There’s absolutely no need to sign John Tavares to an extension right now: Alberga’s Take

Look, I love John Tavares just as much as the next person, but there’s absolutely no need to lock him into an extension right now.

First and foremost, as expected, I thought he handled everything on Wednesday with so much class. Furthermore, I thought it was a great touch to have his kids show up wearing an Auston Matthews jersey. PR wise, everything was on point.

That said, with respect to his contractual status, 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.

Any way you slice it, next summer will be a huge one for the Maple Leafs. For the first time in years, barring something unforeseen, they project to have big time cap space to play with. Finally, they will get the opportunity to reimagine the roster. At this point, it wouldn’t be in their best interest to take away from that potential cap space, especially knowing that it hasn’t worked in SIX tries with the Core Four intact.

If the Tampa Bay Lightning can move on from Steven Stamkos, the Toronto Maple Leafs should have no problem being just at cut-throat.

Simply put, if the Leafs don’t do something substantial next spring, they need to make seismic changes to the core of the roster. Lucky for them, both Tavares and Mitch Marner, who was in attendance for Matthews’ unveiling as captain, are slated to become unrestricted free agents next summer. Naturally, for a variety of reasons, it’s imperative that Brad Treliving and company keep their options open beyond this upcoming season. If it doesn’t work again with the same cast of characters, undoubtedly, they better be ready to audible in a way that would make Patrick Mahomes jealous.

Aside from all that, it doesn’t appear that John Tavares wants to be anywhere else but Toronto. Indisputably, the Leafs should and likely will use that against him down the road. At the very least, it would be wise to know what he’s looking for in terms of average annual value. That way, down the road, if/when they’re ready to talk extension, it shouldn’t be that difficult to put something together.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s a business, and just like Stamkos, Tavares may have no choice but to move on. For now, I want to see him go out there, have a strong season, and lead this team to foreign territory.