Something very cool and unique about captain John Tavares revealed during recent ''Maple Leafs team survey''
The Leafs have not played a game since February 1st and we still have a couple of days remaining until the team is back on the ice after the All-Star break and the Leafs' subsequent bye-week. With Leafs news being lighter than normal, The Athletic's Joshua Kloke interviewed some of the players for a "Maple Leafs player survey".
Kloke wanted the team to identify things like who the best trash talker is, who is the healthiest and who is the best seat mate on team flights. The responses that he got for the seat mate section of the survey revealed something unique about Leafs captain John Tavares.
Justin Holl is one of the team's more popular seat mates for a variety of reasons. Matt Murray stated that he loves sitting with Holl because of their shared love of books. Others on the team appreciate Holl for his fun-loving side, setting up Mario Party games on the Nintendo Switch. Tavares, on the other hand, often sits alone. The reason he does this is actually very cool.
Per Kloke, Tavares sits alone on the flights, but keeps the seat beside him open in case the Leafs have any young players who were called up by the Marlies. Tavares, being the captain, will take these players under his wing, offering up a seat next to him on flights. There are a bevy of reasons as to why he might do this, not the least of which would be to help the young AHLers feel more welcome. Another reason might be so that Tavares can get to know the newest members of his team on a more personal level, rather than just seeing them casually around the team facilities or with the odd interaction on the ice at practice.
Tavares is often referred to as a consummate pro who does all of the little things right both on and off the ice. He's a really good example for these young players coming up and can certainly impart some wisdom upon them and tell them what it takes to be consistently successful at the highest level. Say what you will about Tavares and his age or skating ability, but nobody can say that he has not been the portrait of consistency over the years.
I honestly just found this extremely interesting and awesome. Whether this was all JT's idea or if the Leafs had proposed this idea to him - it's a really cool thing for him to do for these young guys coming up and I'm sure they appreciate it.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 8 | 244 ANSWERS Something very cool and unique about captain John Tavares revealed during recent ''Maple Leafs team survey'' Will John Tavares be a Leaf until the day he retires? | ||
| Yes | 198 | 81.1 % |
| No | 46 | 18.9 % |
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