Land of the Leaf

Thankfully, most of the John Tavares to the Toronto Maple Leafs lunacy has subsided now that Garth Snow has stated he won’t be dealing the first overall pick to Brian Burke.  I’ve stated all along that I have doubts as to how good the kid might be, and now some professionals are weighing in on Johnny T as well.  The “Redline Report” (a credible scouting service) has ranked him as the third best prospect Tavares behind Victor Hedman (the best player available anyway) and Matt Duchene.  [A hat tip to NHL Rumours via Newsday]

The “Redline Report” is owned and published by Kyle Woodlief, a former Nashville Predators scout.  Woodlief offered a somewhat harsh critical explanation in his ranking of Tavares:

“I’ve always felt Hedman should be the No. 1 pick… The reason we flip-flopped Duchene and Tavares is due to the fact Tavares’ effort level has been underwhelming through the first two rounds of the [Ontario Hockey League] playoffs. Tavares may score 40 or 50 goals a season, but he’s one-dimensional. If he’s not scoring, he’s not helping.

Right now, he’s the third-best draft-eligible forward on his own team behind Nazem Kadri and Phil Varone. Tavares (9-10-19) and Varone (10-8-18) have about the same number of points, but Varone is plus-16, and Tavares is even. London has a great power play, and Tavares is getting all his points on the power play. Five-on-five, Tavares has been nothing short of a liability. His attitude of entitlement stinks.”

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Lindros in here.

Woodlief went on to compare Tavares to Brett Hull, which isn’t so bad, but it’s not quite the Ontario-ized version of Sidney Crosby that pundits have been praying for.

Hockey Mom

Toronto Life, the city’s leading intellectual magazine that reviews many restaurants that I can’t afford to eat in, ran an interesting piece on John Tavares in a recent issue.  The piece mostly focuses on Tavares’ family life, or lack thereof, and growing up with billet families.  Sounds like his old lady put the pressure on for him to succeed at an early age, and that she fits the very Canadian stereotype of the “crazy hockey parent”:

Once, after a lacklustre performance, she tossed his brand new hockey gloves out the car window. “See, John?” she said. “See that? That’s your hockey career gone. Just like that.”

I read shit like that and I wonder whose hockey career is actually at risk here, John’s or his mother’s?