Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.1

www.afootinthecrease.com

John Tavares is getting upset and he and his agent Brian Deasley are wondering why nobody seems to care. After coming off a tremendous season with the Oshawa Generals in which he was named the CHL’s most valuable player and broke Wayne Gretzky’s goal scoring mark as a 16 year old with 72 goals, Tavares wants to be deemed eligible for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft despite missing the cut off day by five days. See ever since he became the first 15 year old to be allowed into the CHL via an exceptional player clause, Tavares seems to have caught the “I’m better than everyone else” syndrome and thinks the rules should be different for him.

Recently while competing for Team Canada at the Canada-Russia eight game super series, Tavares decided to turn the talk away from “team” and focus it on himself, something that I’m sure left coach Brent Sutter less than amused. ''Being drafted with a lot of these guys into the CHL and seeing them moving on, learning and growing and getting experience with NHL teams and pro teams, it's tough on me sometimes to watch and wait,” Tavares said. Well there’s a life lesson most kids his age learn through one way or another: sometimes life is tough and doesn’t go your way. I guess he didn’t think ahead to this scenario when he was so eager to play in the OHL two years ago. Either that or he was sure the NHL would cave on their stance as well.

His play at the Super Series certainly has not been at the level that would force the NHL to consider this request more seriously. In fact, he’s looked rather ordinary scoring only once in seven games. Alex Ovechkin missed being eligible for the 2003 draft by only two days but things seem to have worked out alright for him. Stop whining and expecting special treatment Mr. Tavares. Wait your turn just like everybody else before you has done and set yourself apart once you reach the big leagues. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.