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John Tavares is a Maple Leaf

And in fairness, that was outstanding defensive work by Couturier. There's just no way to defend against that.
 
Bullfrog said:
And in fairness, that was outstanding defensive work by Couturier. There's just no way to defend against that.
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Yeah, he did that against a Selke finalist (and the guy who probably should have won the award).
 
Nik the Trik said:
Again though, saying that the system is "broken" is implying that it's not doing what it's supposed to do. But it is doing that. It's giving the illusion that young players have some measure of freedom while still giving teams ultimate control. That is by design.
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So what's actually broken is the fact that people actually think the RFA system is supposed to do anything.

Nik the Trik said:
So long as there's a hard cap and escrow payments why should we care how the money gets distributed? All you do by artificially limiting the supply of free agents in that scenario is divert money away from very good young players to mediocre older players.
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When you think about it in the context that you provide above, it really doesn't make any sense to have an RFA system or a draft really.  Either offer free agency at a specific time or offer it at the start. 

I understand that controlling the inflation on the contracts is the main idea here, but you have to think that they could analyze the way teams get built, and if the ultimate goal is parity, then allowing teams to build themselves up quickly should be an end goal. 
 
Significantly Insignificant said:
When you think about it in the context that you provide above, it really doesn't make any sense to have an RFA system or a draft really.  Either offer free agency at a specific time or offer it at the start.
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Well, it makes sense in as much as the Owners want control as much as anything. Simply having a financial system that protects them from their own stupidity isn't enough, they also want to feel like they dictate the terms to their employees regardless of their employees negotiating power. 

The current system allows for, and encourages, parity to some extent but only in the sense of forcing teams to scrap down and rebuild and build through a system they have no real control over. A mass free for all of talent would inject risk and creativity into the system and, well, that's not really what the NHL is about.
 
LittleHockeyFan said:
guess I better get started on 91 TavaresBear and whatever number SeabrookBear is gonna wear :D
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Seabrook?? I don't think we want anything to do with that contract
 
I forgot to follow up my:

"I find this lack of news....disturbing"

post in the Tavares thread on Sunday with this:

"Now witness the power of this fully operational Leaf offence"

post, so I am doing it now. 
 
Zee said:
LittleHockeyFan said:
guess I better get started on 91 TavaresBear and whatever number SeabrookBear is gonna wear :D
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Seabrook?? I don't think we want anything to do with that contract
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apparently that was a hoax. No Seabrook here......  but I still have to work on TavaresBear  (and perhaps spend part of the off season moving all my bear pictures from photobucket to imgur so I can use them here again)
 
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2018/07/03/nazem-kadri-on-prospect-of-role-change-with-addition-of-john-tavares-i-just-want-to-win-every-every-single-year-i-watch-the-stanley-cup-finals-the-two-teams-are-playing-in-june-and-i-just-want-th/

On what he would?ve told Tavares if he did make it out to California for the pitch

Kadri: Wins. That?s the simple answer. We are trying to build something special. We are not only trying to build it for the next two or three years; it?s going to be about of significant amount of time where we can contend. I think that?s what he is most excited about. Not to mention off the ice ? I know he is getting married and we have a great group of wives and girlfriends that she is going to get along with wonderfully. I just think all of that coming together made the decision easier.
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Some masterful shade there.
 
https://twitter.com/kpapetti/status/1014551566831976449

It?s more fun when you show the cap hits before and after Tavares and their subsequent results with their new teams away from Tavares.
 
This Tavares signing will be an interesting case study for future #1 overall picks when their respective contracts are up.

Do I think that Tavares jumping ship will finally make other young stars chase championships ala the NBA model?  I'm not so sure.

The Tavares situation is really unique in that, the Islanders were a horrible organization during his entire tenure there.  They might have tried to sell him on things getting better with the hiring of Lou and Trotz, but after seeing the mess the organization was in after so many seasons with them, he probably didn't believe a fix was coming anytime soon.  So him coming to the Leafs was due to 1) The Islanders being terrible for so long 2) The Leafs on the rise, and were his hometown favorite team as a kid. 

For other young players to make the move I think a similar set of circumstances would have to play out.  If you can keep your team competitive to a point where it's believable that they're in the mix for a long playoff run I think the "stay put" mentality takes over for a player because it's the comfort zone they've always known. 

Given that we've never seen this type of movement before (that is a superstar like Tavares still relatively in his prime leaving his original team), I think it may be a one-off.



 
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