John Tavares has been very valuable for the Maple Leafs

Credit: Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff

Toronto Maple Leafs‘ forward John Tavares continues to prove he’s not slowing down anytime soon.

Tavares scored a natural hat-trick on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres, taking his production to 15 goals and 28 points through his first 30 games this season. With the Maple Leafs dealing with a ton of injuries to their forward group, including missing Auston Matthews for nine games, Tavares continues to push the pace up front for the Maple Leafs.

From signing a seven-year mega-deal in the summer of 2018, to being named captain, to then passing the ‘C’ on to Matthews this past summer, Tavares has been through it all throughout his six-plus years in Toronto. He continues to go about his business as a true professional, and with being a pending unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason, it’s a big year for the Oakville, ON native.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli discussed Tavares’ impact on the Maple Leafs this season.

Yaremchuk: My weekend warrior, Frank, is John Tavares, who in a contract year, is putting together, I wouldn’t call it an under-the-radar performance because nothing in Toronto is ever under the radar, but this is a guy now who is on pace for 40 goals. Almost a point-per-game this season, he gets the hat trick last night against Buffalo.

We’ve talked about how Mitch Marner stepped up with Auston Matthews absence, John Tavares is stepping up just as much. In a contract year, this is quite something from John Tavares, a nice bounce back.

Seravalli: So, what would you pay John Tavares?

Yaremchuk: I think you’ve even talked about this before, there has to be some amount of a home-town discount after the deal he had, right? Like, is a Joe Pavelski-esq three year x $6-million AAV deal, is that too much?

Seravalli: No, not too much, but yeah, I’d be trying to push the envelope there. Three years x $5.5 million AAV? Or, be in a spot where maybe you could do a longer-term deal that includes some deferred money that pushes the AAV down.

For more on the Maple Leafs’ start, the Blues’ hot streak, and all the very latest from around the NHL, watch the full episode below.