New York Islanders Offered John Tavares $88 million (Report)

John Tavares will speak with at least five other teams during his five-day speaking window. Before he did, the New York Islanders tabled their offer; which is reported at $88 million.

We knew that John Tavares was going to take the days leading up to his unrestricted free agency to speak with other teams. So when word came out that he officially told the New York Islanders, no one was surprised. Or no one should have been surprised.

The year of “will he, won’t he” has been building up to this moment. It would have been odd if he chose to refrain from seeing what other teams might offer him.

What we didn’t expect was for the New York Islanders to table an offer before Tavares goes on his speaking tour. According to a report, that offer was for $88 million.
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What Does That Mean?

According, to the Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, the New York Islanders tabled a deal with John Tavares, worth $88 million.

Don’t panic, this doesn’t mean that Tavares was given the deal and he rejected it. This offer was strictly a baseline deal. Before Tavares goes off to speak with other teams the Isles tabled a deal to show him what they thought he was worth.

With the eighth year that the Islanders can offer Tavares that would give him a nice round AAV of $11 million per year. Although Arthur Staple seems to be refuting this.

There were also reports on Saturday that the Islanders had made an offer of eight years and $88 million, though that may not be accurate. Sources said that Isles principal owner Scott Malkin and then-GM Garth Snow made an offer last winter, an eight-year, $80 million offer that was a bit of a placeholder — Tavares is aiming far higher than $10 million per.

Staple believes that when all is said and done, Tavares’ deal, whether with the Islanders or not might be $12 million per year.

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It’s going to be an interesting next few days as details of the bid from all five teams inevitably emerge. By the end of it, hopefully, Tavares is still an Islander.