Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares reached 30 goals for the eigth time in his career this year, making his $4.3M cap-hit a steal.
It's crazy how consistent Tavares has been during his career. With 1,184 points in 1,264 games, he's close to a point-per-game player and someone you can relay on every year. He's not on a lock, but when his career is over, he'll definitely be in the conversation for the Hall of Fame, but will probably need more playoff success for that to come true.
That's what has made Tavares' career so tricky. Depsite being an amazing leader and player, he's only reached the second round three times in 17 years. He's played on some great times in Toronto, but as we all know, those teams unfortunately haven't been able to get over the hump.
When Tavares signed his four-year contract last year, he did the Leafs a favour. He gave the Leafs a huge hometown discount, knowing full well he could have doubled his salary elsewhere. Although he gave up the captaincy to Auston Matthews, Tavares has continued to stay true to the Leafs and wants to do whatever it takes to win with his childhood team.
Unfortuantely we're not too sure if you can say the same thing about the rest of the team, as this was one of the most dissapointing seasons in Leafs history, yet Tavares didn't falter.
With 30 goals and 70 points, as long as he stays healthy tonight, Tavares will have played all 82 games. He'll be the only player on the team to accomplish this goal so his consistent scoring and health continues to make him one of the most untradeable assets on the team.
John Tavares is the Leafs' most untradeable asset
The Leafs aren't going to trade Auston Matthews, but there's a world where the Leafs might value Tavares as their most untradeable player because of his cap-hit and consistency. As mentioned, at $4.3M per season for the next three years, there's no reason to believe that the 35 year-old is going to slow down anytime soon.
In fact, with a longer offseason for the first time in a decade, the Leafs' former captain may come back better than ever as he'll be refreshed by September.
If a team came calling and asked for Tavares, Nylander, Knies or Matthews, it may sound crazy but I think Tavares is the last person I'd want to move. He's been a class-act his entire career and deserves to retire a Leaf if that's what he wants.
Whereas, if the Leafs traded Knies or Nylander, they could get a big haul for those players and help some different parts of the team that they desperately need. With Matthews signed for two more years and Tavares for three, Toronto has their center-ice position locked up, but could use more bottom-six depth and top-four defenseman in order to compete for a Stanley Cup again.
Tavares is not the problem with the culture and the team should be thankful that he's signed for the next three years as he can help turn this ship around more than he can hurt it.