Tavares: 4-year extension with Leafs ‘the best fit’
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Kristen Shilton
John Tavares said he didn’t want to leave Toronto. And that wasn’t lip service.
The Maple Leafs announced a four-year contract extension for Tavares on Friday, carrying an AAV of $4.38 million. Tavares was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 but opted out of exploring his options by taking less to stick with the Leafs.
“Obviously left some money out there,” Tavares admitted on a media conference call Friday. “But I’ve done pretty well. I’m still doing pretty well. And I get to play for an amazing club in a great city, the place where I’m from, and for a team that’s got a real opportunity to win. It’s a real strong hockey team and there’s a tremendous amount of belief.”
The center is coming off one of his most productive regular seasons, collecting 38 goals and 74 points in 75 games. It was the second time in three years Tavares had eclipsed the 30-goal mark, while carrying over 18 minutes TOI per game and contributing to the top power-play unit. He is also just six goals away from 500 in his career, a mark achieved by only 48 NHL players to date. That consistent success is no accident, either. Tavares’ dedication to improvement — whether through on-ice work or off-ice recovery — has allowed him to remain an upper-echelon player worth investing in — by the only team he cared to suit up for.
“It never really got to the point where I had to really look at other [choices] and consider it,” Tavares said. “I look over the last few years and my belief is I can continue to play at a very high level, to play elite hockey and be a difference-maker and contribute to a lot of areas. I felt like my fit and obviously the comfort playing here for so long and where I’m at in my role and with the team, it just made so much sense and was the best fit.”
Tavares, 34, originally signed with the Leafs as a free agent on July 1, 2018. He captained the team from 2019 to 2024 before ceding the role to Auston Matthews. That’s another example of Tavares’ willingness to maintain his relationship with Toronto, which also extends to family life.
A native of the Toronto area, Tavares has put down roots with his three kids over the past several years and security ultimately outweighed any other factors.
“We would all agree there is going to be an opportunity for John to make a lot more money elsewhere,” GM Brad Treliving said. “And [Tavares’] focus was staying here and so his work and his commitment and his desire, it sort of steered the process on this negotiation.”
Treliving noted that given Tavares’ age, the four-year pact that has just dried could appear too long. It was a risk the Leafs were willing to take.
“We all expect aging curves to kick in at some point,” Treliving said. “John’s been able to defy it, and it’s a credit to the way he looks after himself, the commitment he has to his craft, his body. His preparation is second to none. So we expect John to be a really good player moving forward.”
Keeping Tavares in the fold was a key item on the Leafs’ offseason to-do list. Toronto is unlikely to re-sign pending UFA Mitch Marner to a contract extension, which will impact its top-six forward depth. Retaining Tavares as the team’s No. 2 center behind Matthews will help stabilize the Leafs up front.
That’s critical if Toronto expects to make another run at the postseason this year. The Leafs have qualified for the playoffs in every full season since Tavares arrived but have advanced past the first round only twice. This year they got further than ever, falling in Game 7 of a second-round series against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
It was another heartbreaking finish for Tavares and the Leafs. And while they haven’t made that elusive breakthrough yet back to a championship stage — and the disappointment continues to take a toll — Tavares is convinced the Leafs can get there.
“It only gets harder,” he said of falling short in the playoffs. “I think because my runway gets shorter and shorter. My belief in my ability is stronger than ever, but I’m clearly not on the front nine [of my career], but the back nine, and I am aware and realistic of that. The opportunities get fewer and fewer for a player that’s in my situation. It only gets more difficult as every opportunity passes and you’re not the last one standing.”
Tavares credited first-year head coach Craig Berube with establishing a new mentality for the club that served them well last season and provides a foundation to build on moving forward. The “different philosophy” suggests Toronto can head in a new direction that will, in theory, produce fresh results.
Only time will tell if Tavares was right to put his faith in the Leafs’ potential.
“There are really good signs for our team, our club,” Tavares said. “All our guys, just talking to a number of them since the end of the season, [there’s a sense of] just how badly we want to find our way and do something special here in Toronto that hasn’t been done here in a long time.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Chase Elliott somehow stole Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, where he drove from eighth to the checkered flag during a two-lap overtime sprint to earn a spot in the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs.
It was a wild ending to a race that probably should have been won by Denny Hamlin, who dominated and led 159 laps until a bevy of late issues denied him his chance at career win No. 60 for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The race had a slew of late cautions — Hamlin dropped from the lead to seventh on a slow pit stop — that put Bubba Wallace in position to win the race. A red-flag stoppage for Zane Smith flipping his car set up the final overtime restart and Wallace was holding tight in a door-to-door battle with Christopher Bell for the victory.
Then Hamlin came from nowhere to catch Wallace, who drives for the team Hamlin co-owns with Michael Jordan, and Wallace scraped the wall as he tried to hold off his boss. That’s when Elliott suddenly entered the frame and smashed Hamlin in the door to get past him for his second win of the season.
“What a crazy finish. Hope you all enjoyed that. I certainly did,” NASCAR’s most popular driver told the crowd after collecting the checkered flag.
Elliott joins Ryan Blaney as the two drivers locked into the third round of the playoffs. The field will be cut from 12 drivers to eight after next week’s race in Concord, North Carolina and Elliott said once he got in position for the victory, he wasn’t giving up.
“I wasn’t going to lift, so I didn’t know what was going to happen. I figured at the end of the day, it was what it was at that point,” Elliott said. “Wherever I ended up, I ended up. At that point, we were all committed. Really cool just to be eighth on the restart and somehow win on a green-and-white checkered. Pretty neat.”
Hamlin finished second and was clearly dejected by the defeat. The three-time Daytona 500 winner is considered the greatest driver to never win a Cup title and needed the victory to lock up his spot in the next round of the playoffs. He also has a 60th Cup win set as a major career goal and is stuck on 59 victories.
He drove the final 50-plus laps with his power steering on the fritz.
“Just super disappointing. I wanted it bad. It would have been 60 for me,” Hamlin said. “Obviously got really, really tight with [Wallace], and it just got real tight and we let [Elliott] win.
“Man, I wanted it for my dad. I wanted it for everybody. Just wanted it a little too hard.”
Hamlin was followed his JGR teammates Bell and Chase Briscoe, who were third and fourth.
Wallace wound up fifth and even though the victory would have moved him deeper into the playoffs than he’s ever been in his career, he was satisfied considering how poorly his car was running earlier in the race. He wasn’t even upset with Hamlin, and he shook hands with his boss on pit road.
“To even have a shot at the win with the way we started … you could have fooled me. We were not good,” Wallace said. “Two years ago I’d probably say something dumb [about Hamlin]. He’s a dumbass for that move. I don’t care if he’s my boss or not. But we’re going for the win. I hate that we gave it to Chevrolet there.”
Elliott, in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, was the only non-Toyota driver in the top five.
Next up is a playoff elimination race at the hybrid oval/road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Kyle Larson won a year ago. The playoff field will be cut from 12 drivers to eight following next Sunday’s race.
The four drivers in danger of playoff elimination headed into that race are Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Reddick and Wallace.
“Obviously there’s only one thing we can do at Charlotte (win), and that’s what we’ll be focused on,” Reddick said.
Rodney Childers, who guided Kevin Harvick to the 2014 Cup Series championship, has finally landed a new job after he was let go as crew chief at Spire Motorsports in April.
Childers will be the crew chief at JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series for the No. 1 Chevrolet, which will be split between Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch. It will be Childers’ first time as an Xfinity Series crew chief.
“Rodney’s résumé and career speak for themselves,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of JR Motorsports. “Rodney and I grew up together and have known each other since we were kids. That’s a relationship that has always been close and has remained close to this day. We’ve always had interest in working together in motorsports, and I’m thankful that this opportunity came about and we could bring him into the JRM family.”
Childers worked with Justin Haley at Spire, but the team parted ways with him when both driver and crew chief said the relationship wasn’t working.
Childers won 40 races and a Cup title at Stewart-Haas Racing with Harvick then worked with Josh Berry in 2024 when Harvick retired. That was the final year Stewart-Haas Racing existed.
Also on Saturday, NASCAR confirmed it has parted ways with race director Jusan Hamilton with six races remaining in the season. He is no longer listed as an employee at NASCAR, where his official title was managing director for competition operations.
Hamilton first joined NASCAR as an intern in 2012 and returned in 2016 under various roles. He oversaw NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, pit crew development and the pro iRacing NASCAR divisions as well as serving as a race director.
Hamilton was instrumental in setting both the annual schedule and the schedule for each race weekend. His first event as race director was in 2018 at Pocono Raceway. In 2022, Hamilton became the first Black race director to officiate the Daytona 500.
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