Of course when John Tavares went into the hockey-media echo chamber of Montreal, he was asked about his future as a possible free agent. And of course, Tavares answered in the same way he has over the past few months — albeit with stronger language.
“I hope to stay in Long Island,” Tavares told reporters before scoring the overtime winner in a 5-4 victory over the Canadiens at Bell Centre on Monday night. “There’s a lot of positive things going forward with the organization and the team here. I haven’t thought about being anywhere else but with the Islanders.”
The 27-year-old Tavares is playing out the final season of his six-year, $33 million contract, one of the most club-friendly deals in the league. He has held off signing an extension — or seriously starting to negotiate one — while weighing the myriad options in front of him and the organization.
The biggest one of those was wrapped up when the team recently solidified the agreement with New York State to build a new arena on land at Belmont Park. With co-owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin leading the way, the franchise will finally exit its tumultuous marriage with Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and move back to Long Island, where the Islanders played their home games since their inaugural season of 1972-73 until they moved to their misguided urban locale in 2015-16.
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The new arena at Belmont will likely not be ready until the 2020-21 season — at the earliest — and the Islanders are set to play at Barclays at least through next season. So that leaves their home for 2019-20 (if not 2020-21) as an unknown, with the NHL recently admitting that the newly renovated and downsized Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale is an option.
“Given the alternatives while the new arena is being built, I would think the Coliseum option is certainly worthy of strong consideration,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a Dec. 22 email to The Post.
Tavares, who lives with his fiancée in a Nassau County suburb, also has to consider the on-ice product. General manager Garth Snow has two first-round picks and two second-round picks in next year’s draft, and the team went into Monday night one point out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Isles had gone 6-11-2 over their previous 19 games before beating the Rangers, 7-2, Saturday afternoon at the Garden.
“I don’t really focus on it on a daily basis too much,” Tavares said of his pending free agency. “You get into the season and you’re so focused day after day on how you can improve, especially this part of the season with how important every game gets. That’s where I try to keep my focus and let that play out over time.”