TAVARES INJURY NO CAUSE FOR PANIC IN LEAFS NATION
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 careerbest 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.
“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.
In other words, take a deep breath, Toronto.
Tavares is expected to miss only half a dozen games, not the entire season. Losing him still isn’t an ideal situation for a team fighting for consistency, especially with two of its next three games against a Bruins team that’s 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 the ones who are injured. Now those absences would have really tested Toronto’s depth. That might have put the season in jeopardy.
As good as Tavares has been — and we’re talking about someone who ranked third in the league in goals last season and had seven points in his first eight games this year — he plays a position of strength for Toronto.
The Leafs still have Auston Matthews. They still have Mitch Marner and William Nylander. They have players who can score.
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 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 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.”