John Tavares

John Tavares (born September 20, 1990) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward and alternate captain for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL. He was picked first overall by the New York Islanders in the 2009 NHL entry draft, spent nine seasons with them, and served as their captain for five of those. He later captained the Maple Leafs from 2019 to 2024. Before turning pro, Tavares played major junior hockey for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), then was traded to the London Knights alongside Michael Del Zotto at the 2009 OHL trade deadline.

He entered the OHL at age 14 after being granted exceptional player status, which allowed the Generals to draft him as an underage player in 2005. He was named the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Rookie of the Year in 2006 and CHL Player of the Year in 2007. By the end of his major junior and OHL career, he held the league record for most goals (215) and ranked sixth in points (433).

There were unsuccessful efforts to change NHL draft rules so Tavares could enter the 2008 draft, and to let him play in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a 17-year-old in 2007. Both the NHL Central Scouting Bureau and International Scouting Services ranked him as the top prospect for the 2009 draft. Tavares has represented Canada at five IIHF-sanctioned events, including the 2010 and 2011 World Championships. At the under-20 level, he won gold at the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Championships, and was named MVP of the 2009 tournament after scoring eight goals and 15 points in six games.

He also played in the 2006 IIHF World U18 Championships but did not medal. Additionally, he played for Team Ontario at the 2006 World U-17 Hockey Challenge and the 2007 Super Series. On January 7, 2014, he was named to Canada’s 2014 Olympic hockey team and won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics, though an injury kept him out of the final two games.

Tavares was born in Mississauga, Ontario, to Barbara and Joe Tavares, of Polish and Portuguese descent, respectively. His maternal grandparents, Bolesław and Josephine Kowal, immigrated from Poland to Sudbury, Ontario, and his paternal grandparents, Manuel and Dorotea Tavares, immigrated from Portugal to Toronto. When he was very young, his family moved to Oakville, Ontario, where he started playing minor hockey with the Minor Oaks Hockey Association.

He also played soccer and lacrosse, and his fierce competitiveness often led to fights with other players. He excelled at lacrosse, following his uncle John Tavares, the all-time scoring leader in the National Lacrosse League (NLL), and worked as a ball boy for his uncle’s NLL team, the Buffalo Bandits. The younger Tavares credits his uncle with teaching him the importance of being unselfish, saying that what he learned from following him with the Bandits made him a better person and hockey player.

Skills from lacrosse—like spinning off checks and battling in traffic—transferred to ice hockey and improved his goal-scoring ability.

In Oakville, Tavares attended St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School. He lived five minutes from Sam Gagner, who later played over 1,000 NHL games, and they quickly became friends. Gagner’s father, former NHL player Dave Gagner, built a backyard ice rink where Tavares spent much of his time practicing. In the OHL, he focused on his education, earning honours and the Oshawa Generals’ Scholastic Player of the Year award in 2007–08.

He also volunteers with the Special Olympics. At age seven, his parents moved him up one age group to play with older kids. He then played for the Mississauga Braves of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL), and the next season joined the Mississauga Senators, winning the GTHL minor atom championship in 1999–2000. He later moved to the Toronto Marlboros, where he was teammates with Sam Gagner during the 2003–04 season, scoring 95 goals and 187 points in 90 games to lead the bantam team to the 2004 Bantam AAA Provincial Championship, beating Drew Doughty and the London Jr. Knights 5–0.

Tavares scored one goal in that game and was named tournament top forward. The next season, with the Marlboros’ minor midget team, he recorded 91 goals and 158 points in 72 games, sharing the Buck Houle Award with Bryan Cameron for outstanding on-ice performance, leadership, and loyalty. That season, he also played 16 games for the Milton Icehawks of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League (OPJHL), scoring 11 goals and 23 points, making his debut at age 13—one of the youngest players ever to play junior hockey.

Tavares petitioned to play major junior in the OHL in spring 2005. Since OHL rules didn’t allow players under 15 to be drafted, the league introduced an exception.