The biggest storyline, though, was that John Tavares hadn’t signed. The team captain was saying and doing all the right things, which created an internal confidence things would get done. Islanders ownership believed it would gain the rights to build a new arena, which was seen as the biggest hurdle to finalizing a new contract at the time.
We all know the result: It didn’t work out as planned for New York. On July 1, Tavares signed a seven-year, $77-million deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, radically altering the course of both franchises.
In the aftermath of one of the biggest free-agent moves in the history of the league, it’s clear there are people who believe he was never coming back to the Islanders — that he was gone when he didn’t sign the summer before. “That makes me crazy,” one of his friends says. “People who say that have no idea what they are talking about.”
Adds a former teammate: “If you would have told me last September that John was leaving, I wouldn’t have believed you. And the people who really know him — not the people who claim they know him — felt the same way.” He paused. “But it was the perfect storm. And it happened at the worst time for the Islanders.
From the moment Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky took over as majority owners on July 1, 2016, they worked hard at changing the way the Islanders had been perceived under Charles Wang. Ledecky became the public face, engaging with fans at all opportunities. He also went on a massive “listening tour,” meeting people all around the sport, asking for ideas and input on how to revitalize the team.
It was Malkin who cultivated a relationship with Pat Brisson, Tavares’s agent. There were numerous rumblings that the owner offered Brisson the team presidency. “It didn’t go as far as was reported,” Brisson said earlier this month. “There have been other times where the possibilities were much more serious than this.” (Note: Any person quoted in this story is not used as an anonymous source.)
What is true is that Malkin constantly asked for meetings and conversations with Brisson. Another GM says that, aside from “the unique situation” between Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux, he’s never heard of an owner that engaged with a player or an agent. Brisson (who also represents Crosby) declined to say much about those talks, but, according to several sources, ownership consistently let him (and, by extension, Tavares) know that things were going to be different.
They spent $7 million to remodel the practice facility. They hired a chef. At every step, they wanted the captain’s input — signed or not. “Some of us joked about it,” one player says. “We started telling him to ask for other things, and he’d say, ‘Guys, I don’t want to take advantage of this.’ We’d be landing from a flight, and get a group text that there was practice in eight hours. We’d say, ‘John, get us the day off.’ If he honestly thought we needed it, he’d agree. If not, he wouldn’t do anything. He never took advantage, always took it seriously. He’d only ask for things he thought we really needed.”
Another teammate confirms that account. “[It was] as much power as I’ve seen any player have. The way he went about it, he left the Islanders much better off. That’s his legacy. He’s not here, but the things he changed will make us better. We see that, if other people don’t.”
But not everyone agreed the situation was good for Tavares in the long term.
“Please, please, please understand what I’m saying here,” says one former Islander. “I think [Malkin and Ledecky] have their hearts in the right place. They want to be great owners and do right by the fans. But going to John with everything was a mistake. It added pressure and stress. He wants to concentrate on hockey. This gave him things to worry about that he shouldn’t have had to worry about. He won’t have to concern himself with any of this in Toronto.”
The Islanders could extend Tavares starting July 1, 2017. It’s believed they let him know that money and term were not going to be problems, with the structure open for negotiation. But he wasn’t ready to commit, and everyone knew why. The move to Brooklyn hadn’t worked for anyone. Business wasn’t as good as hoped. Players and fans hated the commute. The ice was a major problem, with teammates publicly criticizing it after Tavares suffered an injury that prematurely ended his 2016–17 season.
In October 2017, Ledecky and GM Garth Snow met with media members at a Manhattan restaurant. It was the first time ownership publicly addressed submitting a proposal to build an arena at Belmont Park. Asked if the team would be moved if things didn’t work out, Ledecky replied, “We’re planning on winning this thing.”
The Islanders were quietly confident about the arena, and what would happen afterwards if they got it. Knowing Tavares’s loyalty to the organization, they took him at his word that he wasn’t considering anything else. He had a new apartment with his then-fiancée (now wife), Aryne. He had a favourite organic farm-to-table place he bought food from on Long Island’s east side. And the NHL had just seen another marquee player, Steven Stamkos, go through an interview process to the brink of free agency — then decide to stay put in Tampa Bay.
Franchise players rarely left their teams. History was on their side. It was a gamble, but the odds seemed in their favour. “It was a very good gamble,” one friend says. “You have to know John. He’s patient. Deliberate. He thinks things through. He wanted to see everything: the team, the new arena, the full picture. That’s what it was about. Seeing it all together. That’s what he needed.”
“You know what Tavares said before [last] season started?” one source says. “He said, ‘Mathew Barzal is going to be a good player for us.’”
