Toronto Maple Leafs: With Tavares, A New Era Begins

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed John Tavares.

Never in a million years did I believe I’d be writing that sentence and having it be true. From the moment a pre-teen Tavares burst on the scene as a youth hockey phenom in Toronto’s GTHL, speculation swirled around whether his hometown Leafs would ever manage to bring him home.

It took 9 years, but it happened. It finally happened.

It’s not a stretch to posit that July 1st, 2018 is the biggest day in Toronto Maple Leafs history. This is a franchise whose Stanley Cup drought began as the NHL upgraded its total number of teams into double digits and has lasted ever since. A fanbase forever blamed for dissuading hometown stars from returning.

Today that burden weighs lighter. Today is history.

Drafting Auston Matthews is a worthy challenger to the historical throne. As the Leafs’ beating young heart, Matthews has since proven himself the market’s biggest star since the heydays of Mats Sundin.

But honestly, who cares? The Leafs own a one-two punch of Matthews and Tavares. Nothing else even comes close to mattering.

So, while the on-ice impact of Tavares’ signing will be debated until the puck drops in October, this story has more to tell. When making a decision of this magnitude, reverberations are emitted that continue to be felt for years to come.

A new era of the Toronto Maple Leafs is upon us.

The New NHL

This franchise has come a long way since the 2009 NHL draft, where Brian Burke solemnly vowed to acquire Tavares’ selection rights before ultimately relenting. It may have taken close to a decade, but Burkie finally got his wish. Kudos, dude.

John Tavares is a Leaf.

It’s impossible to overstate just how impactful this moment is. Not only for the Leafs as a franchise but to the NHL as a whole.

Players of Tavares’ ilk simply do not leave their draft them as free agents. Certainly not in the prime of their career. It just doesn’t happen. The NHL is a league regularly derided for its relative and glaring lack of offseason entertainment. Whereas NBA stars take their talents to South Beach via televised spectacles, hockey’s stars routinely travel down the path of least resistance.

Not anymore.

One of the NHL’s talented and marketable stars just punctuated free agency’s most suspenseful negotiation period by choosing to join his hometown team. A team who just so happens to also reside in the sports’ largest market. And he left money on the table to do it.

Now THAT’S entertainment.

Not to mention, the NHL is a copycat league. If Tavares finds success in Toronto (and how couldn’t he, playing alongside one of Matthews, Mitch Marner or William Nylander?), you better believe future star UFA’s will notice.

Suddenly, the status quo has changed. No longer must free agents agonize over getting accusations of disloyalty hurled at them by media and fans alike. This is the new NHL. A league whose players are free to choose their own futures, with little thought paid to “the way it’s always been done”.

Tavares is first through the modern cap era’s wall. The rest are on their way.

The Leafs

At the press conference introducing him as Leafs’ head coach back in 2015, Mike Babcock posed a rhetorical question.

“How many people from Ontario play in the NHL?”  quizzed Toronto’s new bench boss to the bevvy of reporters before him.

“Once we make it safe, they’re coming home.”  

This was a bold statement, especially when considering the painful aura which encompassed the topic of reunion between the team and its hometown stars.

Cutting the silence, one reporter asked, “you think they want to play in Toronto?” 

“Not right now,” replied Babcock. “It’s really hard. But, mark my words: they’ll be coming”

“They’ll be coming” 

He called it. From day one, Babcock set in motion the process of installing within the organization a culture intended to rewrite the narrative that had been suffocating this team for decades. At the outset, there was pain. Tons of it. Only now, it’s worth every bump.

In one fell swoop, the Leafs managed to upgrade their status from “radioactive media landscape” to “attractive landing spot for homegrown talent”. Once again, the city of Toronto is a hockey destination. The market’s bright lights no longer intimidating outsiders, but welcoming them instead.

For those already on the team, the effects are being felt immediately.

These players know what they’re not a part of. It’s something special. With Tavares’ decision, the Leafs sit at the NHL’s cool kid table.

All fans have to do now is wait and see who around them intends to join.

Next: Tavares Prediction

Thanks for reading!