The World's Tiniest Violin Plays Just For John Tavares
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Because his birthday is September 20th, the young hockey standout won't qualify for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft---he'll be five days short of his 18th birthday on the league's qualification date of September 15th and therefore ineligible.
Sure he's still just 16, and yeah, it's conceivable that his development as a top-tier hockey player has barely even begun, but Tavares wants to be drafted NOW. He just can't handle the idea of having to wait like anyone else in his position.
"I'm seeing all my peers get drafted and get experience at NHL camps and learning and getting better,'' he said. ''For me, I've still got to wait two years with players who haven't yet played a game in the OHL or the CHL yet."
How horrible it must be to have to endure those pathetic plebes who fill the junior ranks simply because they had the misfortune of being a couple of years behind Tavares. Those pathetic children aren't fit to clean his skates.
To free him of the horrible confines of the junior leagues, Tavares' agent Bryan Deasley is seeking for his client an exception to the NHL Draft rules. If granted, Tavares will be allowed to enter the 2008 NHL Draft, a year earlier than anyone else with his birth date.
But don't be fooled into thinking that Tavares and his agent want to help other players with the same birthday-related misfortune as him make an early Draft appearance as well. No no. They just want special treatment for John.
''We are not looking for anything other than an exceptional status consideration from the league,'' [Deasley] said. ''Every once in a while a player comes along that compels us to look at things more clearly and differently - outside the box.''
And in case you're slow, that rare player is none other than Tavares, of course.
Now, I understand that John Tavares is a good hockey player, and he could one day be truly great. But the little brat is just 16, and has a long way to go until he starts taking Chris Pronger elbows to the head. He's still a kid, and obviously a bratty one at that. Having to wait a couple more years before cashing in his first big signing bonus won't kill him.
