Former New York Islanders captain John Tavares gets absolutely eviscerated by the Long Island faithful during his thank you video.
It’s story time.
The very moment John Tavares decided to showcase those Toronto Maple Leafs pajamas while leaving the New York Islanders high and dry, “off the ledge talk” was warranted.
Reassuring ESNY’s Isles people, Matt Di Giacomo and Justin Weiss, that Tavares’s wasn’t worth the insane money he was receiving did very little to lift spirits. All I could do was continue the cold-hard fact that the front office and head coach wins in this rigorous and unforgiving hard-salary cap in which every dollar means so much by way of value.
The former captain’s offense is well-worth the money. His defense, on the other hand, makes for an overvalued deal.
Fast-forward to Feb. 28 and these Tavares-less Isles find themselves tied with the defending champion Washington Capitals with 79 points atop the Metropolitan division.
Oh yeah, this specific date also marks the grand JT return.
How perfect is it that this one is taking place on Long Island? We all knew it would bad. The man who continuously preached his Islanders commitment only to suddenly bolt wasn’t about to receive a warm reception upon returning.
But man, it was worse than bad. The Long Island faithful absolutely and totally eviscerated John Tavares.
The full Tavares video. #Isles pic.twitter.com/p4N0LbtKcg
— Brett Cyrgalis (@BrettCyrgalis) March 1, 2019
As ESNY’s New York Rangers writer Dom Renna put it best, “It’s like Game 7.”
The environment behind ridiculous at the moment, especially considering New York just took a 2-1 lead early in the second period on the strength of an Anders Lee goal.
In addition to the heavy jeering, Tavares also experienced a jersey thrown at him.
Jersey thrown at John Tavares while he was heading down the tunnel after warm up pic.twitter.com/JvMsT1XuZI
— Flintor (@TheFlintor) February 28, 2019
Nearly midway through the game, John Tavares is a plus-1 with three shots on goal.
