Tavares has knee injury

Maple Leafs captain John Tavares is dealing with a knee injury as well as a concussion and is not likely to return to the lineup for at least two weeks.

GM Kyle Dubas announced that bit of news in a rare media appearance Saturday, when he thanked fans and hockey people around the league for their support of Tavares as he recovers from a gruesome knee to the head in first period action Thursday in Game 1 of the playoff series against Montreal.

“John was diagnosed with a concussion and also sustained a knee injury on the play, similar to the injury sustained by Zach Hyman in Vancouver in the regular season,” said Dubas. “It would be a minimum of two weeks with that, but obviously our primary concern is the concussion and making sure he returns to full health.

“I’ve been in close touch with him. He’s at home, recovering. And for that we’re thankful.”

On the positive side, Dubas said Tavares had been cleared of all structural damage to his head, neck and spine.

Dubas also took a moment to criticize the Toronto Sun for its “Captain Crunched” headline and accompanying photo that was on the cover of the tabloid on Friday.

“As an organization we felt the Toronto Sun cover of their newspaper crossed the line. We found the cover to be disgusting. We thought it was extraordinarily insensitive on the part of the Sun with regards to the photo and the caption. Just a complete lack of compassion and respect on behalf of the Sun towards John and his family, especially for such an upstanding member of our organization and community and his family that had to endure that.”

As for when Tavares might return, it was a question without an answer.

“The knee injury you can give a timeline on, but the head injury and concussion, it’s very difficult to place a timeline on that,” said Dubas. “We handle those conservatively and sensitively. We will follow those protocols to a T.”