The Toronto Maple Leafs may be dealing with more than one scare on the blue line and up front. Chris Tanev is officially on injured reserve after leaving Saturday’s win over the Colorado Avalanche with an upper-body injury, and John Tavares could be the next name on the list after taking an awkward collision Thursday night.
Tanev’s injury came after a collision with Artturi Lehkonen, and Toronto made the move to place the veteran defenseman on injured reserve retroactive to October 10. Jim Hiller still hasn’t given a firm return date, but the word around the situation is that Tanev is now week to week. The team is also “doing some further testing” to determine whether the injury could turn into a longer absence.
It’s another tough turn for Tanev, whose recent health history has already been rocky. The 36-year-old played just 11 games last season, and through six games this season, his availability is again in question.
Tavares’ situation is less clear, but the concern is real. After heading down the tunnel following that awkward collision, Hiller did not provide an update afterward. For now, Tavares is being considered day-to-day, though he could still miss time.
Elsewhere, Edmonton’s forward group took a hit when Jason Dickinson was unavailable Thursday against the Utah Mammoth. Dickinson had just returned for his season debut on October 7 after dealing with a foot injury that started late last season and flared back up in training camp. Then he was hurt again at practice on Thursday and couldn’t play that night.
There was at least one clarification on that situation: Babcock said the issue Thursday was not Dickinson’s ankle. That takes one concern off the board, but it still leaves Edmonton with another fresh injury after a long wait for Dickinson to get back.
And that’s just part of the league-wide injury pileup. Per Fantasy RotoWire, Pierre-Luc Dubois is out for Saturday’s game against New Jersey because of an illness, while Rasmus Dahlin will miss Saturday’s matchup with Montreal due to an upper-body injury. Taylor Hall is week to week with an upper-body injury, Brandon Montour left Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay with a lower-body injury and is day-to-day, and Darnell Nurse sat out Thursday with an upper-body issue.
Jordan Staal has been placed on injured reserve with a calf injury, Miles Wood is also on injured reserve, and Josh Norris has entered the concussion protocol after Thursday’s game. Jiri Kulich is day-to-day after getting hurt during Thursday’s action, Matt Roy remains on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and is questionable for Saturday against New Jersey, Luke Evangelista will stay behind and won’t travel with New Jersey for Saturday’s game in Washington because of illness, and Mikael Granlund is unlikely to play Friday against Boston because of an upper-body injury.
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The discussion is still in the early stages, with the club expected to wait until after this week before taking a harder look at its options. If Toronto does decide to act, the names already floating around around the league give a sense of the market the Leafs are likely to be exploring, but for now the bigger issue is simply how long they can ride this out without making a move. [Read more 🡒]