John Tavares a Leaf in 2018?

[Bender]

Will never have faith a young superstar will be signed via free agency.

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[Nik]

Will never have faith a young superstar will be signed via free agency.

It's just so hard to see it happening unless the guy has a real desire to leave. The likelihood of there ever being a huge financial incentive for a superstar to leave is pretty small(the Stamkos deal should probably put to rest the idea that there's huge off-ice earnings anywhere) and teams have huge incentive to not lose a superstar for nothing.

The next interesting thing to see will be what happens with a superstar type player who's in a city that generally isn't seen as a very attractive destination for UFA's. So McDavid or potentially Laine or someone like that. The best UFA's who've left teams over the years left teams like New Jersey, Nashville, Ottawa and Atlanta if you want to count Kovalchuk.

[AvroArrow]

We really need to go after Tavares (as a UFA) and worry about the cap later:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/must-see-tavares-turns-couturier-inside-out-as-he-sets-up-gwg~1268535

[herman]

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/21588800/nhl-eight-teams-new-york-islanders-center-john-tavares-sign-2018-free-agent-market

I only bring this up because of the really slick programming job they did on the Tavares image as you scroll down the article.

[Nik]

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/21588800/nhl-eight-teams-new-york-islanders-center-john-tavares-sign-2018-free-agent-market

I only bring this up because of the really slick programming job they did on the Tavares image as you scroll down the article.

It's a minor point because I know it's Wyshinski writing and he's as much about schtick as anything but I wonder why you'd go to the trouble of pointing out his local ties and leave them at Tavares being from "Ontario" as opposed to being from if not the city itself then at least the GTA.

I agree with him that the local media tends to make too much of people from the general area coming back here to play but I think it's pretty safe to say that the media reaction he's talking about doesn't really apply to guys from Thunder Bay or Cornwall or Orleans or Windsor. Even the Doughty connection in London is somewhat tenuous as I don't think people tend to just assume anyone from London is a Leafs fan.

Again, I get Wyshinski being Wyshinski but this makes him sound less weary of the Toronto media's tendencies and more kind of ignorant about them.

[herman]

Is Mississauga a known quantity in American sports media?

[Nik]

Is Mississauga a known quantity in American sports media?

Probably not but I think they understand the general concepts of suburbs to the extent that if he said Tavares was a Toronto product not many people would quibbles over the exact boundaries of who sets property taxes where. Especially when Tavares is a GTHL prospect.

[Coco-puffs]

Is Mississauga a known quantity in American sports media?

Probably not but I think they understand the general concepts of suburbs to the extent that if he said Tavares was a Toronto product not many people would quibbles over the exact boundaries of who sets property taxes where. Especially when Tavares is a GTHL prospect.

The only people that quibble over someone from Mississauga saying they are from Toronto are smug Toronto-born elitists.  I know all about this, having been born in Mississauga and now living in Toronto.

While I lived in Ottawa, I'd get asked where I was from.  If I thought this person was not from Ontario, I'd say Toronto.  If I thought they were from Ontario, I'd say Mississauga because if I said Toronto, they'd ask where in Toronto and the answer "Mississauga" would be met with "you're not from Toronto!"

[Nik]

The only people that quibble over someone from Mississauga saying they are from Toronto are smug Toronto-born elitists.  I know all about this, having been born in Mississauga and now living in Toronto.

Whereas as a smug Toronto-raised elitist I would say that saying you're from "Toronto" to someone from Toronto in Toronto is probably a little misleading(or at least needlessly vague), saying it to anyone from anywhere else for the purpose of location is ok. Or at least saying you're "from the suburbs of Toronto" is fine.

Also, not that it matters but I think Tavares is really from Oakville despite Mississauga being on his birth certificate.

[Frank E]

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/21588800/nhl-eight-teams-new-york-islanders-center-john-tavares-sign-2018-free-agent-market

I only bring this up because of the really slick programming job they did on the Tavares image as you scroll down the article.

It's a minor point because I know it's Wyshinski writing and he's as much about schtick as anything but I wonder why you'd go to the trouble of pointing out his local ties and leave them at Tavares being from "Ontario" as opposed to being from if not the city itself then at least the GTA.

I agree with him that the local media tends to make too much of people from the general area coming back here to play but I think it's pretty safe to say that the media reaction he's talking about doesn't really apply to guys from Thunder Bay or Cornwall or Orleans or Windsor. Even the Doughty connection in London is somewhat tenuous as I don't think people tend to just assume anyone from London is a Leafs fan.

Again, I get Wyshinski being Wyshinski but this makes him sound less weary of the Toronto media's tendencies and more kind of ignorant about them.

I think it's about a 60/40 Leafs to Wings fan ratio in London.*

*Unofficial Frank E estimation

[Coco-puffs]

The only people that quibble over someone from Mississauga saying they are from Toronto are smug Toronto-born elitists.  I know all about this, having been born in Mississauga and now living in Toronto.

Whereas as a smug Toronto-raised elitist I would say that saying you're from "Toronto" to someone from Toronto in Toronto is probably a little misleading(or at least needlessly vague), saying it to anyone from anywhere else for the purpose of location is ok. Or at least saying you're "from the suburbs of Toronto" is fine.

Also, not that it matters but I think Tavares is really from Oakville despite Mississauga being on his birth certificate.

Oh, I totally agree.  I turn smug-toronto-based elitist when I ask people that in Toronto as well.  :P

Also, I was born at Etobicoke General so technically speaking, I was born in (amalgamated) Toronto despite never living there until I turned 30.

[Nik]

I think it's about a 60/40 Leafs to Wings fan ratio in London.*

*Unofficial Frank E estimation

Interesting. From my time there I'd have said something close but more along the lines of 40% Leafs/40% Wings/20% miscellaneous. Of course my time there started when Thornton was rising to promise and as a local product there were quite a few Bruins fans popping up.

[Nik]

Oh, I totally agree.  I turn smug-toronto-based elitist when I ask people that in Toronto as well.  :P

Also, I was born at Etobicoke General so technically speaking, I was born in (amalgamated) Toronto despite never living there until I turned 30.

Coco, I will let you and the board in on a little secret which is my eternal shame. My mother's obstetrician relocated shortly before I was born but because she was still his patient my parents decided to drive from Toronto to where his new practice was when my mother went into labour. As a result, I was born at....McMaster.

So despite living in Toronto proper since I was three days old and growing up to be one of the city's smuggest elitists I have to say "Toronto-raised" instead of born. I would be lying if I said I don't still secretly resent my parents for the H-word being on my birth certificate.

[herman]

Also, I was born at Etobicoke General so technically speaking, I was born in (amalgamated) Toronto despite never living there until I turned 30.

Technically speaking, unless you were born at Etobicoke General after 1998, you were born outside Toronto. And since you've turned 30, that's an impossible mathematical barrier to overcome.

[Coco-puffs]

Also, I was born at Etobicoke General so technically speaking, I was born in (amalgamated) Toronto despite never living there until I turned 30.

Technically speaking, unless you were born at Etobicoke General after 1998, you were born outside Toronto. And since you've turned 30, that's an impossible mathematical barrier to overcome.

LOL.  Yes, but does someone born 30+ years ago in East York say they aren't technically born in Toronto?