Player Profile: John Tavares

When I first sat down to write the next two articles, I was going to approach them with titles such as, “Why The Islanders Should Select John Tavares,” or “Why The Islanders Should Select Victor Hedman.” Instead, I have opted to lay out a player profile on these two fine, young players, in order for you to gain a better understanding of them, and for you to be able to make up your own opinion on who you’d rather Garth Snow and Company select first overall on June 26^th. Today’s player profile will take a look at John Tavares of the London Knights.

John Tavares was born September 20^th, 1990 in Mississauga, Ontario. His parents, Joe and Barbara Tavares, have always encouraged John to play hockey since he was a very young boy. John, like Mike Ribeiro of the Dallas Stars, is one of the few players in the National Hockey League from Portuguese descent. While his parents may have always encouraged him, it was John’s Uncle, also named John, who helped him to succeed in hockey. John’s uncle was a professional lacrosse player in Canada, and John learned many of his hockey talents from his uncle through the sport of Lacrosse. These talents have transcended themselves into his hockey game, and have provided him with quick hands and a quick mind.

John Tavares is not overwhelmingly large, sizing up at 6 feet tall, and nearly 200 pounds, however, he was always very strong on the puck, and he is able to make his average size seem bigger. Blessed with a quick, soft pair of hands, John has always excelled in stickhandling (attributed to lacrosse), and he has always been a step ahead of the rest in this department. According to many past coaches and scouts, however, his biggest asset is his knowledge of the game. Many analysts consider John to be one of the most intelligent players in this year’s draft, as he seems to always know where everyone is, always know where the open space is going to be, and he is always in position seconds before everyone else gets there. It is this sublime IQ that allows John to position himself perfect in front of the net for a rebound, or perfectly for a breakout. Another aspect of John’s game that helps to make him an offensive force is his wrist-shot and snap shot. Combining speed and accuracy, John is deadly from the circles and in, and he will usually make defenders pay for any turnovers in this area. Lastly, Tavares’ hand-eye coordination is second-to-none. For all of those who have not seen his sensational goal at the 2009 World Junior Championships, you must do so now. It was absolutely incredible evidence as to what the kid can do when the puck is in the air.

While he obviously is loaded with talent, there are some aspects of John’s game that force scouts to bring him back to reality. First, and often the most scrutinized aspect of his game is his skating. According to scouts, his acceleration is fair, but it will take some NHL level conditioning and focus in order to help him elevate it to the acceleration necessary to succeed at the NHL level. Secondly, John’s top speed is not considered lethal, but more-so average. This average speed, however, can also be worked upon with proper strength and conditioning regiments. Lastly, John has sometimes been considered a one-sided player. This, by definition, means that certain scouts feel John focuses only on offense, and he does not back-check properly. They believe that he simply goes hard to the net and scores, however, he feels his job ends there.

While we have know seen both his pros and his cons, let us take a look at John’s career statistics in the Ontario Hockey League and World Junior Championships. I find no need to include statistics from his other levels of hockey, as they do not tell us much about who he is now.

2005-2006 Oshawa Generals (45 G, 32A, 77 Pts, 72 PIM)

2006-2007 Oshawa Generals (72G, 62A, 134 Pts, 60PIM)

2007-2008 Oshawa Generals (40G, 78A, 118 Pts, 69PIM)

2008-2009 Generals/Knights (58G, 46A, 104 Pts, 54PIM)

2008 WJC – Canada (4G, 1A, 5 Pts, 2PIM)

2009 WJC – Canada (8G, 7A, 15 Pts, 0PIM)

 *In the 2009 World Junior Championships, John Tavares won three awards: World Junior First Team All-Star, World Junior Top Forward, and World Junior Most Valuable Player.

As is visible by his statistics, John had a great rookie year, and then had two phenomenal back-to-back seasons. The biggest question comes into play of why the drop-off going into his fourth full season in the OHL. The response of his coaches, and many scouts who have watched him, is that he has either been working on the defensive aspect of his game much more than he ever has, or he has simply become bored with the prospect of playing in the OHL. While the first excuse of his defensive practice makes sense, I tend to lean with the second aspect. John Tavares and his agent applied for Exceptional Player Status with the NHL in order to be a part of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Tavares and his agent both felt he was ready for the NHL, however, the NHL refused to change their stance, and he was not eligible for the 2008 Draft. While the NHL refused to change its bylaws for him, it was not his first time looking for Exceptional Player Status. In the 2005 OHL Entry Draft, John was still too young to be drafted, however, the OHL granted him this status, and he was the first player to ever be allowed to participate in the OHL while being underage.

As you can see, John Tavares is truly a very gifted player. Since his phenomenal, underage rookie campaign in 2005-2006, John has been in the spotlight and dubbed “the next great one” after Sidney Crosby. While living up to Crosby’s billing will be extremely tough, he has still had to deal with a tremendous amount of media attention, and he has done extremely well with it. John Tavares is now a household name in Canada and even in parts of the United States, and he definitely made this happen through his incredible display at the World Junior Championships in Ottawa this year. Any team would be extremely fortunate to have a player of this caliber on their team.

 Justin’s Opinion:

While I usually like to give an opinion, I will be refraining from offering my opinion on this topic until after I write my Player Profile on Victor Hedman. Hedman’s profile should be coming up either tomorrow morning or Saturday morning, and it will allow everyone to better understand both players that have been touted as the number 1 and number 2 picks overall for quite some time. The blog after that, most likely either Sunday or Monday, will be my thorough opinion on who I believe the Islanders should take with the first overall pick, and a long-winded explanation as to why.

 **As always, questions and comments are greatly appreciated. You can leave any of these in the comments section, which is in the link right below, or you can send me an E-Mail at IslesNet@Gmail.Com **