New York Islanders Roundtable: Tavares’ Worth in Trade Market

Michel Anderson

It’s going to be a sad hypothetical day on the island when the news breaks that the Islanders have traded John Tavares. I know he has a modified no-move clause, but the exercise here is to figure what Tavares’ worth is in the trade market.

So we’re assuming the Isles want to trade Tavares, and that Tavares gives the nod of approval. In the real world, neither of these probably occur. But, in the hypothetical world that this exercise lives in, both have happened.

So what do I want? Most of the Eyes on Isles writers already hit the nail on the head when they said: “Everything”, or “a King’s ransom”. Because that’s what Tavares is worth to us on an emotional level.

But outside of the pure emotion were talking about a point-per-game player over the course of his career. It’s actually .92, but point-per-game is close enough. On a different team, it could be better. So, who’s out there with the same acumen?

We’re talking about Artemi Panarin, Joe Thornton, and Claude Giroux. Panarin is the only name that makes sense in this crazy hypothetical exercise. He’s scoring at a rate of .93 points-per-game. He isn’t covered by some sort of crazy no-move clause.

So how about Panarin and Alex DeBrincat for one of the best centers in the game to put alongside their other one-of-the-best-centers-in-the-game; Jonathan Toews?

Next: Isles Beat Rangers. That's 4 Wins Out of 5 Games.

This wasn’t the most pleasant assignment for our writers and justifiably so. But I think they all did exceptionally well in trying to figure out what he’s worth, and the resounding answer is “A LOT”. And that’s all assuming Garth Snow goes crazy tomorrow and decides he want to trade Tavares so bad that he alienates him into agreeing to leave. It’s a crazy leap, but it’s good to know just what we have here.