It was four minutes before noon last Friday and just about every player from the Maple Leafs had long since scattered following practice.
Not John Tavares.
The former Leafs captain was scooping up the last remaining pucks from a post-practice skills session and stuffing them into a white bucket.
With help from Patrick O’Sullivan, the former NHL player that Tavares once idolized and who’s now a player development coach with the Leafs, as well as teammate Philippe Myers, Tavares had just completed a post-practice shooting session.
In what’s become a regular part of his routine, even with nearly 1,200 NHL games under his belt, Tavares replicated the kind of shots — from the slot and around the net — that come his way during games. The 34-year-old, the player with the third-most goals in the NHL since his career began in 2009, is a big believer in ensuring that strengths remain strengths.
Work like this, he believed, helped with that.
Tavares has no doubt enjoyed the best shooting luck of his NHL career this season en route to the second-most goals by a Leaf. But there’s no getting around the fact that Tavares has earned that luck, too.
His continued commitment to the craft is what earned him the nod as the Leafs’ representative for the Masterton Trophy, which goes to the NHL player “who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.”
Tavares still ranks among the NHL’s highest-paid players: His $11 million cap hit is tied with Drew Doughty and Rasmus Dahlin for ninth overall this season. Yet it was always assumed that by this stage of his contract — the seventh and final year of the $77 million deal he signed with the Leafs in 2018 — Tavares would no longer be an impactful player and maybe even an anchor on the Leafs’ books.
It hasn’t happened.
Though he’s no longer at the level of his earliest years with the Leafs, or the level that once saw him contend for the Hart Trophy as New York Islanders captain, Tavares has staved off major decline in his 16th NHL season by controlling every little thing he could in his preparation. Not just his shooting and skill work, but perhaps just as significantly, the ongoing refinement of his skating. Tavares still works frequently on his form there with Paul Matheson, one of the team’s skating consultants. You may even catch him hopping across the ice on one foot during pre-game warmups, one among the many drills he’ll attend to day after day.
He continues to be one of the NHL’s strongest and most effective board battlers.
“He wins so many battles with his stick — heavy stick, strong,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said, raving about Tavares after one game recently. “He’s so great in tight around the net scoring goals; that’s where he gets most of his goals. Faceoff circle, he’s one of the best in the league; every night he’s 50 percent or better it seems like.
“It’s all the little things he does that really make him a great player.”
Anthony Stolarz is perhaps the only other viable Masterton candidate for the Leafs. After an injury-plagued career, which has seen him perform exclusively as a backup, Stolarz has emerged as the team’s top option in goal, with numbers that rank near the top of the NHL, at age 31.
His case isn’t as compelling as Tavares’, though.
Long dubbed a “hockey robot” by those who know him well, Tavares continues to ensure his software is up to date — and still excels because of it.
(Photo: Jayne Kamin / Oncea-Imagn Images)
