ELMONT, N.Y. — Cal Clutterbuck has been friends with John Tavares for almost 20 years. “Since I used to drive him to school,” Clutterbuck said of the days when the two were teammates in Oshawa, Ontario, and Tavares was an exempted, 14-year-old prodigy playing in the OHL.
So of course you could ask Clutterbuck, an Islander for the past decade, whether he thinks it’s a little much that Islanders fans still boo Tavares every time he touches the puck — heck, every time he steps on the ice — at UBS Arena nearly six years since the former Isles captain spurned the Island for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“No!” Clutterbuck said, laughing. “Are you joking? It’s New York sports. They can hold a grudge.”
Though the rest of the hockey world wags a finger and shakes a head at these wacky Isles fans for hanging on to a player choosing one team over another in free agency — something that happens every summer — Islanders fans still take it personally that Tavares, the No. 1 pick who worked harder than anyone to bring this franchise out of the wilderness for nine seasons, made the difficult decision to leave for Toronto five summers ago.
They still take it personally even after Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz used Tavares’ spurning as fuel for the best three-year Isles run since the Dynasty days, going to back-to-back semifinals during the pandemic seasons. Even after the Leafs took until last spring to finally win a playoff series with Tavares, only to fall 4-1 in the next round. After all of it, UBS Arena still rings with boos when No. 91 in white and blue steps on the ice for his yearly visit.
The boo birds are out for John Tavares at UBS Arena#LeafsForever | #Isles pic.twitter.com/11nGAwV6lJ
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 12, 2023
Is it ridiculous? Maybe. Is sports ridiculous? Definitely. If we’ve learned anything about hockey fans, especially the New York variety, it’s that they have long memories. Booing Tavares is the Isles’ “Potvin Sucks,” the chant that’s echoed through Madison Square Garden for 40 years now. The origin of that chant traces back to an unfortunate injury between rivals — Denis Potvin’s hit that broke Ulf Nilsson’s ankle in 1979 — and is probably something that less than half of Rangers fans know before they whistle along with that chant.
Most of the Islanders fans at UBS remember why they’re booing Tavares. And when the collective eye-rolling and tut-tutting of hockey media, especially the ones based in Toronto, fire up the tweets or the columns about the lack of class from these fans — well, good luck trying to tell anyone, from toddlers to hockey fans, how they should behave and feel.
The booing is a bit silly, sure. So is the condescension from fans of other teams telling their brethren how to be a fan. When the Jets returned to Winnipeg, the home crowd decided to boo a random good player on the visiting team — it was Tavares from the Islanders, by the way — and it was kind of dumb, but they had fun. These Islander fans are having fun, venting their long-ago, probably long-used-up frustration over Tavares leaving and rekindling it every time he shows up.
There was real vitriol back in February of 2019, when Tavares made his first trip back. Plenty of No. 91 jerseys with “TRAITOR” taped over the nameplate. A couple plastic snakes tossed on the ice. Lusty boos every second of that night, a cathartic 6-1 win that continued a vengeful Isles season. Lots of pundits called the Isles fans classless. Lots of Isles fans called the pundits unprintable things. Then-Toronto mayor John Tory declared a John Tavares Day soon after, which only made the situation more ridiculous.
Tavares has scored three goals in his six games on the Island with the Leafs, including one on Monday to get Toronto off the mat down 3-1. He got point No. 1,000 on Morgan Rielly’s tying goal with 6.4 seconds left, drawing the entire bench onto the ice as the Isles reeled from yet another late blown lead.
He also got an acknowledgment on the UBS Arena scoreboard for 1,000 points, some cheers (mostly from Leafs fans in attendance) and a few sticks clapped on the boards from the home side.
“Listen, all the nonsense aside, he’s a good player and he has been for a long, long time,” Clutterbuck said. “I’m happy for him. It’s an amazing milestone and I’m just proud of him.”
There isn’t always just one emotion wrapped up in a boo. Isles fans certainly remember what Tavares did for them for nine years. They can also remember what he did in the summer of 2018, after asking not to be traded during the lottery-bound season prior and then-GM Garth Snow and owner Scott Malkin honoring that request. Tavares agonized over the decision to leave but he still left. The Islanders have had sand kicked in their faces for a long while and that was just one more bad day at the beach.
There’s no arguing who’s had a better five years since and it isn’t the Leafs. Perhaps that’s why the Toronto media and fans puzzle so much over the boos; the Leafs got the guy and the Islanders got some glory. Isn’t that a fair enough trade?
But to be a fan means you’re going to boo. For Isles fans, for now and maybe for a while longer, Tavares is the guy. You don’t have to understand it but it’s time to accept it.
“If it gives them a little justice,” Clutterbuck said, “so be it.”
Lots of Leafs fans are also Blue Jays fans, I hear. The Jays just lost out on a chase for a big-time free agent, which stings.
But maybe they’ll understand why Shohei Ohtani chose the Dodgers and Los Angeles. And they’ll respect his choice and support him when he comes to Rogers Centre next season and in seasons to come.
Right?
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)