New York Islanders: John Tavares Decided on Toronto Before July 1

Toronto media has no idea why New York Islanders fans are mad at John Tavares, but then state that Tavares decided on the Toronto Maple Leafs before July 1.

As New York Islanders fans its nothing new to be dismissed by the hockey establishment. Just this past week two power rankings by writers from both TSN and Yahoo completely dismissed the Islanders success this season.

The Athletic and NHL.com’s Scott Cullen released a power ranking that had the New York Islanders ranked eleventh. Even though the Isles had a better record than five other teams, and had gone 6-2-2 in their last ten games leading up to that power ranking. Yahoo’s Ryan Lambert did the exact same thing, ranking the Isles eleventh for…reasons.

We’re used to that type of dismissiveness. And then TSN’s Darren Dreger, one of the most respected hockey insiders out there, decided, for some reason, to come to Tavares’ aid.

Confirmation

In speaking to TSN’s Toronto 1050 Dreger shared what he believed New York Islanders fans needed to hear, and how New York Islanders fans need to feel about Tavares leaving in free agency:

"John Tavares was as loyal a New York Islander as you’re ever going to find. He poured his heart and soul into that organization. And I don’t know, maybe Garth Snow didn’t do enough to surround John Tavares with better players to give that fan base legitimately something to cheer for in terms of a true Stanley Cup contender. If they want to piss and moan now, who cares? Who cares? -Darren Dreger"

(I bolded that last part for dramatic emphasis)

I don’t understand why Darren Dreger felt he needed to come to John Tavares’ defence. What in the world made him think he can tell another fan base how they should feel about their superstar player leaving in free agency after nine years?

Of course, five minutes after this made the rounds on social media, Dreger walked it back by saying fans have the right to their own opinion. That’s a quick turnaround from “quit pissing and moaning about Tavares” to “hey you do you”.

It’s clear that Dregger has no idea what the Islanders fan base is feeling in regards to Tavares’ departure. We were reassured for months, by Tavares himself, that he’d be staying, that he wanted to be with the Islanders. But he left anyway. That’s why we’re mad.

And then Dreger drops this undermining and delusional factoid. Tavares knew he wanted to be a Leaf before July 1.

"Even though Tavares didn’t make his final decision until July 1, everyone tightly involved in the process knew he was going to the Maple Leafs. -Darren Dreger"

That makes the situation even worse! You wonder why Islanders fans are mad, Darren? Because of this. Because we feel that Tavares was disingenuous to the New York Islanders and their fans the entire time. And you just confirmed it, Darren.

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It’s incredible how short-sighted an NHL insider like Darren Dreger can be with respect to the Tavares situation.