Thank You JT

If you're like me, a fan of the New York Islanders, today is a very sad day. John Tavares, the Islanders captain and face of the franchise since the day he arrived, is no longer here. Earlier today, Tavares signed a seven year, $77 million deal to go play for his hometown team the Toronto Maple Leafs. A tough pill to swallow for Islanders fans, and for the organization I'm sure, but there's been a lot of good that was done by Tavares playing his first nine years of his career with the New York Islanders. A lot of memories made by Tavares here on Long Island, but now he's heading home.

In 669 games in an Islanders sweater, Tavares scored 272 goals, added in 349 assists for a total of 621 points. His goal total is 7th in Islanders history, his assists totals are 5th all time, as are his point totals. He could carry the team for stretches, that's how good he was. He kind of helped save a franchise a bit, put them back on the map. He was the guy that other teams looked at and said "uh oh, we got a big problem on our hands" When a guy has that kind of talent level you try and go as far as he can carry you.

After his first goal, in his first game, on opening night against the Penguins in 2009, you knew he was going to be a special player. He could make fans jump out of his seat with a great move (go back and watch his set up of Josh Bailey's overtime winner against the Flyers from last November as a perfect example). He could pick corners from in close, which he did quite often. He might not have been the fastest skater in the league, but boy could he make up for it with his stickhandling ability, playmaking ability and shot. Oh and then there's his leadership qualities. He didn't say too much, but when he did, it spoke volumes. His words didn't have to do much, sometimes he just let his play do the talking.

When you talk about John Tavares with an Islanders fan, two goals will come tom ind faster than any other he scored in his career. Both came in overtime and both came in the playoffs.

First up, was game three, April 19th, 2015. Islanders hosting the Capitals, when this happened:


The other goal is a personal favorite of mine, as I'm sure it is for many of my fellow Islanders fans. The date was April 24th, 2016. Game six of the opening round series against the Florida Panthers. Tavares stole the show again with this:


Both of those goals made Tavares a made man in New York. He gave everything he had to this team. The team I feel failed him. They had an all world player and they failed to build around him. Its a shame really what happened and how things went down. One report was that Tavares was so torn between going home to Toronto and staying here in New York, he couldn't stand it. At the end of the day, he chose to go home.

I just want to take this moment to thank Tavares for all the great memories. I was in the building at the Coliseum for two of his hat tricks. one against Buffalo and another against the Rangers, both fun games to watch. He made many lasting memories as an Islanders fan, some that will stay with me the rest of my life. I thank him for everything he did for the New York Islanders franchise and I wish him nothing but the best of luck in Toronto.