It’s Johnny T time in Toronto
Tavares has been worth every penny
TORONTO — So how do you like the view from Toronto so far, Johnny T?
It can be a blinding light, here in the centre of the hockey universe, but John Tavares has scarcely blinked. Amid a galaxy of young stars, the 77 Million Dollar Man has been worth every penny and salary cap dollar.
Even if the cap crunch ends up squeezing William Nylander out of the picture. Seriously, who would you rather: Nylander or Tavares? (Ask us again in six years.)
We are not accustomed to freeagent gaudiness and never before have the Toronto Maple Leafs opened their wallet as generously, come-hither beguilingly, as they did on Canada Day, to reel in a hometown boy who dreamed of this club as a child tangled up in blue-and-white bed linen.
He could have been slightly overwhelmed. He could have required a period of acclimatization to a new everything after nearly a decade on Long Island. He could have wilted ever so slightly under the burden of expectations.
Instead, Tavares has danced the light fandango, from auspicious debut — first goal as a Leaf, deke and a dangle and a wrister — and 11 more since, through 20 games, for a team-leading dozen heading into Monday night’s encounter with Columbus at home. That’s a 49-goal pace, which would be the highest of his career by a goodly margin.
Countless others, if not in Tavares’s marquee bracket, have struggled in the goldfish bowl that is the Leafs. He may have been megawatt brilliant on Long Island — had to do it all, sometimes single-handedly — but there’s no comparison. Yet he’s taken to it with relish and apparent ease.
“I think it’s been a really good transition,” Tavares allows.
“Still going through it, still finding my way every day. Feeling more and more comfortable. But this is just part of the journey and part of the process you go through over 82 games. Try not to be satisfied with where you’re at, try to find ways to keep getting better.’’
Tavares can look around with the wisdom gained from being where they are now, the Matthewses and the Marners and the Riellys. Where they may be awed by him, he’s been struck by their poise. That’s what he cites as the most eye-popping discovery.
“The way the group handles our approach every day and the way they carry themselves as professionals and representing the hockey team, they do a tremendous job. Obviously being on a very young team, it’s impressive how they’ve been able to handle all that, all the attention. Just worry about playing the game and doing what you have to do to be successful — that’s a great trait to have. It’s something I kind of anticipated when I was looking at things. But, once you’re in and around it every day, it impressed you even more.”
No stage fright for Tavares, clearly. He’s thrived. Especially, when fellow superstar pivot Auston Matthews went down with a lame shoulder, in a one-two offensive kick with defenceman Morgan Rielly. Not just freewheeling in the offensive zone, slick with the puck, but burning lung on the homely backcheck as he did in overtime at Anaheim on Friday, forcing a turnover in front of Garret Sparks, on the tape heads-up pass to Mitch Marner, two-on-one with Rielly, red light pulsating.
“Yeah, I don’t know why I was skating so hard up the ice to try and get involved,” smiled Tavares, of trailing the rush. “Obviously, Mitch’s ability to slow the play down, draw defenders to him and find the open man, and then Mo’s ability to find open ice, then once he gets it … his shot is dead on right now.”
But it wouldn’t have unfolded without Tavares’s grunt work. He can glitter and he can glisten an honest sweat.
“His backcheck last game set up the winning goal,” emphasized coach Mike Babcock.
In a dressing room of young hotshots, there’s a kind of tacit imperiousness to Tavares, regardless of how genuinely he ascribes to an equality doctrine. He simply emits a wizened exceptionalism.
“He’s not quiet, he talks,” says Rielly, studious acolyte of his teammate’s ways. “When it comes to his leadership, he leads by example on the ice and just the way he leads his life. He appears to be very comfortable in a new environment and that’s a good thing.
“He’s here every day with the exact same attitude. He comes to work ready to go, he takes his job very seriously, wants to be a leader, wants to be a great player in this league for a long time. There’s a lot to be learned from him just by watching.”
At the quarter pole, with the Leafs just a couple of ticks off the National Hockey League standings lead, Tavares has gone a long way toward infusing the club with an identity that incorporates hard work ethic with polish. He’s provided ballast for the first power-play unit, even when — as a consequence of Matthews’ injury — shifted from his preferred role in front of the net. He eats up huge minutes against the opposition’s top line, kills penalties, has a presence on every shift and, with his own forward troika, sets an assured tone five-on-five — Toronto has scored 20 goals at full strength with Tavares on the ice, given up only 10 against.
His attention to detail — from nutrition to daily workout regimen, pre-game preparation and postgame recovery — has established a standard, a motif, for teammates. Because none of it comes easy, no matter how gifted an athlete.
“What I would tell you is that he’s just what the doctor ordered here,” Babcock said.
And he knows Tavares, having coached him to Olympic and World Cup gold before being blessed with him as a Leaf, now 28 years old. Although, with his dark countenance and stubble beard, Tavares looks older.
“He’s perfect for our guys. Ten to 12 years younger than (Patrick) Marleau, so more in their age group,” Babcock added. “Very serious about his craft, from what he eats to where he works out to how hard he works out, to the little things he does after practice. All those things are besides your skill set. God gave you a skill set. It’s what you do with them. The real superstars, they keep evolving, getting better, work hard and do things right. You can talk all you want as a coach. It’s way better when the players who are model people for you are unbelievable. So, when you start slipping, you just look at them and you’re embarrassed for yourself. Those guys set the bar high.”
Belly up to the bar, Johnny Walker Blue.
He says: “Try not to be satisfied with where you’re at. Try to find ways to keep getting better, get to another level. And enjoy the ride along the way.”