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John Tavares-Legend Series
John Tavares
The best player of his Era
Written by Rad Joseph
John "JT” Tavares is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, perhaps the absolute greatest of his era. He played with superior talent, deep passion and incredible intelligence. His talent helped make his team mates better players. John’s individual and team successes are evidence of his accomplishments.
His lacrosse career as a player was more than a quarter of a century. He played Junior “B” and Junior “A” for the Mississauga Tomahawks. Tavares played Senior “A” lacrosse in both the Western Lacrosse Association and the Ontario Major Series League for various teams including the Vancouver Burrards, Brampton Excelsiors, Six Nations Chiefs, Akwesasne Thunder, Victoria Shamrocks, St. Regis Indians, and Peterborough Lakers.
John Tavares was on seven Mann Cup championship teams (1992 and 1993 with Brampton; 1994, 1995, 1996 with Six Nations; 2002 with Victoria and 2012 with Peterborough.
His career saw him the recipient of numerous individual awards including top scorer in the MSL eight times and the MSL Most Valuable Player three times. In 1992, 1993 and 1996, John Tavares won the Mike Kelley Memorial Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the Mann Cup.
John Tavares was a scoring machine at all levels of lacrosse. At Junior “B”, in 85 games, John scored 398 goals along with 172 assists for a total of 570 points. In Junior “A”, in 48 games, Tavares scored 150 goals, 135 assists for 285 total points. His numbers in Senior “A” were 1193 goals and 600 assists for a total of 1793 points in 601 games.
John Tavares - Buffalo Bandits of the NLL
A left-handed shot who stood 5’11” and weighing 185 pounds, Tavares played his entire twenty-four seasons in the National Lacrosse League with the Buffalo Bandits, John Tavares holds records as the all-time leading scorer in the NLL netting 306 goals, 815 assists and total of 1091 points. Including playoff games, Tavares played 344 games, scored 899 goals, 1050 assists for NLL career points of 1949. Three times he won the NLL MVP – 1994, 2000 and 2001. He has been a First-Team All-Star 14 times (1993-2001, 2003-2005, 2007, 2008) and five times a Second Team All-Star (2002, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012).
In addition, John was part of Team Canada who twice won gold medals at the World Box Lacrosse championships in 2003 and 2007.
John Tavaras has also had success as a coach with the Six Nations Chiefs at Major Series level lacrosse and the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League. With the Chiefs, Tavares was the Head Coach for the 2022 and 2023 Mann Cup champions. With the Bandits, Tavares was the Head Coach for the 2022 and 2023 NLL Champions Cup teams.
John Tavares - Mann Cup winning Coach
In talking with those who know John Tavares, they speak beyond his obvious talent, but his passion for lacrosse. He is considered exceptionally intelligent, an expert and strategic coach. Over the years, in his modest manner, John has been a genuine ambassador for the game of lacrosse.
John Tavares’ success has been duly acknowledged. He was inducted into the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame in 2016. In addition, John was awarded the Order of Sport leading to his induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2022. He has also been inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2024 and the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2024.