c(born September 20, 1990) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward and captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). In the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, he was selected first overall by the New York Islanders, for whom he played nine seasons and served as captain for five seasons.
Previously, Tavares competed at the major junior level as a member of the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) before being traded to the London Knights at the 2009 OHL trading deadline along with Michael Del Zotto. Tavares broke into the OHL after gaining exceptional player status[1] at age 14, allowing the Generals to select him in the OHL Priority Draft as an underage player in 2005. Tavares was named the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Rookie of the Year in 2006 and CHL Player of the Year in 2007. Tavares finished his Major Junior and OHL career with most goals (215), and 6th in points (433).
Tavares was the focus of an unsuccessful push to have the NHL’s draft rules changed to allow him to participate in the 2008 Entry Draft, as well as an attempt to allow him to play in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a 17-year-old in 2007. Tavares was ranked as the top prospect for the 2009 Draft by both the NHL Central Scouting Bureau and International Scouting Services.
Tavares has represented Canada at five International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)-sanctioned events, including the 2010 and 2011 World Championships. At the under-20 level, he won gold medals at the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He was named the most valuable player of the 2009 tournament after scoring eight goals and 15 points in six games. He also participated in the 2006 IIHF World U18 Championships, but failed to medal. Additionally, Tavares represented Team Ontario at the 2006 World U-17 Hockey Challenge and 2007 Super Series. On January 7, 2014, he was named to the 2014 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team, winning a gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics despite an injury preventing him from participating in the final two games.
Tavares was born on September 20, 1990, in Mississauga, Ontario, to Barbara and Joe Tavares, who are of Polish and Portuguese descent, respectively. His maternal grandparents, Bolesław and Josephine Kowal, immigrated from Poland to Sudbury, Ontario, and his paternal grandparents Manuel and Dorotea Tavares immigrated from Portugal to Toronto, Ontario. At a very young age, Tavares moved to Oakville, Ontario. This is where he was first exposed to minor hockey through the Minor Oaks Hockey Association.[2] Tavares also played soccer and lacrosse, and his highly competitive nature often led him to fight with other players.[3] Tavares excelled at lacrosse, following in the footsteps of his uncle John Tavares, the all-time scoring leader in the National Lacrosse League (NLL), and was a ball boy for his uncle’s NLL team, the Buffalo Bandits.[4][5] The younger Tavares credits his uncle with teaching him the importance of remaining unselfish, stating what he learned by following his uncle with the Bandits has made him better both as a person and a hockey player.[6] Many skills he learned in lacrosse—such as spinning off checks and battling in traffic—transferred to ice hockey and improved Tavares’ abilities as a goal scorer.[4]
In Oakville, Tavares attended St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School.[5] He lived five minutes from Sam Gagner, who later signed a contract with the Edmonton Oilers, and the two quickly established a friendship.[4] Gagner’s father, former NHL player Dave Gagner, built a backyard ice rink on which Tavares spent much of his time honing ice hockey skills.[4] In the OHL, Tavares placed an emphasis on his education, earning honours as well as the Oshawa Generals’ Scholastic Player of the Year in 2007–08.[6] Tavares also spends some of his time working with the Special Olympics.[7]
Tavares showed such promise as a hockey player that when he was seven, his parents moved him up one age group and he began playing with older children.[3] From there, he moved on to the Mississauga Braves of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL). After playing the 1998–99 season with the Braves’ novice team, Tavares moved to the Mississauga Senators of the GTHL the following season.[8] With the Senators’ AAA minor atom team, Tavares won the GTHL minor atom championship in the 1999–2000 season.[9] Tavares eventually moved to the Toronto Marlboros of the GTHL. During the 2003–04 season Tavares was teammates with his friend Sam Gagner, and scored 95 goals and 187 points in 90 games to lead the Marlboros’ bantam team to the 2004 Bantam AAA Provincial Hockey Championships, where the Marlboros defeated Drew Doughty and the London Jr. Knights 5–0 in the championship game.[10] Tavares scored one goal in the game and was named the tournament’s top forward.[10][11] The following season, Tavares joined the Marlboros’ minor midget team, where he recorded 91 goals and 158 points in 72 games.[12] For his achievements, Tavares shared the Buck Houle Award with Bryan Cameron, “in recognition of outstanding on ice performance, leadership and loyalty”.[13] During this season, he also played 16 games with the Milton Icehawks of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League (OPJHL), during which he recorded 11 goals and 23 points.[14] Tavares’ debut with the Icehawks came while he was only 13, making him one of the youngest players to ever play junior hockey.
Tavares petitioned to gain eligibility to play major junior in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in the spring of 2005. As OHL rules did not allow for players under age 15 to be drafted,[14] the OHL introduced an exceptional player status clause, allowing the 14-year-old Tavares to be drafted one year sooner than he would otherwise have been eligible.[15] Consequently, Tavares is the youngest player to ever be drafted in the OHL,[16] although Bobby Orr was signed and had played at a younger age.[15] The Canadian Hockey League (CHL), the umbrella organization which governs major junior hockey in Canada, sent a proposal to Hockey Canada recommending that the rule be expanded across junior hockey, which eventually was granted. To date, only eight other players—Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, Sean Day, Joe Veleno, Shane Wright, Connor Bedard and Michael Misa—have been granted the same status.[15][17]
The Oshawa Generals held the first pick in the 2005 draft, and they selected Tavares, earning him the Jack Ferguson Award, which is given to the player picked first overall in the OHL Priority Selection.[18] Tavares played his first OHL game on September 23, 2005, scoring his first OHL goal in a game held just three days after his 15th birthday.[19][20] He showed he could play in the OHL immediately, scoring ten goals in his first nine games with the Generals,[21] and finished the 2005–06 season with 77 points, including 45 goals. Tavares was named to the OHL’s all-rookie team, and won both the Emms Family Award and CHL Rookie of the Year awards as the top first-year player in both the OHL and CHL respectively.[22]
As a 16-year-old in 2006–07, Tavares was selected to represent the OHL for two games in January for the annual ADT Canada-Russia Challenge, including one game in Oshawa. Later that month, on January 25, 2007, Tavares registered a seven-point night in a 9–6 win against the Windsor Spitfires. He scored four goals and three assists, including his 50th goal of the season in his 44th game.[23] Towards the end of the season, on March 16, 2007, Tavares recorded his 70th and 71st goals of the season, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s OHL record for most goals by a 16-year-old.[24] He was awarded the Red Tilson Trophy as the most outstanding player in the league, and named the CHL Player of the Year.[22]
Tavares scored 40 goals in 59 games for the Generals during the 2007–08 season, while his 118 points was placed him third in OHL scoring.[25] Tavares led the OHL in scoring until he missed several games to represent the Canada men’s national junior ice hockey team at the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.[26] As Tavares was participating in the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, it was speculated that the Generals were ready to trade him to the London Knights.[27] Tavares’ future with the Generals had been questioned since the beginning of the season as the Generals were not expected to seriously contend for the championship, while the Knights were among the league leaders.[27] The deal was made official on January 8, 2009, as Oshawa sent Tavares, Michael Del Zotto and Darryl Borden to the Knights in exchange for Scott Valentine, Christian Thomas, Michael Zador and six draft picks.
avares made his debut with the Knights on January 11 against the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors.[29] Making his return to Oshawa at the 2009 CHL Top Prospects Game as captain of Team Orr, he recorded an assist in a 6–1 win over Team Cherry, but injured his shoulder after Zack Kassian of the Peterborough Petes checked him behind the net.[30] On March 8, 2009, Tavares set the OHL goal-scoring record with his 214th goal, passing the previous record held by Peter Lee.[31] The next day, he received his third OHL Player of the Week recognition of the season.[32]
Professional
Although he was born five days after the September 15 cutoff date for eligibility in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, there was a significant effort made to allow Tavares into the Draft. Following his 72-goal campaign in 2006–07, Tavares’ agents asked the NHL and NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA) to make an exception for Tavares similar to the one the OHL had made in 2005.[33] The attempt was unsuccessful and Tavares was required to wait until 2009 to participate in the NHL Entry Draft.[34] In October 2007, it was reported that then-Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. had offered the 17-year-old Tavares a spot with the team’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.[35] However, like the NHL, the AHL declined to amend its by-laws and Tavares subsequently returned to the OHL.[35]
The NHL International Scouting Services ranked Tavares as the top draft prospect in the world, ahead of defenceman Victor Hedman and forwards Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson and Matt Duchene in its March 2009 update.[36] The 2009 draft class was led by Tavares, who was selected first overall by the New York Islanders
On July 15, 2009, Tavares signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Islanders.[38] His first NHL game was in the pre-season in a game against the Edmonton Oilers. He spent 22 minutes and 50 seconds on the ice alongside linemates Doug Weight and Sean Bergenheim in the Islanders’ 3–2 loss.[39] Weight, a veteran NHLer, said, “John’s going to be a big piece of [an Islander rebuilding effort].”[39] Tavares scored his first career NHL goal and assist in his first ever professional game, scoring on a backhander against Marc-André Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 3, 2009.[40]
Tavares led NHL rookies in scoring throughout much of his first season. In December 2009, he scored five consecutive Islanders goals over a four-game span to tie the club record for most consecutive goals by one player. He scored an empty-net goal against the Atlanta Thrashers on December 3, 2009, and both Islanders goals on both December 9, 2009, against the Philadelphia Flyers and December 10, 2009, against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The record was originally set by Bryan Trottier, when he scored five consecutive goals in a 1982 game against Philadelphia.[41] On March 17, 2010, Tavares scored five points (two goals and three assists) in a 5–2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.[42] At the end of the season, Tavares finished second in rookie scoring, behind Matt Duchene, with 54 points (24 goals, 30 assists) in all 82 games played.
As New York opened up their season at home against the Dallas Stars on October 9, 2010, Tavares suffered a mild concussion late during the first period. The Stars’ Adam Burish bumped into Tavares, and the latter was unable to return to the game.[43] He scored his first career hat-trick on October 23, in a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers.[44] He then scored his second career NHL hat-trick, as well as his first career natural hat-trick, on January 15, 2011, in a 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres.
On September 14, 2011, Tavares signed a new six-year, $33 million contract with the Islanders effective from the 2012–13 season through to the end of the 2017–18 season.[45] After being held pointless in the first two games of the 2011–12 season, Tavares had back-to-back four-point games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, respectively. From December 29, 2011, to January 21, 2012, Tavares had 21 points in a 12-game point streak, seven of which were multi-point games. He was selected to play in the 2012 NHL All-Star Game. In his first career All-Star Game, he recorded one goal and one assist.[46] Additionally, during the 2011–12 season, Tavares was named as an alternate captain for New York.[47]
Tavares played with Mark Streit in Switzerland for SC Bern while the 2012–13 NHL lock-out took place. During the shortened 2012–13 season, Tavares was third in the NHL with 28 goals (Only behind Washington Capitals forward and captain Alexander Ovechkin, who had 32 as the league leader and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos, who had 29, respectively. He helped the Islanders reach the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2007 after the Islanders finished the season as the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference with scoring 47 points (29 goals, 18 assists) in all 48 games played. Tavares was also named a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s most valuable player in the regular season, which was eventually awarded to Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.[48] He made his playoff debut on May 1, 2013, against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tavares scored his first career Stanley Cup playoff goal against Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-André Fleury in Game 3 of the 2013 playoffs. He would finish with three goals, two assists and five points in six games as the Islanders were eliminated by the top seeded Penguins.
