Maple Leafs star center John Tavares has been a key component of his hometown team in Toronto. And in this cover story from THN's Aug. 20, 2018 edition, writer Matt Larkin profiled Tavares in the early days of his Leafs career:

LIVING THE DREAM

By Matt Larkin

On a suffocating Toronto day with extreme heat warnings in effect, the ice level at newly renamed Scotiabank Arena, formerly the Air Canada Centre, provides little relief. It’s hot and sweaty as a crush of reporters gathers in front of a podium in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ media center, eyes, lights and cameras trained on John Tavares. Flanked by press-conference wingers Brendan Shanahan and Kyle Dubas on either side, Tavares braves the appropriately oven-like atmosphere, ready to face seven years of attention unlike anything he experienced in nine seasons as a New York Islander.

Tavares looks sweaty, exhausted, like a guy who’s been through many sleepless nights over the past week – because he has. But he also looks relieved. The long decision process for the salary-cap era’s highest-profile UFA is over. In the final hours before July 1, Tavares narrowed his choice to the Islanders and Maple Leafs. He was confident and deeply happy to sign a seven-year, $77-million deal with the team he loved as a child, but leaving the Islanders was excruciating.

“I just felt like my heart was in two places: where I’m from, and a place where I’ve been for a long time and helped me become the man I am today,” Tavares said. “My gut was tearing apart. My heart was tearing apart figuring out what I wanted to do. And yesterday was one heck of a day…I was walking up and down the pool at my house trying to get a sense of what I wanted to do and the path I wanted to take. I just felt this opportunity was just so rare.”

How did the Leafs swoop in and sell Tavares on that opportunity? And how will he fit into the team, from a hockey and financial standpoint? Let’s break Toronto’s epic acquisition into five commonly asked questions, answered by people directly involved in making the deal happen.

1. WHAT MOST ATTRACTED TAVARES TO THE LEAFS?

Tavares and agent Pat Brisson took in-person meetings during the five-day negotiation window leading up to free agency at CAA’s California offices with six teams: the Islanders, Leafs, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning. As Leafs GM Dubas explained, Tavares arrived just as prepared as the people making pitches to him. “He was very, very methodical,” Dubas said. “He was very well prepared for the process. You go talk to a lot of free agents every year, usually not as high-profile as this, and he was by far the most prepared I’ve ever seen. He walked in and had a very detailed list of questions he wanted answered about our style of play and how (coach Mike Babcock) was going to use him, my vision for the team, how we were going to move it ahead, how we were going to keep the core together, what our strategy was.”

Personnel wise, the Leafs were obviously appealing to Tavares, who gives glowing reviews when asked about the Leafs’ young stars. He’s impressed with Auston Matthews’ craftiness and ability to intercept pucks and play a 200-foot game while still being a great goal-scorer. Tavares feels Matthews is already a better two-way player than he was at the same age. He singles out Mitch Marner’s ability to control a game with his puck wizardry, and Tavares will soon get a closer look at that skill set.

Dubas consulted with Toronto Raptors executives Masai Ujiri, Bobby Webster and Teresa Resch in the hopes of learning how they pitch NBA stars, believing it would help the Leafs lure a free agent of Tavares’ magnitude. Dubas ended up green-lighting a promotional video crafted for Tavares. Prominently included the footage: Marner, showcased directly to Tavares as a projected linemate.

As Babcock said on signing day, the tentative plan will be to try Tavares with Zach Hyman on the left wing and Marner on the right, with Matthews centering Patrick Marleau and William Nylander. Nazem Kadri would likely helm a speedy trio with Kasperi Kapanen and Calder Cup MVP Andreas Johnsson, with the versatile Connor Brown, more skilled than your typical fourth-liner, nudged onto the fourth line nonetheless. The Leafs are that deep at forward.

They’re also coming off a 105-point season, their best in franchise history, and with so many of their top players in their early 20s, the pure hockey selling point was pretty easy for Tavares, 27. A big reason why he didn’t opt for the much-rumored one-year deal, which would’ve paid him the max-allowable 20 percent of the cap at $15.9 million: he doesn’t see a short-term window of success for this team.

As Tavares describes it, the window is “all seven years” of his deal. He believes seven seasons equal seven chances at a Cup, and he was attracted to the team’s on-ice identity, too. “You look at the depth up front and the youth, the energy they play with, the pace they play with and the creativity they play with,” Tavares said. “And I know going through this process this week, I started to think a lot about playing against the teams I was considering. And I just remember how tough the games were this year, how tough they were to play against, just no room or time and space. The defense has been talked about a lot for a while, and I just remember how tough they were to play against. So it was just the depth they bring and youth and energy and their ability to be creative and a good sense of who they are, their identity and the way they play.”

Tavares might be slightly misremembering the quality of Toronto’s defense corps, which, despite including talented puck-movers Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner and smart young addition Travis Dermott, was the team’s weakness more than a strength this past season, bleeding scoring chances on goalie Frederik Andersen. Still, with Tavares, Matthews and Kadri down the middle, the Leafs may have the puck so much that a subpar defense won’t matter.

Adding Tavares, a two-time Hart Trophy finalist who has topped 80 points three times in his career, positions the Leafs as arguably the team to beat in the Eastern Conference entering 2018-19.

2. HOW DID TAVARES BRING HIMSELF TO LEAVE THE ISLANDERS?

Leaving the island was no joke. Asked what he has to say to the franchise and its fans, Tavares almost breaks. His lip appears to quiver as he collects himself. “That place means a lot to me,” he said. “Everything I’ve been through there, the impact people had on me, the things we went through as a group, the teammates that have been through there. It was such a hard decision because of just really how special it was. It’s a great organization. A tremendous fan base, tremendously loyal, tremendously passionate. If you’ve ever been to a game with Islanders fans, it’s something really unique…What I want to reiterate is, thank you for the impact you’ve made on me. I don’t know if words can describe how much I appreciated my time there, the impact everyone made on me, and the organization’s in great hands.”

Tavares also praises “the kid who just won the Calder Trophy,” Mathew Barzal, and insists the Islanders have a bright future, even though zero people in Islanders Nation likely want to hear that kind of sentiment right now. It’s akin to breaking up with someone and telling him or her, “You’re going to make someone else really happy someday.”

Halfway through this past season, Tavares still claimed the Islanders were the only team on his mind, and the franchise did everything in its power after that to make him stay. That included striking a deal to get out of Brooklyn and back in a Long Island arena within three years, hiring Lou Lamoriello as GM and tabbing freshly crowned Cup champ Barry Trotz as coach. In the end, the allure of Tavares’ hometown team was too strong, an irresistible blend of choosing a team with his head and heart. He fulfills a dream, as he implied by tweeting a picture of himself sleeping with a Leafs blanket as a kid (see left), but he’s also joining a team that was already rising as a long-term championship contender.

Still, even if his reasoning was sound, the wound won’t heal for Isles fans anytime soon, as some indicated with public jersey burnings July 1. They might have forgiven him sooner had the Islanders traded him at the 2018 deadline as a rental in exchange for a bushel of picks and prospects.

3. HOW WILL THE LEAFS SORT OUT THEIR SALARY-CAP SITUATION?

Tavares quite obviously took a discount to join the Leafs at an $11-million AAV. So, yes, the Leafs should be happy with that number, which is substantially less than $15.9 million. But how does the $11-million cap hit fit into Toronto’s long-term plan? Nylander is an RFA and needs a new deal this summer. Even if he bypasses a bridge contract and commands a long-term extension with a cap hit north of $6 million – perhaps the result of a rumored offer sheet – it’s not a huge problem for the Leafs, who have $13.7 million to work with. He’s the only major contract left to figure out among existing team personnel. Heck, if the Leafs want, they can stay aggressive and pursue another roster upgrade. As of press time, they hadn’t made any additional signings, but Dubas indicated many veteran players were interested in joining the Leafs on short-term deals to chase a championship, so their summer shopping may not be finished.

But what on earth happens next summer when Matthews and Marner become RFAs? There’s a chance they combine for $20 million or more, as $10 million is likely the floor for Matthews, who won’t necessarily command Connor McDavid money ($12.5 million AAV) but can surely ask for Jack Eichel money ($10 million AAV). The Leafs technically have a year to figure out Matthews’ and Marner’s extensions but may be wise to lock the pair up now in case a season with Tavares spikes their stats to career bests – Marner from playing with Tavares and Matthews from getting better matchups if opponents key on the Tavares line defensively. The Leafs would have about $29 million to work with should the cap stay at $79.5 million for 2019-20, but blueliners Jake Gardiner and Ron Hainsey become UFAs, too, and Kapanen is also an RFA.

Dubas will have some salary-cap gymnastics to worry about, but Stan Bowman in Chicago and Jim Rutherford in Pittsburgh have proven teams can win Cups with top-heavy cap models that pay a core of star players massive money while relying on the development system for cheap but effective replacements. The Leafs have the latter covered given their AHL affiliate just won the Calder Cup and that the franchise placed first overall in THN Future Watch 2018’s ranking of development systems, which was compiled by an in-the-know panel of NHL scouts and team executives.

Dubas doesn’t tackle the 2019-and-beyond question head-on when grilled about it, but implies he feels good about the team’s finances overall. If he’s stressed, it doesn’t show on his smiling 31-year-old face. “Certainly this year we still have a healthy amount of cap space,” Dubas said. “Eventually, when our younger players continue to develop and impress, they’re going to want to be paid what the market bears for them, and that’s no problem on our end. We’re well situated to handle that when it comes, and we’ll always remain flexible. John, today, it was very evident he could have gotten more elsewhere. That sets a great tone for our organization. He obviously wanted to be here versus going out and getting the most money. That’s not a surprise given his character.

Does that mean Matthews and Marner follow Tavares’ example and accept a bit less money than expected? Dubas might have implied as much when he added that Tavares’ prioritizing winning over money sent a strong message “to our fan base and our young group.” We’ve seen Sidney Crosby do it for years in Pittsburgh. He’s never earned higher than an $8.7-million cap hit in his career. On Crosby’s current deal, which commenced in 2013-14, he’s just the 12th-wealthiest player in AAV.

4. WILL TAVARES BE THE LEAFS’ NEXT CAPTAIN?

The captaincy decision won’t happen soon – perhaps not even this season unless Tavares or someone else really distances himself from the pack as a defined leader in camp. Franchise cornerstone Matthews remains a legitimate candidate, and Rielly has demonstrated good leadership skills but, given Tavares wore the ‘C’ the past five seasons with the Islanders, he’s the natural frontrunner to wear it in Toronto eventually.

He indicates that the captaincy played no role in negotiations, though, and that he hasn’t been promised anything in that regard, as Dubas echoes. “We want to see how the group works together,” Dubas said. “As time goes on, we’ll evaluate where we’re at, and if there’s one player in our group that deserves that honor to be the captain of the team, we’ll make that decision then. I know it’s a popular question here, but it’s not something that can be rushed on our end, because it is an important distinction to be the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. We feel we have some great leaders, John among them, and we’ll see how it fits together this season and perhaps beyond, and we’ll make that call when it becomes apparent to us all.”

5. HOW WILL TAVARES HANDLE THE PRESSURE OF PLAYING IN TORONTO?

Even Tavares admits the hockey-mad Toronto market is an “unknown” for him, so it remains to be seen how long it’ll take him to adjust, but he also sees the pressure as a positive, a sign he’s part of a team with special expectations. “When you grow up somewhere, it’s sometimes even harder for those players to come home,” said Leafs president Shanahan. “They have to feel safe. And this is a place where they’re going to be given every opportunity to have success, because it’s not just you, it’s your family, it’s the people you grew up with that are going to go on that journey with you. Certainly we understood that was an important part for John and his family, and this is the place where he grew up a Leaf fan, and we had to do our part for him in terms of the on-ice product, something that would be attractive to a competitive person like John.”

For what it’s worth, Dubas insists the Toronto market has been fair and kind since he arrived four years ago, then as assistant GM. He says his time as GM of the OHL’s Sault St. Marie Greyhounds was more of a fishbowl experience because of the small-town mentality in which everyone knows everyone.

In Tavares’ case, competitiveness trumps any concerns about not being able to sneak into a movie theater unnoticed anymore. It’s also not as big of a culture shock as he suggests. He was the first major junior player to earn exceptional status and be drafted as a 14-year-old. They call it the “John Tavares Rule,” after all. He repped Team Canada as its star at the World Junior Championship, too, and was the first overall pick in the 2009 NHL draft. So Tavares and pressure are plenty acquainted. Plus he and fellow wunderkind Matthews can distribute the weight of expectations equally across their shoulders.

When Tavares dons the blue and white this fall, he’ll realize half his childhood fantasy. And now he has seven years to fill in the other half and do what no one has done in more than five decades: get Toronto a Stanley Cup.