PRAGUE – Immediately trading in one Maple Leaf uniform for another after a playoff loss that he says left an open wound, John Tavares has begun to heal by proving he still has a lot to offer both club and country.
Tavares has been in top form for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship, wearing the “C,” participating in virtually every major matchup, helping drive the team offensively and guiding it to three close victories to close out the playoffs. tournament groups before Thursday’s quarterfinals. confrontation with Slovakia.
With a large group of family members making the trip abroad, including his wife Aryne and the couple’s three young children, Jace, Axton and Raelynn, Tavares is focused on creating an experience they will one day remember fondly.
The desire to seize the moment is natural when you’ve waited nearly eight years to put on your country’s jersey again, due largely to a deep freeze on the international hockey calendar that is only now beginning to thaw. There’s also the fact that Tavares only needs to look at the stands at the O2 Arena, where former Sochi Olympic linemates Rick Nash and Ryan Getzlaf now watch from Canada’s manager’s box, to be reminded of how time keeps moving.
“It’s crazy,” he said.
Tavares is not old yet and his 34th birthday awaits him in September. But as with any athlete who has more playing career behind him than ahead of him, he must fight to stay as close to the top as possible for as long as possible.
“I think I will always believe that I have a lot of game left in me,” Tavares told The Athletic on Wednesday. “I’m going to continue to enjoy it, I’m going to continue to compete, and when I play, I’m going to give everything I have and try to do everything I can to help my team be successful.”
Viewed in that context, it’s easy to understand why he accepted Hockey Canada’s invitation to the World Championship just days after the Maple Leafs’ season ended with an overtime loss in Game 7 of the first round in Boston.
The hockey world did not stand still, and neither did Tavares. He felt that his body and his mind were still up to the task of competing. And with the Stanley Cup no longer attainable, the pursuit of the first World Championship gold of his career became attractive.
Here we are at the end of May, and Tavares continues to battle through tense, physical, high-stakes games while changes are being made at home with an eye toward putting the Leafs back in a position to do the same next spring.
The organization has made a coaching shakeup since this journey began, firing Sheldon Keefe as Tavares boarded a flight to Europe on May 9 before hiring Craig Berube last Friday. The Leafs captain met with his new boss for a 10-minute introductory phone conversation during Team Canada’s off day on Monday.
“It was great,” Tavares said. “We talked a lot about how he wants to communicate and the importance of that. (He believes) there are a lot of good things we have done and where the team is. He believes that he can help us push ourselves further and help us improve.
“As a player, that’s what you love to hear.”
It’s an especially important moment for Tavares as he enters the final season of the seven-year deal he signed with the Leafs in 2018. That leaves him eligible to sign an extension with his hometown team on July 1 under the rules of the NHL collective bargaining agreement. agreement.
Some have speculated that the Leafs could ask Tavares to waive his no-trade clause, but he has said in the past that he will not do so and that remains the case. He also plans to meet with Berube face to face when he returns to Toronto, not like the action of someone with one foot out the door.
Meanwhile, Tavares’ strong two-way play in the world championship has been a reminder of how different performance can be perceived when not viewed solely through the prism of a salary cap hit.
As for Dylan Cozens, who has filled the net with eight goals in seven games, there has not been a more complete Canadian player in Prague than Tavares. He has won 76 percent of his matchups, giving head coach André Tourigny an extremely reliable security blanket as the team heads into three must-win games to claim gold. He also has eight points in six games, and his only goal (on 21 shots) was the overtime winner.
Above all, Tavares has set the standard for a team that has no other NHL player with over 1,000 games nor anyone with an international resume remotely as accomplished as his.
“He’s a real leader,” said Nash, general manager of Canada’s World Cup team.
“From the moment he arrived, he brought a lot of maturity, experience and presence to our group,” added Tourigny. “He’s been with the World Cup team and the Olympic team, and you can see it’s not his first rodeo. He knows. He has a calm presence and he knows that adversity is part of that type of journey.”
To see Tavares up close in this environment is to remember how much value there is in everything that has happened. While 18-year-old Connor Bedard has struggled to gain the confidence necessary to carve out a major role on the Canadian team, the 14-year-old No. 1 pick before him has consistently made the solid defensive reads and smart plays necessary to remain thrown across the boards.
Tavares also doesn’t look like a player looking to take a backseat internationally, not with the 4 Nations showdown scheduled for next February and the 2026 Winter Olympics approaching a year later.
“I think that’s why you saw so many guys come (to the World Championships),” he said. “What’s coming here and how we’re finally building an international calendar, a calendar of the best on the best, I think it’s going to be really special.”
This World Championship looks considerably different for Tavares than the three previous appearances he made in the tournament more than a decade ago.
He has his parents, Barbara and Joe, here not only to watch the games but also to help the grandchildren. And she’s staying in a multi-room hotel suite to ensure she can get the rest she needs to perform at her best while her young family enjoys a vacation in Europe.
“Jet lag is a challenge, especially for young children, but it’s amazing how adaptable they are,” Tavares said. “They have adapted very well to all those circumstances. “We’ve had a great time so far and we obviously want to enjoy the rest of what we have here.”
(Photo: Monika Majer//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
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