How John Tavares has thrived in hockey’s limelight for two decades
John Tavares is known to eschew individual attention, but it’s a shame that he wasn’t able to celebrate his 500th goal in earnest. Tavares reached this milestone during Wednesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, but as the Toronto Maple Leafs trailed by several goals, the 35-year-old skated to the bench stoically, accepting a pat on the back from head coach Craig Berube.
“You play this game to win as a team, and it’s all about the team,” Tavares said post-game. “And you know, you’d like to have had it made more of an impact in the game. But for sure, in the days ahead and moments ahead, I’ll appreciate it more.”
Tavares became the 49th player in NHL history to reach 500 goals, which invites an opportunity to reflect on his remarkable career. Short of winning a Stanley Cup, he has exceeded the stratospheric expectations cast upon him, since emerging in the national spotlight as a 14-year-old prodigy. He wasn’t quite the first superstar of the modern internet era, that designation belongs to Sidney Crosby, but Tavares was the first player to be granted exceptional status under the Canadian Hockey League’s revised process, went first overall in the OHL Draft to the Oshawa Generals, and was selected first by the New York Islanders in the 2009 NHL Draft. He hasn’t looked back since.
I’ve written about the early portion of Tavares’ career more than a few times at different outlets, and once again, there’s some context worth adding here. Tavares played 18 months up in minor hockey and by the time he was a U14 player, he was considered the best player in Ontario by some distance, ahead of Logan Couture, Drew Doughty and Toronto Marlboros teammate Sam Gagner. As a teenager, his scoring touch was discussed online forums (
Tavares’ game is a steady metronome with more subtle qualities to appreciate. McDavid’s exceptional skating and Crosby’s puck skills and superior centre of gravity were readily apparent to the casual observer. Tavares’ highlight reel is an appreciation of hockey intelligence writ large, as he’s used his spatial sense and innate goal-scoring ability to wedge his way into the slot and net-front throughout a career, where he’s scored fewer than 20 goals in a season just once. At this stage of his career, Tavares’ superior hockey intelligence and love for the game is propelling a resurgent late arc.
There’s been a tendency to preemptively dismiss Tavares, this faction often extending outside of the Toronto market. We’d like to surmise that Tavares’ game doesn’t always have a visceral quality to it, that outside observers have a tendency to write him off. There’s been a notion that Tavares has lost a step as a skater, which isn’t supported by NHL Edge data and as a beat reporter, I can assure you that few players on the Leafs are better at transporting the puck into the offensive zone, no one is asking him to win a straight-line race. Tavares has been the most consistent Leafs player through 11 games — yes, there isn’t a whole lot of competition for this designation, but it’s all the more reason to appreciate his tremendous career to date, as another 38-goal campaign is certainly within reach.
Earlier this season, Tavares became the 4th player in NHL history to record 500 points with two different franchises. As a student of hockey history, Tavares certainly understands the importance of this milestone, but he won’t speak about himself in the effusive terms he deserves. We’ll do it for him. Tavares has lived a remarkable hockey life, exceeding the tremendous hype placed on him as a prodigy in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League, while quietly maintaining his place as one of the best forwards of his generation. All that eludes Tavares is a Stanley Cup, which appears to be growing more distant by the day, but if there’s any reason to believe that this Maple Leafs team will one day break the curse, Tavares’ sustained excellence is as good as any.
What Flyers’ lineup might look like with Sean Couturier out injured
The Philadelphia Flyers lost their captain to injury on Thursday night and while we don’t know the timeline, if he’s out for a while, what could the lineup look like?
The Philadelphia Flyers might have won the game Thursday night’s showdown against the Nashville Predators, but they did lose something incredibly important to their season. In the middle of what ended up being a one-sided affair for the final two periods (on the score line anyways, maybe not the shot total), Flyers captain Sean Couturier went down with an injury.
Couturier did not return to the game as almost immediately after he went down the tunnel, the Flyers put out an announcement that the first-line center was staying out. Nothing official was said as to what caused the injury, but as many speculated and as head coach Rick Tocchet somewhat referenced in his post-game media availability, Couturier took a bad shot from teammate Noah Juulsen in the first period and
No one knows how long Couturier is going to be out. The Flyers do not practice Friday, so at the very earliest we’ll find out something during Saturday’s morning skate before they host the Toronto Maple Leafs. Until then, all we can do is guess and with Couturier’s injury history (albeit, recovering from multiple back surgeries is not comparable to taking a puck in your torso) there is a little bit of hesitation to think that he’s completely fine.
So, what does that mean for the Flyers while Couturier is out? The 32-year-old has averaged the most time-on-ice among any center on this team and has been cemented on the first line ever since the season started. Couturier has become more important than even some of the most optimistic followers of this team predicted before this season, as he currently sits second on the team in scoring with two goals and nine points in his 10 games played.
If Couturier is out for an extended period of time, who could we see take his place on the first line, and what could the lineup even look like? We have some guesses.
Keep the status quo as much as possible
Ultimately, the Flyers are winning hockey games and looking good while doing it. Sean Couturier no doubt has contributed to a whole lot of that but it could make sense in head coach Rick Tocchet’s mind to not change a thing. The classic trope of not fixing anything that’s broken or changing a winning lineup is too applicable in this situation, so it’s an option.
What that would end up entailing is trying to re-create Couturier in some sort of way — or at the very least make his replacement have as many similar attributes as he does. Among all potential centers on the roster, that has to be Christian Dvorak.
While obviously not at the same level on either side of the puck, Dvorak was brought in this summer to be a stabilizing force for the Flyers and wouldn’t look completely out of place if he was just given the reins on the top line between Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny. It would most likely make the majority of the fan base unhappy and missing the toothless smile of the captain even more than they already will, but it is something we could certainly see happening.
This would then mean Trevor Zegras moving to be a full-time center — that is something most people have already guessed is going to happen after losing Couturier — and then someone like Nikita Grebenkin, who Tocchet has put with Zegras and Michkov in spurts, or even a minor-league recall like speedy Anthony Richard, for example.
Zegras gets the big promotion
It’s something most people are clamoring for. After his three-point performance against the Predators and looking like he is out for vengeance — to show the hockey world that he truly is a very good all-around player in addition to his overwhelming skill — Trevor Zegras might take the first-line role. We’ve seen Tippett and Zegras connect ever so briefly to mixed results, and we’ve seen Zegras and Konecny on the same line for similarly mixed results.
We’ve seen this exact trio together for about 12 minutes in the preseason and 12 minutes in the regular season during some line-jumbling, so it’s at least popped in Tocchet’s head for a second. And maybe, with Zegras breaking out as of late, he can be freed from the shackles of needing some sort of defensively reliable (boring) linemate.
It would get rid of our loveable Michkov-Zegras connection, but just for a short amount of time and the newcomer deserves to get the push up the lineup. Nikita Grebenkin probably easily falls in line with Dvorak and Michkov on the Flyers’ “third line” but that doesn’t create a whole lot of offensive opportunities for the Russian phenom.
Noah Cates gets his opportunity
It would be very controversial considering how well they have played ever since they were put together last season, but in this time of need, if we’re talking about a player that brings the same defensive acumen as Couturier, it’s all about Noah Cates.
Moving Dvorak up to the first line, like we said, we be keeping the status quo in the sense that the Flyers’ best forward line would stay in-tact. But if Tocchet is less concerned with maintaining Cates, Brink, and Foerster as a unit to suffocate opposing offenses and score timely goals, then the 26-year-old center could move up to the first line.
Cates would provide a perfect balance of skill and tenacity to let Tippett and Konecny go bananas. He might not have the hockey brain that Couturier does, but he can play effective hockey and that might just be what is needed to get Konecny going offensively.
Foerster and Brink would most likely stay together, but if the group of centers are Cates, Dvorak, Zegras, and Abols, then it might make the most sense to put Dvorak with those two wingers, and then have Grebenkin with Zegras and Michkov full-time.
There’s no specific way of determining what is going to happen if Couturier is out for an extended period of time. There could even be a recall for a Phantoms forward and Grebenkin and the unnamed minor-leaguer would be in the lineup over Nic Deslauriers.
No one knows but we can just guess how Tocchet is going to approach his lineup if the captain is on the sidelines.
