Tavares’ injury no cause for panic
As soon as the puck hit him, John Tavares knew something was wrong. He didn’t know he had broken his finger, but the pain that shot through his entire hand pretty much told him what he already feared.
One day later, the prognosis came.
Tavares, who scored a career- best 47 goals and 88 points last season, will be out for at least two weeks with what he deemed a fluke injury suffered in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4- 3 loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
“I was a little surprised by the circumstances. It could have been worse,” said Tavares on Friday, the index and middle fingers of his right hand taped together. “I don’t want to miss games. I don’t want to miss any time. This is what you work for, this is what you play the game for, to be out there and play.”
Now might be a good time to mention that heading into their game on Friday, the Pittsburgh Penguins had won four straight since losing Evgeni Malkin and two of their top six forwards to injury. Or that the Boston Bruins reached the Stanley Cup final in a year where
Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, Zdeno Chara and Charlie Mcavoy missed a combined 81 games.
Heck, t he New York Islanders went to the second round after losing Tavares to free agency.
In other words, take a deep breath, Toronto.
Tavares is only expected to miss half a dozen games — not the entire season. Losing him is still not an ideal situation for a team fighting for consistency, especially with two of its next three games against a Bruins team that has lost just once in regulation.
But like the Maple Leafs captain said, this could have been far, far worse.
After all, it’s not like Frederik Andersen or Morgan Rielly are injured. Now, those absences would have really tested Toronto’s depth. That might have put the season in jeopardy.
The Leafs still have Auston Matthews. They still have Mitch Marner and William Nylander. They have players who can score. So many of whom can’t even get into the lineup.
What they don’t have is a Plan B in net or on defence. That’s why Andersen and Rielly are the team’s most important — if not irreplaceable — players. As for who is No. 3 on that list, well, that’s an argument worth having.
It could be Tavares or Matthews or Marner. Then again, on a team lacking in defensive depth, it could very well be Jake Muzzin.
Either way, if you’re going to sink US$ 29.5 million into the combined contracts of Matthews, Marner and Nylander, then playing the next two weeks without Tavares shouldn’t temporarily knock the Leafs out of a playoff spot. If it does, then Mike Babcock might not be coaching this team by the time Tavares returns.
“That’s part of hockey,” said Tavares. “There’s always ups and downs and guys miss time who have injuries. I think that we’ve had all four lines contribute is a real positive sign for us. It’s huge to have that kind of depth. It creates an opportunity for someone.”
The Leafs are not asking anyone to play out of position. They are not even demanding the impossible. They are simply bumping up rookie Ilya Mikheyev and centre Alex Kerfoot, who had been the driving forces behind the wildly productive third line, and bringing Jason Spezza off the bench.
At best, Babcock will see if the Mikheyev is built for top-line minutes and whether Spezza has any magic left in a pair of hands that have scored 916 points in 1,068 career games.
“It’s difficult when you lose a top guy that you rely on, but also it can make the team better because it gives different guys opportunities and puts pressure on different guys to take more of a focal point,” said Spezza, who has been a healthy scratch in five of the team’s eight games. “As a team, if you can keep winning through injuries, it builds the belief that you’re a good team.”