Tavares prepared for Long Island return
John Tavares seems resigned to his fate.
The heart and soul of the New York Islanders for nine seasons, the team’s former captain bolted for the Toronto Maple Leafs in free agency last summer after a prolonged soap opera of “will he or won’t he” that gripped the hockey world.
Tavares was torn between the franchise that drafted and nurtured him, and the pull of going home to play for the club he grew up supporting in the suburbs just west of Toronto – one whose logo adorned the sheets on his childhood bed.
Set to return to his old stomping ground for the first time Thursday when the Leafs visit the Islanders, the 28-year-old knows what’s in store from a passionate fanbase that feels he left their team hung out to dry.
“You have a sense of what it might be like,” Tavares said. “Whatever it is, it’ll be.”
What it could be is nasty.
While the Islanders are expected to pay tribute to Tavares at some point during the game, he will almost assuredly endure a rough reception.
A video of fans reacting to their former hero’s departure produced by a local TV station that included words like “traitor” and “snake” went viral on social media this week. Initial reaction to his July 1 signing in Toronto was vitriolic.
It’s not so much he left New York. It’s how and when everything unfolded with the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft that gnaws at Islanders fans, although he was well within his right as an unrestricted free agent to do so.
Tavares has repeatedly explained his decision to leave for an opportunity he felt he couldn’t pass up.
Speaking this week in Toronto, the veteran centre said he hopes his legacy in New York will be that he gave everything, even though that wasn’t enough to get the team where it needed to be in the standings.
“I really embraced being an Islander,” said Tavares, who had 35 goals in 2018-19 heading into Wednesday’s action. “I loved it. It was a great place to play. I never didn’t enjoy my time there, even when things weren’t going well. I did everything I could to help the team hopefully win a Stanley Cup.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that and I take responsibility, especially being the captain, not doing a good enough job consistently.”
New York made the playoffs in just three of his nine seasons, winning only one round, but Tavares scored the fifth-most goals in the NHL during his tenure, three back of Corey Perry and seven shy of Sidney Crosby.
“I gave it everything I had,” he said. “Just tried to be the best player and person I can be.”
The rest of the Leafs will do their best to support Tavares in his return.
“It’s going to be crazy,” centre Auston Matthews said. “We need to make sure we’re prepared despite all the stuff going on around it.”