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Toronto Maple Leafs Captain Looking to Silence Critics

By Jeremy Ridgewell

EDMONTON, AB - DECEMBER 14: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period at Rogers Place on December 14, 2021 in Edmonton, Canada. (Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)
EDMONTON, AB - DECEMBER 14: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period at Rogers Place on December 14, 2021 in Edmonton, Canada. (Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares is fully healthy, according to Mike Zeisberger from the Toronto Sun. It took him a little more than a full year to be symptom-free.

Tavares sustained two injuries in Game 1 of the Toronto Maple Leafs series with the Montreal Canadiens in May 2021. The first injury was a minor knee injury from the initial hit by Ben Chiarot, followed by the gruesome head injury suffered by an unintentional knee to the head from Corey Perry.

Miraculously, Tavares got cleared to play before the 2021-22 season started. He looked slower than normal but still registered 27 goals and 49 assists for 76 points in 79 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs captain also finished the season with a career-best 60.6% faceoff winning percentage. Not a bad season for a player that some claim is “washed up.”

Maybe now that fans know he was still dealing with lasting effects from his injuries, they will change their tune. Some will continue to say he is overpriced and blame him for Toronto’s salary cap problems. That’s fine, but I hope now that his health is 100%, he will have a great season and silence his critics.

Toronto Maple Leafs Captain Looking Forward to 2022-23 Season

Starting the 2022-23 season at 100% is good news for Tavares and his teammates. The team captain will be looking to bounce back to the numbers he had in his last healthy 82 game season (2018-19). Tavares registered 47 goals and 41 assists for 88 points in 82 games that year. With him posting 76 points in 79 games last season while not 100%, I don’t see why he can’t reach those 2018-19 numbers this season.

As for how Tavares feels about the 2022-23 Toronto Maple Leafs lineup, here is a quote from his conversation with Mike Zeisberger.

"Look, it’s tough to see guys leave, but management has done a good job the last few years of keeping the core together and filling the holes,” he said. “We realize how hard management continues to work and round out our team, and we’re excited about the upcoming season and the mix we have."

Hopefully, the rest of the team is as optimistic as their captain. Toronto management will need the whole to buy in and work with what they’ve got. As Tavares said, it does suck losing teammates and friends, but the NHL is a business. It’s almost impossible to keep a whole team together for more than a year or two.

Next. Looking at the Big Picture. dark

Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas overhauled the team’s goaltending. He also added depth to Toronto’s bottom-six forward group and Toronto’s defense. Nobody knows how the team will work until the games start in October. Until then, let’s do our best to think positively and share in Tavares’ optimism.

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