Tavares must stay for Isles to blossom

Youth Movement Won’t Mean Much Without Veteran Captain

May 9, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Islanders captain John Tavares will likely begin contract extension talks with general manager Garth Snow later this month. AP photo

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New Yorkers are currently obsessed with Matt Harvey’s alleged hangover, Aaron Judge’s prodigious power, Carmelo Anthony’s ongoing feud with Phil Jackson and whether or not the New York Rangers will find a way to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1994.

John Tavares remaining with the Islanders beyond 2017-18?

Not so much.

But for Brooklynites, especially those who have embraced the Islanders since their arrival in our fair borough two years ago, Tavares has to be of primary concern.

The Islanders’ captain, two-time Hart Trophy finalist and best all-around hockey player in the tri-state area will become a free agent following the 2017-18 campaign.

And you hardly hear a thing about it.

In fact, Tavares quietly had surgery on his right hand last month, according to Newsday, and is expected to begin next year healthy and ready to regain the form that made him the team’s top scorer with 66 points (28 goals, 38 assists) this past season.

But will it be his last season in Orange and Blue?

Tavares, who will turn 27 on Sept. 20, missed the final five games of the Isles’ late-season playoff push due to a hamstring injury, ultimately leaving New York a single point shy of what would have been its third consecutive postseason berth.

The reason for the injury, depending on whom you ask, may have been the faulty and oft-complained about ice conditions at Downtown’s Barclays Center, which is not equipped with the underground piping necessary to keep the playing surface smooth for 20 minutes per period.

Also, the Isles appear to be in the midst of a breakup with the arena they’ve called home since leaving the Nassau Coliseum following the 2014-15 season, be it via their own opt out following next season or the Barclays’ right to terminate the deal after 2018-19.

Doing something about the ice that cost Tavares a chance to skate with his teammates at the most critical juncture of last season, and/or finding a future home, be it at Belmont or Willets Point, could be key factors in luring Tavares back to the only organization he has known since becoming the first overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft.

Money won’t be an issue as Tavares will doubtlessly be offered the richest contract in franchise history, and among the most lucrative in the entire NHL, on July 1, when the team gets its first crack at signing him to a new deal.

He will likely begin those extension talks with Isles general manager Garth Snow within the next several weeks, but what exactly can Snow tell him?

Do the Islanders know where they’ll be playing in the next several years?

Will the team surround Tavares with a team that can seriously compete for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title since the halcyon days of the 1980s?

Though new owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin have intimated that they are, in fact, chasing the Cup, Snow let go of three important veteran cogs following the team’s first playoff series victory in 23 years at the tail end of New York’s inaugural campaign at Barclays.

Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and Matt Martin were all allowed to leave the Isles via free agency as Snow committed to getting some playing time for the first-round talent he has accumulated over the years.

He also brought in free agent veterans Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera to help fill the void left by the trio of summer departures, but both struggled early in their new home before catching fire late and contributing to New York’s failed push to make the playoffs.

Up-and-coming youngsters like Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Ho-Sang served notice that they belonged in the NHL.

And the firing of long-time head coach Jack Capuano, coupled with the emergence of his replacement, Doug Weight, seemed to sit well with Tavares.

But is Snow’s youth movement impressive enough to make Tavares believe that he won’t spend the next decade playing second fiddle to the city’s biggest stars while remaining without a title?

We’ll find out soon enough.

Tavares certainly will have options at his disposal if he does hit free agency following next season.

Nowhere is he more revered, respected or written about than his native Toronto.

The center from Mississauga, Ontario gets the rock star treatment whenever he visits his hometown Maple Leafs, or whenever there happen to be writers from Toronto milling about.

At January’s All-Star Game in Los Angeles, Tavares was peppered with questions from the Toronto media regarding his upcoming free-agent status, and whether or not he could see himself becoming a Maple Leaf after next season.

“I have said it in the past — I want to be on the Island, that is where I hope everything works out,” Tavares noted, failing the mention that the franchise currently plays its home games in Brooklyn.

“I think we all know there is a lot more, a lot more goes into it than just saying you want to be there,” he added. “Negotiations happen and there is a process that goes about it, so for me it is just going through all that. I have not really thought too much about it … I love playing here and hope to be here.”

We’ll see if that holds true once Snow, Malkin and Ledecky make their bid to keep one of the least talked-about superstars in New York sports history from leaving Brooklyn.