Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares skates with the group of players that are headed to Detroit to take on the Red Wings on Friday. Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares appears set to be in the lineup when his team opens their 2022-23 season against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday. "Feeling good. Tomorrow looks good. So, excited about that ... excited that I can be there right off the get go,” Tavares told reporters following Tuesday’s practice. Tavares was a full participant for the third consecutive day of practice. He skated on a line with William Nylander and Denis Malgin. When the Maple Leafs practiced power-play units, Tavares took his place back on the first team with Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly. In previous sessions, Michael Bunting had taken Tavares’ place. Instead, Bunting moved down to the team’s second unit which features Malgin, Calle Jarnkrok, Alex Kerfoot and Mark Giordano. Tavares injured his oblique on Sept. 24 after receiving a cross check. He later “felt a pull” during a practice on Sept. 26 before he was shut down on Sept. 27 for what was initially announced as a minimum of three weeks. The 32-year-old explained that his injury felt more like a contusion than it did a pull or what imaging had indicated. That helped the forward accelerate his timeline to return in time for Wednesday’s season opener. With Tavares’ impending return, the Maple Leafs avoid a scenario where they’d have dress a man short of the usual 20 players. The Maple Leafs submitted their 20-man roster on Monday with Tavares on it. The cap-strapped Maple Leafs would have not been permitted to replace Tavares if he couldn’t play until playing one game with a short roster, under emergency exception rules.
