John Tavares is entering the final year of his deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but insider Elliotte Friedman says that may soon change.
Tavares gave up his captaincy on Aug. 14 to Auston Matthews, as the Maple Leafs have a change in leadership. Many assumed that meant Tavares, who is entering the final year of his seven-year $77 million deal, would not be extended after this season.
However, Friedman spoke on his 32 Thoughts Podcast and said an extension for Tavares is still in play.
“One of the things that I think is still in play for Tavares is a potential extension,” Friedman said. “I don’t think it’s done. Even if it was, I don’t think they would overshadow Matthews… It’s been discussed. I don’t think that it’s impossible that we see Tavares get extended as a Toronto Maple Leaf.”
Tavares recorded 29 goals and 36 assists for 65 points in 80 games last season.
Maple Leafs GM Says Tavares Still Has ‘Good Hockey’ Left in Him
Tavares is set to turn 34 on Sept. 20 and has been in the NHL since the 2009-10 season as he’s skated in over 1,000 NHL games.
Although he is nearing the end of his career, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said he thinks Tavares has a lot of good hockey left in his career.
“I think John still has a lot of hockey left in him. Lot of good hockey,” Treliving said on The Fan Pregame on Aug. 14.
Although Treliving thinks Tavares has a lot of good hockey left, he wouldn’t comment on any potential talks of a contract extension.
“As I do with any discussion that relates to contractual status, those will remain behind closed doors,” Treliving added. “These discussions we had with regard to the captaincy is independent of any discussions we will have, or may have, with respect to contract negotiations.”
Tavares has been adamant that he wants to remain in Toronto long-term.
Tavares Believes Time was Right for Matthews to be Captain
Tavares had been the captain of the Maple Leafs since the 2019-20 season.
However, on Aug. 14, Tavares gave up his captaincy to Matthews, as he said it was time to pass the torch.
“I just wanted to let him know what I thought about him and that I thought the time was now for him to take charge and be the captain and be the leader of our club and how ready he was for it. He’s got my full support to continue what when I came here six years ago to do and wanting to bring the Stanley Cup back here to Toronto and finding a way to do that,” Tavares said during the press conference on Aug. 14.
Treliving echoed Tavares’ comments that it was his decision to give the captaincy to Matthews.
“This was not a hard conversation in the sense that John is a really smart guy and when you start having conversations about the team and the evolution, at the end of the day everybody has the same goal,” Treliving said. “The goal here is to win and you are always finding different ways to push the process along. John right from the start when we talked about it, he’s seen the evolution of Auston. It was a smooth process.”
The Maple Leafs open its 2024-25 NHL season on Oct. 9 against the Montreal Canadiens.
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