John Tavares: The Superstar

John Tavares Fulfilling & Exceeding Expectations

I have been sitting here trying to figure out a way to begin this piece on John Tavares and I have come to only one conclusion; there are no words that would appropriately describe how great he has been. There is literally no point in trying. There hasn't been a player in orange and blue (and sometimes black) as talented as Tavares in many, many years. Probably not ever in my lifetime, or the lifetimes of many Islander fans. 

His talent level is tremendous, his hockey sense is incredible, and as icing on the cake, his work ethic is impeccable. When you have a combination of those three attributes in one player it makes for a generational talent and I do believe that we are watching one develop. You may call me crazy for saying that, but I don't have any other explanation. His influence on a game is shocking, literally every where on the ice Tavares is able to excel at whatever task presents itself. If you watched the game last night and saw the overtime I hope you kept an eye on Tavares. Not because of his fantastic goal, but for the play he made a few minutes prior to it. The Islanders turned the puck over deep in the Hurricanes end and Streit was caught deep. Tavares realized that and rushed to cover Streit's spot on defense. The Hurricanes had a 3-on-2, but Tavares played the man perfectly and eventually broke up the play by rubbing out the guy with the puck. Its the little things that make me appreciate Tavares so much. 

Thats the way Tavares is, he wants to be the best he can possibly be. Early in his career one of the big knocks on him was his face-off taking ability. Just a few years later he has the 29th best face-off % in the league with 53% of his face-offs won. Another part of his game that was consistently picked apart was his back-checking and play away from the puck, but lo-and-behold he has worked hard to improve and now has the 5th most takeaways in the league with 56. 

When he wakes up in the morning, if he sees that he has a weakness, he will do anything possible to make that area of his game a strength by the time he goes to bed that night. That thought process is rare amongst hockey players, and people in general, and is something that only the best captains in NHL history had. It spreads itself amongst teammates and is the basis behind the ideology of 'leading by example'. He has all the makings of a great captain, and his clutch play throughout his career whether it be the World Junior Championships when he was young, or his 5th most game winning goals in the NHL this season, he knows how to perform when its needed and quite frankly when its not needed as well. 

John Tavares is the player that Islander fans have been waiting for since the glory days and one that will never stop pushing as hard as one man can, until he is holding the Stanley Cup above his head. For all the years of pain and anguish us Isles fans have dealt with in the past twenty years, the hockey gods have rewarded us with our savior. For the first time, I will label Tavares that. He is the man that will save this franchise.