Radio host goes at Leafs fans with rant over their treatment of one of their star players
There are so many narratives surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs that it's almost impossible to keep up with them all. There's a lot of discussion seemingly every season about the Leafs choking away leads, having poor goaltending, being atrocious defensively, not playing up to par in the playoffs - you name it, there's a narrative. Some of it has merit, some of it does not, but one thing is for sure; there's never a dull moment in Toronto when it comes to the Leafs. There's always SOMETHING to talk about.
During a recent edition of The JD Bunkis Podcast, Sportsnet's JD Bunkis went on a bit of a rant about the lack of respect that one of the Leafs' top players gets. No, it wasn't William Nylander. Bunkis actually believes that Tavares is the Leafs player who gets the least amount of respect for what he brings to the table.
Bunkis did acknowledge that some of the Leafs top players taking some of the spotlight off of Tavares is one of the reasons that he is not celebrated more, as is the lack of playoff success by the Leafs since Tavares inked his massive 7-year $77M deal. But the point he really wanted to hammer home is that for as durable and consistent as Tavares is, the fanbase is certainly not going out of its way to celebrate him the way they should. You can hear Bunkis' thoughts below:
The point he made that really resonated with me was about how JT was so widely respected and so highly coveted in his UFA year and chose to sign in Toronto over all of the other options he had.. and at the time, the city really responded accordingly, showing a lot of admiration and gratitude to Tavares for not only coming home, but for taking a bit of a discount as well. At the time, it is believed that Tavares had a $13M AAV on the table to sign in San Jose. He signed in Toronto for just $11M per season. Bunkis hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that now, most of the conversation surrounding Tavares is about how his $11M AAV is more of a hinderance to the Leafs than it is helpful.
I think the pandemic also plays a role here too, when it comes to the flat cap. If the cap had risen as it was supposed to year over year, it might be close to $90M or $100M right now. If that was the case, Tavares' contract is probably not being viewed the same way. It's also worth mentioning that for everything Tavares does on and off the ice, he is worth every penny of his $11M cap hit. This is a point-per-game player we're talking about. In a league with more than 600 players in it, there aren't many point-per-game players. Then, when you add the puck battles he wins and the faceoffs he wins into the equation, you're looking at a complete package type of player. He can score, he can make plays, he can win battles, he's a top 5 faceoff guy in the league - he really should be talked about a lot more than he is... and for the right reasons, not for cap or age reasons.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 30 | 219 ANSWERS Radio host goes at Leafs fans with rant over their treatment of one of their star players Is John Tavares appreciated enough in the Toronto market? | ||
| Yes | 55 | 25.1 % |
| No | 128 | 58.4 % |
| It's the price he pays for playing in Toronto | 36 | 16.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
