What was initially thought to be something minor turned out to be a lot worse for the Toronto Maple Leafs captain.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will likely be without one of their core players when they open the regular season on Oct. 12.
John Tavares suffered an oblique strain during the team’s 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators in pre-season action and he’ll miss a minimum of three weeks with an oblique strain, Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed on Tuesday.
“They thought it was pretty minor but ran some further tests here later today after we started practice,” Keefe said.
The Maple Leafs’ season starts 15 days from now when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 12. A 21-day absence would put Tavares out until Oct. 17 at the earliest.
Initially, the club announced that he was day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Tavares took part in practice with the club on Monday and had been involved in every on-ice session he’s been scheduled for since camp opened up on Sept. 21.
On Monday, Pontus Holmberg skated in Tavares’ place in the first practice session. But the move isn’t necessarily permanent as Keefe learned of the severity of his captain’s ailment later in the day.
While the news is bad for Tavares, Jake Muzzin is expected to return to practice, according to Keefe.
The veteran defenseman has not taken part in any of the main training camp sessions due to back discomfort.
“He probably won’t do everything in practice but he’ll be out there,” Keefe said.
On Monday it was revealed that Adam Gaudette suffered a shoulder injury during Saturday’s contest when he collided with Ottawa’s Travis Hamonic. Gaudette remained out on Tuesday.
The Maple Leafs are already with forward Pierre Engvall at training camp due to an ankle/foot injury. Defenseman Timothy Liljegren is out until mid-November after hernia surgery.
Goaltender Joseph Woll (shoulder), forward Michael Abramov (back) and defenseman Axel Rindell (thumb) have also missed training camp with injuries.
“Nothing seems to be too serious to the point that we would expect to be close to full health,” Keefe said. “If not opening day then nor far after that.”