech video to sell the Mississauga, Ont., native on home cooking. What Toronto didn’t have two years ago was a Stanley Cup-contending team.
❚ Speaking of Stamkos, he was expected to be involved in the Lightning’s presentation at some point to sell Tavares on the good life away from the rink in Florida.
❚ San Jose, which recently cleared cap space, can offer one of the most welcoming dressing room environments in the league and like Tampa is the complete opposite of hockey-saturated Toronto. There’s the bonus of colourful teammates from Joe Thornton to Brent Burns. And they’re in the Cup hunt, too.
❚ Boston, which once shunned stars seeking big bucks, is going hard after Tavares. That might cause some cap decisions, but its recent infusion of youth means there will be life after Zdeno Chara.
❚ Put Dallas in the mix for a good reason — no state taxes, which is also the case with Tampa Bay and two quiet pursuers in Vegas and Nashville.
FAME GAME
The Hockey Hall of Fame’s 2018 class will be voted on and announced Tuesday.
Fast-tracked this year by the 18-member selection committee will be newly eligible goaltender Martin Brodeur, who has the most victories and shutouts at his position, but after that no one can be called a tapin. Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson, a success on the international and NHL stage, has already been bypassed once, but is now joined by first-year-eligible Martin St. Louis, an Art Ross, Hart and Stanley Cup winner.
Then it’s a long waiting list of veterans. Pierre Turgeon took over from 2017 inductee Dave Andreychuk as the retired player with the most points (1,327) not yet in the hall, while Keith Tkachuk’s case strengthened when fellow 500-goal scorer Mark Recchi was recently admitted. A 75 per cent vote is needed for induction.
Two dark horses of recent vintage would be Alex Mogilny or Curtis Joseph.
MISSING ZEBRA
The Hall can admit up to four male players and two females as well as one or two in the builder category as long as there are one or no officials picked in that category.
But the under-represented referee category might consider longtime official Bryan Lewis. The 75-year-old first handled amateur games more than 50 years ago in his native Georgetown, Ont., and toiled through the minors to the NHL in 1970. Working more than 1,000 regular season games and various Stanley Cups and Canada Cups, he became president of the officials association before joining the league office in officiating development, keeping the NHL’S standards the highest in the world.
Thrust into the director’s job with the sudden passing of John Mccauley in 1989, Lewis supervised a team of nearly 100 and helped implement such projects as the two-referee system. He continues to work with officials in the Ontario university league.
CUP CLIMB TAKES YEARS
As teams try to find an ace or two to put them over the top and players weigh their best options, only one team can win the Cup every year. While watching the new documentary The Russian Five, Wings executive vice-president Jim Devellano commented on how long it took his team to finally have success.
“It’s something for fans to realize. You see how hard it is to win the Cup, how hard it is to make the moon, the sun and the stars all align. We got upset in 1993, ’94, ’95 and ’96. That’s four in a row where we felt we had a team that could win it and we didn’t.”
ICE CHIPS
The feel-good story of the Washington Capitals can’t escape the business realities of the NHL. The team did not extend winger Devante Smith-pelly by Monday’s deadline ... In L.A., defenceman Jordan Subban was not qualified along with winger Tobias Rieder, whom they acquired in the Darcy Kuemper trade with Arizona ... Among others looking at the UFA tag after no qualifier appeared was Anthony Duclair of the Blackhawks, a good talent the team just couldn’t afford.