First, a short preamble. In the past, whenever an NHL superstar such as John Tavares was testing the free agent waters, I was either reporting the story, or in later years, as a columnist, analyzing its impact.



But this year, just because we have such fully staffed bureaus in New York, Toronto and anywhere else where Tavares might have landed, I was actually watching the story unfold mostly from the sidelines – which felt different and a little weird, but also brought a fresh arms-length perspective to the process. Aside from making a little internal bet with myself – I traded both of his Islanders linemates, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey, at the deadline in Pierre LeBrun’s fantasy pool just in case Tavares did move on — I found myself less focused on the hockey side and more on the personal side of the decision.



We all filter what happens outside of our lives through our internal experiences and biases – and what Tavares was going through...