The silence is starting to become quite deafening.
There was no word from John Tavares’ camp Friday as to whether the Islanders’ franchise player has made up his mind among his six reported suitors, including the Islanders, or whether the impending unrestricted free agent had eliminated any of them from consideration.
Since the free agent market opens on Sunday and the Islanders’ advantage of being able to offer an eight-year deal expires after Saturday, any delay in announcing he is going to return to the franchise that selected him first overall in 2009 heightens the speculation Tavares is preparing to leave.