Despite what the majority of the media would have you believe, the Maple Leafs can’t fit Tavares in their books, there’s just no room for the long-term deal he’s looking for. Names such as Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen and Auston Matthews will need to re-up after next season and expect Matthews to command Connor McDavid-Jack Eichel type of salary.
This isn’t even mentioning the raise due to William Nylander, currently an RFA. Would the Leafs consider allowing one or two pieces of the core they built walk for the opportunity to land Tavares?
Better question, are they fully committed to offering both Tavares and Matthews salary upwards of $10 million each? Just ask the Chicago Blackhawks how they’re managing with both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane on the books.
While a decent chunk of change is coming off-books in the 2020 offseason (Patrick Marleau, Nathan Horton & Matt Martin set to become free agents), and there is the possibility bridge deals could be worked out until they can afford to pay the majority of their superstars, Shanahan will have to pull a serious Steve Yzerman to manage all of these contracts under the cap.
The Leafs are an enticing offer to Tavares in that they’re ready to win now, but the overzealous media that helped drive out Phil Kessel is a threat to the quiet lifestyle Tavares enjoys leading making a return to Canada an unlikely reunion.
The Bruins are an interesting team added by Tavares after picking out the first five suitors.
The Bruins were in a weird spot in the 2014-15 season, they missed the playoffs the season after winning the President’s Trophy and bowing out to the Montreal Canadiens in seven games.
Since then, the Bruins successfully retooled (even if they may have passed on Barzal three-straight times in 2015) and made an impressive push in the second half of the 2017-18 season propelling them to one point out of winning the Eastern Conference.
A healthy mix of budding youth in Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Ryan Donato among others with a core of the best two-way center in the NHL Patrice Bergeron and the mildly-reformed pest/goal-scorer Brad Marchand and the 2014 Vezina winner in Tuukka Rask.
All this sounds fantastic on paper, but the reality is the Bruins have their share of free agents to make decisions on including Riley Nash, Tommy Wingels and Sean Kuraly. With current cap space of $11m, it’s unclear how the Bruins will be able to deal with Tavares’ contract in the later years if things don’t work out for them almost immediately.
