#because we start chapter 8 immediately on july 1st basically

[quaranmine]

this is a fun night for firewatch au because it is, perhaps, the only time in the writing of the entire fanfic where the real-life calendar date coincides exactly or nearly exactly with the in-story date!

[sawickies]

okay, newish hockey fan who doesn’t really follow isles/leafs/etc.: what do you mean by “the way” Tavares left? would you be willing to explain what was so bad about it?

Man, okay.

So, last season his contract was expiring. Leading up to the expiration of a contract, the team a player is already signed with has a window of opportunity to sign them to an 8 year contract instead of a 7 year. The deadline for that happening was midnight on July 1st.

Throughout the season when asked about the contract, Tavares maintained that he wanted to be an islander for his entire career, that he loved playing on Long Island, that he hadn’t considered playing anywhere else. At the trade deadline, the last chance for the islanders to trade Tavares for other assets, he reportedly asked the GM not to trade him, once again maintaining that he planned to sign with the Islanders & be an islander for the rest of his career.

When the week-long window before the July 1st deadline rolled around, he met with other teams to see what was out there, as was his right & basically is what was expected. He reportedly met with the Bruins, Leafs, and Sharks, in addition to hearing a pitch by the Islanders management—management that had just been revamped completely in the hopes of assuaging any lingering doubts Tavares had about staying. They had gotten Lou Lamoriello as the new GM, who had won 3 cups with the devils, was already inducted into the hall of fame, and had been key in Toronto’s rebuild. They also got Barry Trotz, who brought a crew of seasoned NHL coaches with him, and had just won the cup with Washington. This was a complete 180 from the previous mismanagement the team was under, and was prompted in large part by a movement by the fans calling for the firing of now-former GM Garth Snow.

—>I’ll address the mismanagement under Snow a little later.

So Tavares had his meetings and the week began to tick by. There was complete silence on all sides, for the entire week. Nobody heard anything until July 1st, when it was announced that he’d accepted the Maple Leafs deal. It came out shortly after that he didn’t share his decision with the Islanders until late the night before (I believe the report was 9pm but I don’t remember exactly).

He tweeted the photo of himself in leafs bedsheets with the caption “not every day you get to live a childhood dream” immediately after the announcement.

He maintained that it was a difficult decision for him (the reason for the late notice) and that he truly made the decision at the last minute after wrestling seriously with his choices.

This turned out to be less than true, as his agent subsequently said that he knew as early as the Thursday night before the deadline that he wanted to sign with Toronto. More recently it’s been reported that people close to him knew for a while that he wanted to go to Toronto. As further corroboration to this, his fiancée apparently took a job in Toronto well before the end of the season.

As a side note regarding this, at the point that he told the Isles no it was known that the Bruins were out of the running. The Sharks, however, were strung along until the end along with the Islanders, which is why sharks fans now boo Tavares as well—he basically held them hostage during a key negotiation period where they could have been pursuing other pieces. So, yeah. We’re not the only ones that don’t think he handled it the best.

tl;dr: he repeatedly told management and fans that he wanted to be an islander forever/resign with them long term, then turned around and signed with Toronto after handicapping them by not telling his decision until the last minute, and additionally seems to have lied about wanting to stay on the island in the first place.

I put that tl;dr there, because now I’m going to get into the emotional side of this, as I see it. I get that people aren’t going to be understanding, they’re going to continue to shit on isles fans no matter what I say, but I’ve been trying to find a way to articulate all the things I’ve been feeling as an islanders fan, as a fan whose second favorite team has been the leafs for as long as I’ve been a hockey fan, since I got the notification on July 1st that it was official. I think after last night I finally have the clarity to do that.

We know the management for his time here was terrible. God, do we know it. We know the other pieces on the team were lackluster, that they never got the pieces he deserved to have for his talent. We put up billboards calling for Snow to be fired for fucks sake (and y’all made fun of that, too). We demanded trades we never got. We dealt with a stubborn coach that loved to play grizzly veterans who couldn’t skate worth a damn over young pieces that could have actually helped make a difference. WE. We. We thought we were all in it together, with JT, and that now that things were finally turning around we could reap the rewards together. Was it naive? Absolutely. At the end of the day, sports is a business like anything else, and any perceived loyalty the players have to fans or an organization is there to comfort fans, to make them feel like they’re a part of something, and is not always genuine. This is proof of that.

But isn’t that the way fans of sports are supposed to feel? That you’re in it together with your team? That no matter what happens, you’ll get through it together? Win lose or draw, you’re watching the game anyway because you love the team, you love the players, and they love you because you support them. Isn’t that the way it works?

So why are people so surprised that we’re upset? Can you fans of other teams really look me in the eye and say that if your star player, who swore up and down until the moment he signed with another team that he wanted to be the captain of your team for his entire career, can you really tell me you wouldn’t be upset? Wouldn’t be hurt? Wouldn’t feel betrayed?

I don’t care what people say, we supported him through thick and thin while he was here. He gave his everything to us, and one day he’ll get what’s due to him for that. He deserves it. But the wound is raw. We’re trying to move on, and we are! The islanders are in first place in the metro, a point behind the leafs, a million miles away from where everyone thought we’d be this season. On days when we’re not playing John Tavares’ Maple Leafs, our incredible team is what we’re focused on.

But last night? Last night was catharsis. Last night was 13,000 Islanders fans coming home and coming together and supporting each other through their pain. He should have known what was coming, he’s had enough experience with fans at the barn to know what was coming.

I’d bet that’s the last time it’s that wild. No doubt there’ll still be boos and we don’t need yous in the future, but that much energy? That much hurt? We needed to get it out of our systems, release the pressure that’s been building since July 1st. If you think that makes us assholes, that’s your right, but it’s also our right as fans to get closure on an era of our team that turned out to be noting but empty promises & pain. The Tavares chapter on Long Island is officially over. I’m sure everyone on both sides is relieved.

Finally, if you have any doubt that the animosity we hold toward JT is born from anything other than the passionate love we had for him while he was here, consider this: at the end of the game, a few sections of fans tried to get a chant going that went “thanks for leaving”. Every other chant started that night gained momentum and eventually took over the entire coliseum. That one? That one petered out and faded, barely a dull roar by comparison. In our hearts, in my heart of fucking hearts, I wish more than anything he was here with us to share in this amazing success with the team that drafted him, that loved him so passionately for so long. I’m crying right now, for the first time since July 1st, thinking about how amazing it would be if we had found this success while he was still our captain. Maybe it would have been enough to get him to stay, even if our fans and our love for him wasn’t.