A Toronto Maple Leafs analyst believes that the team should let John Tavares go instead of signing him during the season to a contract they could regret later.
In Toronto, the biggest storyline in the past few days has been the nomination of Auston Matthews as the Maple Leafs' captain, replacing John Tavares, who has been leading the team for the past five years.
With that massive announcement came a lot of questions about Tavares' future in Toronto.
He is set to enter the final year of his seven-year, $11M AAV contract, and while there were already doubts about his future, the announcement of him stepping down as captain brings even more uncertainty.
However, what will dictate his future in Toronto will likely be a salary question.
Now that he's not captain anymore, he could be setting himself up to get a much smaller salary than he currently has.
If the Toronto native wants to stay in Toronto, there won't be many other options. If that's not what happens, some believe his days in Toronto could be over.
This is what Bryan Hayes said on TSN's Overdrive:
"Well, and even putting the value aside, this is what I find a bit confusing. There's this big debate over, alright, what should the number be? Before you even get to that, should he be here at all? Like, that's-again, the core four-this is where there's a divide in the fan base, and there always will be."
You can listen to the full video here:
The main problem that could arise if Brad Treliving decides to extend his contract before next season ends is that it could turn out to be a bad decision in the long run.
Nick Alberga of The Leafs Nation made a statement in that direction in a recent paper. Check it out:
"The best thing for the Leafs to do is let the season play out and reassess accordingly. Effectively, if they choose to go ahead and sign him to an extension now, in the long run, it could prove to be a bad decision."
It'll be interesting to see what Brad Treliving decides to do. If he feels like negotiations won't go well, we could see the Leafs trying to offload him at the 2025 trade deadline.
Stay tuned.
Source for John Tavares' statistics:
Puckpedia
