John Tavares continued to fend off Father Time as one of few bright spots in Maple Leafs season

The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered through one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, as they started the year with aspirations of the Stanley Cup and ended up in the bottom five of the NHL standings. There were not a lot of positives to take from a year that porous, but one of the lone bright spots was the consistency of the ageless wonder in John Tavares. No matter how bad things looked for the Leafs on and off the ice, the veteran forward could always be counted on to provide a bit of a spark, even if it ended up being in vain.

Not only was Tavares the only player on the roster to appear in all 82 games, but he also had another solid season from an offensive perspective. He reached the 30-goal mark for the eighth time in his career and was able to have at least 20 goals for the 16th time in his 17-year career. In addition, his 71 points were good enough for second on the team in scoring behind only William Nylander who was the only other player to surpass 70 points. Tavares is far from the guy he was during the peak of his powers, but this remains a highly effective player who should continue to be a factor well into the twilight of his career.

How the year went

While his offensive output cooled down a bit in the latter stages, Tavares could always be counted on to score at least a point every other game and never went more than four games without a point. His .866 PPG rate was the second on the team, once again behind only Nylander, which further solidifies that the ageless wonder remains integral to the success of the Leafs and their struggles this year were not because of Tavares.

Statistical profile

All stats at 5-on-5 via Natural Stat Trick (min. 1000 minutes TOI)

The 2025-25 season saw Tavares take the highest percentage of defensive zone starts of his Leafs tenure at 41.6%, and beginning his shifts in his own end a lot meant the possession numbers would take a hit. They must have taken this into account as his offensive zone starts percentage jumped up 64 compared to 58.4 the year prior. He also continued to get more usage on the power play as he maintained a similar level of production to what he put up the year prior. Sure, his plus/minus may have been the third lowest on the team, but then again, only three regulars finished in the positives and one missed the majority of the season due to injuries.

Tavares is far from the player he was in his prime, but he remains an integral component of their offensive output and him remaining a factor will go a long way in ensuring they can bounce back next season.

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