Sharks take shot to land Tavares
San Jose reportedly among favorites to add Islanders’ star center
SAN JOSE >> As the sand trickles through the hourglass toward Sunday, the Sharks are in a strong position to reset their clock by a decade, moving from the Joe Thornton-Patrick Marleau era into a potentially bright future.
The Sharks are among six teams vying to sign superstar center John Tavares, who will become the biggest unrestricted free agent to hit the market in the NHL’s salary cap era if he doesn’t re-up with the New York Islanders by 9 p.m tonight (PDT). At this point, every indication suggests that the Sharks are near the front of the pack, if not leading the race, to acquire Tavares.
As recently as last week, Tavares seemed poised to stay with the Islanders. After decades of futility, the Islanders took a good stab at showing Tavares they’re serious about righting the ship. They hired Lou Lamoriello, the architect of three Stanley Cup winning teams in New Jersey, as team president, and Barry Trotz, who just won a Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals, as head coach. The organization also secured the rights to build a new arena
at Belmont Park on Long Island for the 2021-22 season, moving the team closer to its practice facilities and out of the less-than-friendly hockey confines of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
But with just one day left in the month of June, Tavares has yet to submit a verdict to his agent, Pat Brisson, suggesting there’s a good chance he’ll be on the move once the calendar turns to July.
The logic here is simple. The Islanders are the only team that can offer Tavares an eight-year contract, but that’s only if he re-signs before 9:01 p.m. tonight. After that, he becomes an unrestricted free agent and the maximum term that he can sign for is seven years. It’s unlikely that the 27-year-old would want to cough up the opportunity to make $11 million or $12 million at age 35 unless he’s planning to jump ship.
In short, if Tavares is going to re-sign with the Islanders, he’ll need to put pen to paper soon, really soon.
Regardless, it’s clear that Tavares received plenty to think about when he met with five teams, including the Sharks, at his agent’s office in Los Angeles earlier this week.
According to Arthur Staple of the Athletic, the Sharks and the Toronto Maple Leafs are believed to be the leading contenders to acquire Tavares’ services if he decides to leave the Islanders. This isn’t surprising. The biggest obstacle standing between the Sharks and Tavares was always the Islanders as nearly every marquee player who flirts with unrestricted free agency ends up re-signing with his club.
The Sharks can offer Tavares just about everything he could possibly want other than familiarity.
Money? The Sharks unloaded Mikkel Boedker’s contract, bought out the final year of Paul Martin’s deal and declined to tender a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Dylan DeMelo just to make sure they have enough salary cap space available to throw $10 million to $12 million Tavares’ way.
Location? Canadians like wearing sandals in January, just ask Joe Thornton.
Media pressure? In San Jose, hockey players don’t face the level of scrutiny that’s thrown at the 49ers, Warriors or Giants. They answer daily questions from just two beat writers. Most of the team can go about their daily lives relatively unnoticed in Silicon Valley.
Most important, though, the Sharks can offer Tavares what he probably wants more than anything else: a chance to win.
Signing Tavares would instantaneously make the Sharks among the top five contenders to win the Stanley Cup next season. With him, Logan Couture and Thornton, who’s expected to re-sign this offseason, the Sharks would be as deep as any team down the middle. Tavares also would be skating on a squad with a quality blue line and an elite goalie in Martin Jones, elements the Islanders can never seem to acquire.
The Sharks aren’t holding back their pitch and who doesn’t like feeling wanted?
Owner Hasso Plattner personally went down to Los Angeles this week to make an appeal to Tavares in person. Couture reportedly shot his teammate at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey a text, and Evander Kane made his case by writing an essay on the Players’ Tribune, gushing about the benefits of playing in San Jose.
Even Joe Pavelski’s grandmother made an appeal on Twitter, writing: “I think that @91Tavares should join the Sharks!”
This is all speculation, of course, and the Maple Leafs are certainly making a strong pitch, as well. The Toronto area is Tavares’ home, the team has a boatload of young talent with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, and every hockey player grows up dreaming about playing for an original six franchise.
At this point, only Tavares and his confidants know what the determining factors in this decision will be. But as we inch closer to Sunday, the Sharks’ chances of remaining a contender in the Western Conference for the next decade is looking brighter and brighter.