![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28554212-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt\u2019s almost 2 p.m. on a Friday, and the sun is shining brightly in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
John Tavares isn\u2019t out enjoying it. Not yet, anyway.<\/p>\n
Even though his Toronto Maple Leafs were officially eliminated from the playoffs the day before, Tavares is still at work, still riding the bike in the dark bowels of Crypto.com Arena, preparing like he always would for a Saturday game against the Los Angeles Kings.<\/p>\n
Tavares has never played meaningless games in April for the Maple Leafs \u2014 until now. He has never missed the playoffs with the Maple Leafs \u2014 until now. The future of the Maple Leafs has never been this murky for him and everyone else \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n
How is he handling it \u2014 his 17th season in the NHL (and eighth with the Leafs) ending not only without a Stanley Cup but also as far from it as ever before?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n
The Leafs made the playoffs, often comfortably, in each of Tavares\u2019 first seven seasons. Those teams of his won a lot in the regular season \u2014 319 times, in fact, fifth most in the NHL.<\/p>\n
This season has been nothing like that. More losing. More dysfunction (including the firing of general manager Brad Treliving late last month). So much turbulence. It has felt more like what Tavares left behind in Long Island in 2018, with the New York Islanders missing the postseason in each of his final two seasons there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just \u2026\u201d said Tavares, trailing off before a long pause, when asked how it felt to miss the playoffs for the first time as a Leaf. \u201cYou\u2019re disappointed with where we put ourselves and not having the opportunity to compete for the Stanley Cup. I try not to look at things like it was a waste of a year or anything. You can still learn a lot, find some positives. But clearly, there\u2019s just a lot of things that we gotta do to be better and to be a playoff team.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust reflecting on ourselves,\u201d he went on about the season-long struggle, \u201cit\u2019s just the consistency of our play. When things weren\u2019t going well, we just couldn\u2019t seem to change the momentum. It just seemed like it would go (on) for extended periods.\u201d<\/p>\n
The longest losing streaks, in fact, of Tavares\u2019 Leafs tenure, including an eight-gamer out of the Olympic break that destroyed any hope of the postseason.<\/p>\n
The why of it all, he said, would require a lot of \u201csoul-searching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tavares had mentioned that he tried not to look at the season as a \u201cwaste of a year,\u201d but it\u2019s fair to wonder whether that was exactly how it felt for him at this stage in his career. Though he still has another three years left on the four-year discount extension he signed shortly before the start of free agency last summer, Tavares will be 36 in the fall. He\u2019s running out of chances, in other words, to do what he came home to do: win a Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I certainly know I\u2019m not on the front nine of my career,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, I haven\u2019t won a Stanley Cup. Haven\u2019t been close.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously really disappointing, on many levels, not to be there this year and, certainly, knowing where I\u2019m at. I still think I\u2019ve got lots of hockey left. But I don\u2019t think I have a decade-plus.\u201d<\/p>\n
It seems like a lifetime ago that Tavares joined a young and exciting Leafs core of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander on a seven-year, $77 million contract on July 1, 2018.<\/p>\n
The opportunity he thought he would have to pursue the Cup (and do so at home) fuelled that decision and fuels him still through the offseason, into camp and then over \u201cthe gantlet of 82 games.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I don\u2019t look at it as a waste,\u201d he said, \u201cbut certainly, maybe, a missed opportunity, just with the type of team and type of players and people that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n John Tavares is in his 17th season in the NHL and his eighth with the Maple Leafs. (John E. Sokolowski \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
Tavares is upfront about the responsibility he believes he bears for the failed season. Though he recently hit 30 goals for the eighth time in his career, he cited his own inconsistencies with and without the puck and \u201cmy expectation as a veteran player on the leadership side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old has been asking himself what he could have done better and even wondering whether he did the best he could.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know my intentions are always there, but obviously, at this level, you\u2019re looking to execute and be really consistent at a high level,\u201d Tavares said. \u201cObviously, I\u2019m just trying to be accountable \u2014 that everyone\u2019s a part of this. And certainly, from a leadership side of it and the role that I play, knowing that I play a significant piece in that. I know my part hasn\u2019t been up to the level that it needs to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I\u2019m just trying to take that responsibility. First and foremost, before you look around on how we can get better, that I know I can be better myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with everything that\u2019s gone wrong this season, Tavares continues to believe he can win the Cup that eludes him in Toronto.<\/p>\n
In his estimation, the league has never been tighter, the margin between good teams and bad ones never smaller. It\u2019s what gives him hope about a turnaround as soon as next season.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom top to bottom, there\u2019s not many margins,\u201d Tavares said. \u201cI know Vancouver obviously hasn\u2019t had a very good season. They just went into Colorado (and won),\u201d he said with a chuckle, recalling an 8-6 Canucks win over the Presidents\u2019 Trophy-winning Avalanche on April 1. \u201cSeven-game series (between the teams), I don\u2019t know. But the league, it\u2019s amazing how fast things can change, and things can be turned around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tavares looks around at an Atlantic Division that might not be as top-heavy as it once was but might also be deeper in quality teams, many of them young and on the rise, such as the Canadiens and Sabres.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, the league has seen a little bit of a change this year,\u201d he said. \u201cSome clubs that haven\u2019t been contending the last number of years, I feel like they\u2019re on the cusp or put themselves in that mix. So, it just goes to show the challenge and the importance of continuing to never be satisfied, continuing to evolve, and understanding how difficult it is just to earn the opportunity to play for the Stanley Cup and to play in the playoffs. And it\u2019s only getting harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still feel like there\u2019s great opportunity (for the Leafs). There\u2019s a lot of great people, great pieces. So, just continue to move forward and regroup when the time comes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s almost 2 p.m. on a Friday, and the sun is shining brightly in Los Angeles. John Tavares…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-551126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-islanders","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkislanders","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116391878127192005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}