Cap hit aside, the Leafs are a better team with John Tavares than without him

One player in particular whose name seems to be coming up more and more frequently in conversation is Leafs captain John Tavares. When he signed his 7-year $77M contract on July 1st, 2018, Leafs Nation had landed the best forward available on the market and changed the narrative that homegrown players did not want to play in this market.

Since joining the Leafs, Tavares has played 362 regular season games, contributing 156 goals and 202 assists for a total of 358 points. To be almost a point per game player at 31 isn't anything to turn your nose up at. He's an absolute monster in the faceoff dot, protects the puck extremely well, has exceptional hand-eye coordination to tip pucks and knock down passes and is a threat behind the goal line, in front of the net and from anywhere in the slot.

Tavares is a player who empties the tank on every shift. He doesn't quit on plays, regardless of which zone they take place in, and he is never caught coasting on a shift. He plays hard from whistle to whistle and has an equally impressive work ethic off the ice as well. Above all else, the guys in the locker room love him and look up to him. He's a consummate pro who shows everyone around him how to do things the right way and no matter which way you try to slice it, if the Leafs trade John Tavares tomorrow, they're a worse team than they were this past season.

Tavares is one of the absolute best 2nd line centers in the National Hockey League. Go down the list. There aren't many teams who have a player like John Tavares playing second fiddle up the center of the ice. Tavares is probably a #1C on 20 teams in the league. In the end, the Leafs aren't nearly as far off as people seem to want to imply. Trading Johnny Toronto gets them further away from the end zone - not closer to it.