Morgan Rielly had a good idea of what the Toronto Maple Leafs were getting in John Tavares the player.
What impresses him even more -- if that's possible considering the star centre's gaudy stat line -- is the person.
"You just get to know him as a guy and realize how hard he works," Rielly said after Tavares scored a career-high four goals in Monday's 7-5 victory over the Florida Panthers. "He treats his job very seriously. He's a good role model for us."Rielly marvelled at the level of preparation the 28-year-old Tavares goes through to make sure he's ready to perform on the big stage.
"Changing my mindset at this point probably isn't the right focus," he said. "If you get , it would be great. It just means you're helping the team out." Toronto fell in seven games to Boston last spring, but didn't have Tavares to both help Marner and Auston Matthews offensively, and to try and counter the Bruins' top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.
"You try to find chemistry," said Hyman, whose clear task is to retrieve the puck and grind along the boards. "That doesn't happen overnight."
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