This past Thursday, Toronto Maple Leafs centre John Tavares had to leave the game against the Buffalo Sabres following a scary collision with Sabres center Josh Norris. At the time, it was unknown how long Tavares would be out. But on Saturday, the Maple Leafs and their fans learnt the harsh news that the 36-year-old veteran will be out week-to-week with a lower body injury.
With Tavares now appearing to be sidelined longer than most had hoped, what would this mean for the Maple Leafs? How important is he to the entire Toronto squad going forward?
What losing Tavares long-term could mean to the Maple Leafs right now
Normally, losing Tavares might be something that the Leafs could overcome due to their depth at center in recent years. However, with Max Domi currently on LTIR and the fact that the Maple Leafs didn’t add any significant offensive center depth this past offseason, not having their 36-year-old heart and soul of the team could really hurt in the next little while.
Without Tavares, Nick Paul became the de-facto No. 2 center behind Auston Matthews, with Colton Sissons and Teddy Blueger rounding out the bottom two units. With no offense to Paul, Sissons and Blueger, that setup certainly wouldn’t intimidate opposing teams from an offensive perspective. As a result, it enables the opposition to focus solely on shutting down Matthews and the top line, as they don’t need to worry too much with the firepower present on the other lines.
The Leafs offensive punch could take a hit with Tavares out
In doing so, the Maple Leafs could see themselves struggle to score goals in the coming weeks, as evidenced from their disappointing 4-1 loss to a shorthanded New York Islanders team that lost two players during the game this past Saturday. Toronto got their shots in, with 29 on the night, but the Islanders managed to hold the Leafs’ most dangerous player in Matthews to just one shot the whole game.
In addition, prior to Tavares’ injury, there appeared to be some good chemistry going on when Kirill Marchenko was put on the 36-year-old veteran’s flank that night. In their first game together, Marchenko recorded a hat trick for his best offensive showing since joining the Maple Leafs this year. Not like he wasn’t productive on Matthews’ wing to start with, but Marchenko seemed unleashed when he was partnered with Tavares in the game against the Sabres. Unfortunately, now with the 36-year-old center sidelined for a significant amount of time, the ability to reproduced that magic will have to wait.
Added pressure mounts for other Leafs players to help make up for the loss of Tavares
Finally, with Tavares out, it puts more pressure on the Maple Leafs’ younger players in both Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna to step up and help make up for some of the lost production. As a result, quickly adding some unneeded stress for two growing star players, especially in McKennna at just 18, might not be the best thing for their progressive development at this moment. At the same time, if they manage to take on the task and run with it, then it could surprisingly make the Leafs even stronger by the time Tavares makes it back. But for now, based on Saturday’s game against the Islanders, the former scenario appears to be more the case.
Nevertheless, after falling to last place in the Atlantic Division with their loss on Saturday, the Leafs will need to find a way to win fast without Tavares, as any more struggles could put them in a deep hole even before the first month of the season has elapsed.
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