John Tavares re-signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on a four-year, $17.56-million contract carrying a $4.389 million cap hit. William Nylander praised Tavares' leadership, noting personal and on-ice mentorship and appreciation for Tavares' commitment to staying in Toronto. Tavares relinquished the captaincy to Auston Matthews and accepted a significant pay cut to provide salary-cap flexibility for the team. Tavares' contract reflects a low cap hit relative to his contributions. With a prominent winger departing for Las Vegas, Nylander and Tavares will shoulder increased offensive leadership responsibilities.
Tavares seems to be the most underrated leader on this team and possibly in the entire NHL. He had the awareness to walk away from the captaincy, hand it over to a player in Auston Matthews who is the true future of the franchise and was already the leader on the ice, and then took a massive pay cut to remain with the Leafs and give them enough financial flexibility to possibly remain competitive.
it was even more obvious how much he loves playing (and waking up, as Nylander said) in this city. With the winger that we honestly have grown tired talking about, no longer a part of the Maple Leafs as he opted to go play for some no-name NHL team out there in Nevada, both Nylander and Tavares will have even more responsibility to lead this team offensively.
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