Over the course of his career, Anders Lee of the New York Islanders has developed into one of the most underrated scoring wingers in the NHL.
Playing predominantly with former captain John Tavares on the Islanders’ top line, the 28-year-old set a career high in goals last season with 40 and developed into one of the league’s top power forwards.
With Tavares now a Toronto Maple Leaf, Lee took over as team captain – the 15th in the historic franchise – and has jumped off to quite the nice start with two goals in three games so far this season playing with Brock Nelson and Jordan Eberle on the Isles’ top line.
When Tavares left Long Island, Islanders fans were unhappy with the process Tavares took and started to frame him as the Kevin Durant of the NHL for being disloyal to the organization that drafted him first overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
If you were to ask the current Isles on record what they’d say about JT leaving, they’d probably say something to the ilk of “He was a free agent and made the best decision for his career."
Speaking with the NHLPA, Lee was asked a specific question on what he sees as the most redeeming quality a teammate can have, and he didn't give that typical PR scripted answer whatsoever while using only one simple, but effective, word.
Now, whether Lee honestly feels that loyalty is truly the best quality a teammate can is something we’ll never truly know, but you can’t help but connect the dots here.
If he was, in fact, taking a shot at JT, you have to admire him for having the cojones to tell the world how he felt about Tavares’ decision to leave for Toronto.
Lee is set to become a free agent after this season, so Islanders fans will soon see where his loyalty is at, but you have to think that a contract extension could be in the works considering he’s now captain and when factoring in his comment above.
You can read the full Q&A here.
