Today a new report from NHL insider Darren Dreger has revealed the latest details regarding the John Tavares contract negotiations with the Toronto Maple Leafs. This season John Tavares is one of several players in the final season of his contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Early in the year, many thought that John Tavares would not be coming back to Toronto and would instead decide to test free agency. Over the last couple of weeks this narrative has changed as reports have indicated John Tavares has little interest in leaving Toronto this summer. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/budsallday34/status/1862169197804994912'> </a></blockquote></div> With John Tavares wanting to stay in Toronto we now have a new report from Darren Dreger that has confirmed that while the Toronto Maple Leafs want to keep John Tavares around the two sides are far apart. <h3>Darren Dreger adds much needed context to John Tavares situation</h3> In a new appearance on FirstUp1050 Darren Dreger took his turn to speak about the Toronto Maple Leafs and John Tavares. He confirmed that the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to hold firm with a contract offer at 5 million dollars or less and John Tavares would have to just accept the pay cut. The bottom line is going to be, you know, what's a fair number? What is that fair AAV? I don't think it can be $5 million. I think it has to be below that. And if you're Tavares, maybe you are, you know, looking at it and thinking, 'Well, I just put up big numbers, and I feel really, really good. I think I've got at least two more years of that in me.' Then it becomes more of a negotiation of creativity <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/Leafslatest/status/1862553943169286283'> </a></blockquote></div> This is a similar strategy to the one that the Tampa Bay Lightning employed with captain Steven Stamkos last season refusing to budge on the overall cap hit. Ultimately that did not work out for the Tampa Bay Lightning as Steven Stamkos decided to leave the team and sign with the Nashville Predators. In the end it seems like John Tavares future in Toronto will come down to how much he wants to be a Maple Leaf. If he is truly only interested in staying in Toronto then expect him to compromise with the Maple Leafs and take a major pay cut to remain with the team.