Dear John Tavares

Dear John Tavares,

Yesterday was a difficult day for Islanders Country. Actually, the last few months have been very difficult. Even more so than the shortcomings of the team for several years. After hearing quotes from your team mates about how you were staying on the Islanders, the quotes, articles and tweets saying you were leaning towards the Islanders, it was a complete shock to most of us that you would ride your departure from the team right into the July 1st open to free agency.

Now, don’t get me wrong. You’re an elite pro hockey player. Probably the biggest free agent available in NHL history. I also understand it’s your career and pro hockey is a business. Sometimes, fans forget that. Their love for the team runs so deep, they let their emotions rule them in situations like yesterday’s announcement of you signing a 7-year deal with Toronto for $11M per.

I read your statement, comments and watched your Toronto presser when you mentioned that the Isles had a bright future. You had even mentioned that ‘kid who won the Calder’. His name is Mathew Barzal. He was a team mate of yours for a couple of years and worked hard to get an opportunity to stay in the NHL and he made the most of it. As fans, we were so excited and proud of his energy and relentless play last season. He was a clear-cut winner for top rookie honors.

I’m sure this was a difficult decision to make for you. Knowing the team that drafted you first overall in 2009 had chosen you to model their franchise around and build a winning program with you as its cornerstone. I was there with my wife and daughter and I'm not ashamed to say, I teared up. I thought to myself, finally! Like you, the fans were very upset at many of the moves made by General Manager, Garth Snow. While I think he made several moves that helped bring talent to the team, via trade and through the draft, he made several mistakes as well. The bottom line is the Islanders were never a serious contender under his management. I defended him a few times in my articles along with your former coach, Jack Capuano. Capuano meant well and helped develop some of the younger guys, but was kept as head coach for too long and that hurt the team. It also burned years off the contracts you signed to remain with the Islanders. Looking back now, the missteps of Snow and Capuano are even more maddening to a frustrated, passionate fan base who have endured years of scorn and snarky comments from media and rival fans. The same snark we are enduring now from the Toronto media and their fans based on you leaving us to sign with them. And your mentor, Doug Weight probably wasn’t ready. I think the team had the talent to do more than it did, but the system failed them.

So you see, I think much of the anger of Isles fans are feeling now is more about the way you went out, not the fact that you chose to live out 'your childhood dream' of playing for the Maple Leafs. When we heard all the pro Long Island and pro Islanders quotes from you over the years, it made us proud that an elite player, our elite player, our captain thought so highly of this now struggling, once dominant franchise. A franchise that was the blueprint for a modern hockey dynasty. You know about the 19 consecutive playoff series wins, the stories of Potvin, Trottier and Billy Smith. You know of Nystrom’s goal, the intimidation of Gillies just to name a few. Oh, and the other guy who wore your number. Butch Goring was the final piece that enabled our team to dominate the hockey world for 4 straight Stanley Cups and came a series win away from a 5th. Credit to Edmonton and Wayne Gretzky for besting the Isles that season. But even Gretzky’s Oilers couldn’t win their 5 cups in a row.

Did you hear what Mike Bossy said to tvasports.ca? I saw the picture of you back in the day, meditating in front of his plaque on the wall of fame outside the old Isles locker room and it made me smile. I thought, wow, this guy really bleeds orange and blue. Anyway, here was the quote from the clip,

“An Islanders alumni himself, Mike believes Tavares could have been clearer in his intentions with the team that drafted him in 2009.

‘I do not forgive Tavares for leaving without saying so that the Islanders could have something,’ he said.

‘There, they have zero for a player they have drafted and to whom they gave 30 or 40 million for eight years,’ continued the Hockey Hall of Fame member.

‘I find it appalling for a team.”

It seems your secret was so tight-lipped, some of your teammates didn’t even expect you to leave.

Per Arthur Staple, “In exchanging texts with a few Islanders players, the reactions ranged from surprise to disbelief. I mentioned to one player that fans were posting videos of burning Tavares’ jerseys. ‘Don’t blame them,’ was his reply.”

Even the legendary Stan Fischler was surprised you went out the way you did.

“Dear John Tavares: Thanks for being so available under difficult interviewing situations. Now one question: What took you so long to make this "Toughest Decision." Why didn't you tell @Islanders owners sooner? Much sooner; as in soon enough so that the club you were so devoted to could make a move to compensate for your loss? Just wondering, pal.”

I think that’s the problem most of us have. The way it went down, ya know. You in no way belonged to us, but you meant a lot to us. You were our captain. A generation of kids grew up after the glory years and you were their ‘Bossy’. You were the reason they became an Islanders fan. Many of us were touched by the picture of you in your Leaf’s sheets at 6 or 7 years old. Billy Smith made me an Isles fan as a little kid in the heart of Rangers territory and that made me a die-hard. I thought about how many kids across the Island had a similar bedroom in orange and blue, with tributes to you, their hero as the pride of their collection. An Isles fan on Twitter, @Islesfan303 posted a picture of his 9-year-old’s room. 

Did you see it?

Mr. Fischler pointed out a blurb, but didn’t agree with it, from the Hockey news. 

Stranger things have happened and even respected critics such as The Hockey News lead columnist Ken Campbell have wondered out loud whether a long-term, gold-mine contract really is worth it no matter how much Tavares produced. “From everything that analytics and an eye test tell us,” wrote Campbell, “Tavares is a player in decline.” 


As fans, we didn’t feel this way either. We know you are in your prime, a smarter player and have more ambition now than you ever had before. We know had bad you want to win. We get it. But we wanted you to spend your career with us and retire an Islander, just like you said you wanted in radio interviews. We wanted you to take the final step with us, led by Lamoriello, Trotz and your teammates to help bring the Cup back to the Island.

Well, enough of that. You did what you felt was best for you and expressed what your time with us had meant to you. Your call to the New York press was hard to listen to. I can only imagine how hard it was for you to do. The tone of your voice showed how difficult it was. I heard you say as of January when Garth Snow said you wouldn’t be traded and you had no intentions of doing anything else but committing to help the Islanders win. But many other members of the media and angry fans keep going back to you mentioning your ‘childhood dream’ of playing for the Maple Leafs. As I understood it, you said it was an opportunity you owed yourself to investigate and I get that. But many feel you were already leaning towards "going back home.” In all due respect, you had called the Island your home for so many years, maybe a few of them got confused about what you meant.

A lot of them feel there was no way you waited until 6 days before free agency about playing for your childhood team. They feel the Islanders allowed themselves to be played by their franchise player who said all the right things at the right time and avoided signing with them to leverage yourself for free agency. As a result, you left the team you played on for 9 years with nothing but a parting quote and a sincere thank you.

Some fans support you, some don’t want to have anything to do with your memory. It took me some time to begin writing a reply to your departure due to the way it went down. You understand that it was hard to swallow. You even said you didn’t expect any of us to be thrilled about it. You were right. We weren’t and we aren’t. Remember this quote, “Asked what his priority is in making a decision, Tavares said: “I want to stay on Long Island... I haven’t thought about being anywhere except with the Islanders.” - Staple

While you won’t retire an Islander or have your #91 retired, maybe your childhood team will heap upon you all the things you hope to earn at the second half of your career. To help them win, to give their fans the thing they have wanted even longer than the franchise you left on the Island. Here’s to hoping you have no more ‘gut wrenching’ decisions to make in your career and that you can play with the talented young core put in place by Isles GM, Lou Lamoriello with the same team you grew up watching and learning to love the game.

Mr. Tavares, on behalf of the Islanders fans who would permit me to speak for them, I’d like to thank you for the impact you have had on our organization and fan base. We will always be grateful and some of us may never get to tell you how much you meant to us.

The fans in Toronto will rub it in our faces when our boys play you at Scotiabank Arena on December 29th and I’m sure the other members of Islanders Country, they will probably make themselves heard on February 28th in Brooklyn and maybe even more at the refurbished Coliseum on April 1^st.

In the meantime, we will build around Barzal, the kid who won rookie of the year, Lee, Bailey, Beauvillier and all the rest of our guys, new and veteran alike. Lamoriello had a great draft and who knows, if a few signings can tighten us up and Trotz can work his proven system yet again, we might just meet in the conference finals.

Wouldn’t that be something? Best of luck to you Mr. Tavares, except when you play the Islanders of course.

Thanks for teaching all of us a valuable lesson. It’s not the leaving, it was the manner in which it went down. Sometimes the wait and faith you place in someone or something isn’t always rewarded.