John does like to stay out there. Those extra minutes on his own are among Tavares' sacred rituals, to stay on top of his physical and mental well-being. Even after 17 years in the NHL, there are skills to hone, shots to perfect, faceoff techniques to fine-tune or details to extract.
Tavares was granted exceptional status into the Ontario Hockey League as an underage forward, after a prodigious minor hockey career with the Toronto Marlboros. He was the best player in Ontario, playing 18 months up and was selected first overall by the Oshawa Generals in the 2005 OHL Priority Selection. Tavares spent parts of four seasons with the Generals, before being traded to the London Knights in his final OHL campaign during the 2008-09 season.
"Obviously, being able to play for two great franchises and having the success I've had, I think that speaks volumes for my teammates, coaches, people that have been around me and everyone who has been part of the journey," Tavares said. "So, I've really enjoyed it and just want to keep it going."
In an interview with RG Media published on October 1, Misa had this to say about how Tavares influenced his game coming up through the minors: "In terms of modeling my game, I think it's a bit like John Tavares and a mix of, I want to say, Patrice Bergeron. Just two reliable centremen that are obviously incredible players, and just trying to watch them a lot and model my game after them."
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.
