New York Islanders: Will John Tavares Win A Stanley Cup By 30?

Will the New York Islanders captain John Tavares win a Stanley Cup by his 30th birthday? Today, we look at the possibility of that happening.

Today is Sidney Crosby’s 30th birthday. He has three Stanley Cups in his impressive career so far. Over that span, the New York Islanders have not had similar success. My question today is will John Tavares, assuming he stays with the Isles, win a Stanley Cup before he turns 30?

When the Isles drafted J.T. with the first overall pick back in 2009 the ultimate plan was to build a good enough team around him, as the centerpiece, in order to win a championship. It’s been eight years, and so far the Isles have failed to reach the Conference Final let alone win a cup with Tavares.

If he’s to win a cup before age 30 it would have to be within the next three seasons as he turns 30 on September 20, 2020.

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How It Could Happen

The Isles have a deep prospect pool, I know you’re tired of hearing it but it’s true. They would need some of their prospects to start panning out and fast. The potential positive with this scenario is the amount of money set to come off the books in 2018.

Obviously, Tavares will need a new deal but they will lose the Josh Bailey, Jaroslav Halak, Nikolai Kulemin, Jason Chimera contracts. This frees up cap space in order to sign a more expensive forward.

Now, hopefully, Josh Ho-Sang, Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier and potentially a Michael Dal Colle or Kieffer Bellows can step in and perform right away with any additional “bigger name” free agent/trade acquisitions.

The idea is that the Isles will have a lot of young guys making virtually nothing and performing at a high level and the team can take advantage of the available cap room in other areas.

Oh yeah, Linus Soderstrom is going to have to turn into a capable starter in the league too for this scenario to happen.

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How It Doesn’t Happen

The Islanders have essentially been in the same situation for five years now. In 2012-2013 they made the playoffs as a bubble team. This past year they missed out on the playoffs by a single point.

So going into year six of “competing” the Isles, as we know, have one series win. So what makes you believe that the team will be able to turn it around in the next three years and go from a bubble team to a Stanley Cup Champion?

They’ve essentially been stagnant for years, the powers at be have gotten the team as far as they can yet, Garth Snow still isn’t on the hot seat.

Verdict

I’d have to go with no. It might be hard to admit, but I really can’t see this thing being turned around in time. Based on recent track history alone, there’s no way Garth does enough to make this team a true competitor.

Next: How Many Goals Do The Isles Need To Make The Playoffs?

I hope I’m wrong. I hope that in either of the next three seasons people are tweeting this article over to me reminding me how dumb I was to say such a thing. But, until then I’m going to let recent history and incompetency dictate my decision.