“My objective is the same as it’s always been, and that’s to stay here,” said the captain of the hockey club in the final year of his contract. “I never once looked at this as wanting to get to free agency, and I still don’t look at it that way.”
This particular captain’s name was Ryan Callahan, and he made this statement Jan. 28, 2014, or five weeks before he was traded by the Rangers to the Lightning after negotiations for an extension broke down for good.
So, a few words to the wise, and to Islanders aficionados, as well: Believe in John Tavares’ sincerity when he says, as he did again a few days ago in an interview with TSN, that he wants to remain an Islander, but take nothing for granted until a contract extension is signed.
Because Callahan meant it, too, when he repeatedly said he wanted to stay in New York.
No. 24 later explained the Rangers would not give him the no-move/no-trade clause he sought in order to guarantee stability for his family. That ultimately was the deal-breaker for both sides and produced the impasse after seven months of on-and-off negotiations that preceded the exchange that brought Martin St. Louis to Broadway hours before the trade deadline.
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It is unclear why Tavares has not yet agreed to a long-term extension with the Islanders, which he was first eligible to sign July 1, but it surely has nothing to do with a no-trade clause and probably doesn’t have much, if anything, to do with money or term.
We are left to deduce it concerns the future of the franchise from the standpoint of either personnel or absence of an identifiable future and permanent geographic location, if not both. You would think the latter every bit as much as the former.
Is Belmont Park a panacea for the franchise? Compared to the dearth of viable alternatives, probably. Is that the home the Scott Malkin-Jon Ledecky ownership combine envisioned upon purchasing control of the Islanders? Probably not, but it likely beats Seattle or Quebec.
If this issue can be settled in the Islanders’ favor — and that is hardly a guarantee — then one would expect talks with Tavares to accelerate and/or hit a tipping point. Because at that point No. 91 would know where exactly he would be staying.
And if not, well, what is the organization’s selling point? Literally and figuratively?
No player of Tavares’ caliber and age (26 next month) has reached free agency in the cap era. The closest is probably Marian Hossa, who hit the market both at age 30 and 31. Zdeno Chara was 29 when he left Ottawa. And Marian Gaborik was 27, albeit coming off an injury-ruined season, when he signed with the Rangers in 2009.
In this era, players of that ilk generally don’t even get this far before signing extensions. Henrik Lundqvist went into early December of his walk season before signing an extension. Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf took it late into their walk years before re-upping with the Ducks, but that was during the 2012-13 lockout season.
Then, of course, there is Steven Stamkos, who went through his entire walk year without an extension, and indeed, re-upped just two days before he could have gone free in 2016. He is often cited as the template by which to measure the Tavares scenario.
But keep this in mind: Tampa Bay had gone to the Cup finals in 2015 and Game 7 of the conference finals in 2016. And this, too: The Lightning’s location in a no-tax state, plus their ability to offer an eight-year deal, made it almost impossible to come close to matching by poaching bidders.
That isn’t quite the reality under which Tavares lives. His team is not on the doorstep of a championship, perhaps not even contention. And just to throw this out there: An eight-year, $80 million deal with the Islanders ($10 million per season) would leave Tavares with approximately $41.81 million net, according to the tax chart at Gavingroup.ca, while a seven-year, $59.5 million contract ($8.5M per) with the Lightning would leave the center with about $36.28 million net. Not a whole lot of difference.
Maybe this all works out for the Islanders. Maybe they get their rink. Maybe they get through the season in Brooklyn without anyone suffering an injury owing to poor ice conditions. Maybe the very young guys on the cusp make it. Maybe the young guys who have underachieved the past couple of seasons will thrive with Doug Weight behind the bench from beginning to end. Maybe the Jaro Halak-Thomas Greiss tandem in nets is more efficient than it was a year ago, and maybe general manager Garth Snow will be emboldened to yield a couple of assets for shorter-term help when the opportunity arises.
Maybe then, Tavares will put his signature where his heart is. The truth is, he has had five weeks to do it and has not.
And let us agree that Tavares saying that wants to stay is no longer particularly newsworthy. After all, Callahan wanted to stay, too.