This wasn’t training camp. This wasn’t a Tuesday in January. This was Monday afternoon, hours before the Toronto Maple Leafs would fly out to Boston for Game 5. And there was John Tavares, the captain of the team, still on the ice fine-tuning his game.
He was the last player — by far — to leave the ice, staying out to work long past even the black aces.
“He loves hockey,” a member of the Leafs staff said.
Tavares definitely loves hockey. And he’s trying to give the Leafs every last bit he has at a point in his career — at age 33, in his 15th NHL season — when decline has clearly set in. Nights like Game 5 are reminders that his hard work can still pay off.
Just 14 more wins, cap!
Tavares unfortunately gets a lot of criticism because of what he’s paid. Sure, he gets paid more than he should, but he’s still a solid player.
There are little things he does that go without credit like shooting the puck into the offensive zone from the Leafs side of center ice enough to get the team a change, but not enough for icing. He’s also good a keeping pressure on in the offensive zone.
