The vitriol finally came down, and it came in abundance. And none of it was going to surprise John Tavares. The former Islanders captain, who left as a free agent to join his hometown Maple Leafs, returned to raucous hate in his first game back at the Coliseum on Thursday night.
“Obviously I don’t expect it to be very welcoming when I return,” Tavares said just hours before the game in front of an unusually large throng of reporters and cameras. “Just going to go out there and play the best I can and worry about what I can control.”
The fans had already started piling up in the parking lot in the early afternoon, with Tavares jerseys being treated unnaturally. In what then had to be the most well-attended pregame warm-ups of all time, the fans began letting Tavares have it when he hit the ice and every time he got near one of the boards that were lined with derogatory signs.
Then the chants started — first an anatomical description of what they think of his character, then the sing-song chant of, “We don’t need you!” from the fans whose Islanders had shocked everyone and were in first place in the Metropolitan Division. As Tavares headed off, a fan threw a jersey at him and just missed.
It only got worse as all the 13,917 fans found their seats. The game started with chants of “J.T. sucks!,” followed by more anatomy, and eventually, “You’re a liar!” He was booed vehemently every time he touched the ice, and worse every time he touched the puck.
Then came the video tribute at the first television timeout, coming with 10:01 remaining in the first period. The video produced by the Islanders went on for about a minute, with the sound hardly audible over the screaming fans. There were highlights of him scoring game-winning goals — including the one that won the franchise its only playoff series since 1993, the overtime tally in Game 6 against the Panthers in 2016.
Both teams were paying attention, and a lot of players tapped their sticks in appreciation. Tavares was on the ice, and he raised his stick in acknowledgment.
Of course, Tavares knew what was coming because he knew the passion of this fan base for the past nine years, since the club took him with the No. 1-overall pick in the 2009 draft.
“It meant the world to me,” Tavares said of his time with the Islanders. “I always said during my time here — and still say it — it’s a great place to play hockey. I took a lot of pride in playing here, in being an Islander and being a captain and trying to do everything I can to help to help this team get to where we wanted to get to. Unfortunately, we didn’t accomplish that.”
Tavares left to sign a free-agent deal with Toronto, the seven-year, $77 million contract representing a betrayal to so many Islanders fans who took to heart all of his proclamations about wanting to stay with the Isles.
“As I’ve said, it’s probably the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my life,” Tavares said. “Obviously, it took me some time to do it because of how difficult it was. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do until I made the decision.”In most situations with a pending unrestricted free agent, the threat of a trade looms without contract talks at least getting close. But majority owner Scott Malkin gave the directive not to trade Tavares, so he was able to leave on July 1 with the club getting nothing in return.
After so many months of Tavares reiterating his dedication to the organization — albeit in his cliche-riddled way of expressing himself — it was a tough pill for the fans to swallow.
“Of course there are a lot of emotions that go through you. At the same time, I can only control what I can control,” Tavares said. “I tried to be open and honest with my decision. At the end of the day, it is what it is. I just go out there and play hockey and try to help the Maple Leafs.”