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Water is wet. The sky is blue and Garth Snow will begin negotiations with John Tavares next July 1.
Snow was a guest on SiriusXM NHL Network with Scott Laughlin and Steve Kouleas yesterday and was asked about Tavares.
Well, when we drafted John first overall, we knew we were getting a special person and a special player. We envision him wearing a New York Islanders jersey his entire career. He's got two years left on his contract. We'll reach out to him next summer and try to get an extension done. The conversations I have with John, those obviously those will remain private. But we know we have a special player, a franchise player, that loves playing for the Islanders, he loves living [on] Long Island, and being in the metropolitan area."
Obviously this is not breaking news. Tavares is the centerpiece of the franchise. The two-time Hart nominee has scored 207 goals in 510 games. The captain carried the team to their first series win since 1993.
The Islanders also catch a break with Steven Stamkos staying in Tampa. Stamkos signed a 8-year deal with a $8.5M AAV. Snow should have that offer prepared to hand to Tavares next July 1. The team can certainly afford to pay Tavares. They will have Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, Josh Bailey, Jason Chimera, Thomas Hickey and Jaroslav Halak coming off the books in two years.
This has to get done before training camp starts in 2017.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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