Leafs Reportedly Taking Not Taking Straight-Up Approach to John Tavares Negotiations
Photo credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
The Leafs and John Tavares are expected to agree on a new deal, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggesting the team might take a new approach in negotiations.
The Maple Leafs May Be Getting Creative With John Tavares’ New Contract
On Thursday’s ’32 Thoughts’ episode, Elliotte Friedman revealed that a happy-medium for Tavares and the Leafs may be a longer term deal with a lower cap hit, similar to the Chris Tanev deal.”One of the things about Tavares, you can go the Brock Nelson way, which is three years at a bigger AAV. Or you can go the Chris Tanev, Yanni Gourde way [longer-term at a reduced AAV]. I can see Toronto pitching that.”
Friedman noted that he does not expect the Leafs to go as low as Gourde’s $2.3M AAV over seven seasons to end his career, but it would still help to lower Tavares’ AAV significantly.
Leafs Nation may not agree with giving the 34-year-old a 5, 6, or 7-year extension, but with the free agent classes of 2026 and 2027 looking full of star-power, any additional cap space the Leafs can get will help them replace Marner and shore up the other holes in the forward group.
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