Could John Tavares' Wild Scoring Binge Make Life Difficult For Maple Leafs in Contract Talks?

Wasn't John Tavares, going into his age-35 season next year, supposed to be entering the downside of his career? It's safe to say, at this point, that Tavares's insane scoring binge of late could make life difficult for the Toronto Maple Leafs when they finally sit down for the final numbers on contract talks on an extension for the pending UFA.

His recent incredible run that featured 8 goals and 12 points in a 5-game stretch before Sunday night's game has brought Tavares right back to being a point-per-game player after taking just one season off (that still featured 29 goals and 65 points last year). And it’s also cost the Maple Leafs a lot of money.

Should they have ponied up and just signed him to an extension earlier in the season, one that was expected to have been in the $7 million AAV range, for perhaps three years. That price tag undoubtedly gone up now for a couple of major reasons.

Totally get why the Leafs would wait but I will say, whatever discount number was available in September has now gone up, not just because of Tavares’ strong season but also because of the escalating cap numbers announced by the NHL. https://t.co/FUZ81Lpxbp
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 30, 2025

As noted by insider Pierre LeBrun, if a hometown discount could have been had back before the season started, that's out the window now, not only because of Tavares's wildly successful season, but also because the rapidly escalating salary cap numbers have been revealed.

It feels like there's no way the Leafs can get JT now for less than $8M per year, and who knows how much higher it could go.

The 34-year-old now has 35 goals and 69 points in 67 games with a +7 rating. In his seven seasons with his childhood favourite team, he now has 219 goals and 488 points in 507 games. He definitely wants to finish his career in Toronto, so it'll be interesting to see if he's still willing to give some sort of 'hometown discount.'