Toronto Maple Leafs Captain John Tavares is in perfect health, according to mike zeisberger from the Toronto Sun. It took her a little over a year to be symptom free.
Tavares suffered two injuries in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ first game of the series with the Montreal Canadiens in May 2021. The first injury was a minor knee injury from Ben Chiarot’s initial blow, followed by the horrific injury to his the head suffered by an involuntary knee to the head of Corey Perry.
Miraculously, Tavares was cleared to play before the start of the 2021-22 season. He looked slower than normal, but still had 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% game winning percentage. It’s not a bad season for a player who some say is ‘washed out’.
Maybe now that fans know he was still suffering from the lasting effects of his injuries, they’ll change their tune. Some will continue to say he’s overpriced and blame him for Toronto’s salary cap issues. It’s good, but I hope that now that his health is at 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 from the numbers he had in his last healthy 82-game season (2018-19). Tavares had 47 goals and 41 assists for 88 points in 82 games that year. With him posting 76 points in 79 games last season when he wasn’t 100%, I don’t see why he can’t hit those 2018-19 numbers this season.
As for what Tavares thinks of the 2022-23 Toronto Maple Leafs roster, here’s a quote from his conversation with Mike Zeisberger.
Look, it’s hard to see guys leave, but management has done a good job over the last few years of keeping the core together and filling in the holes,” he said. “We realize how hard management continues to work and complement our squad, and we are excited about the season ahead and the mix we have.
Let’s hope the rest of the team is as optimistic as their captain. Toronto management will need the whole package to buy in and work with what they have. As Tavares said, it sucks to lose teammates and friends, but the NHL is a business. It’s almost impossible to keep an entire team together for more than a year or two.
Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas has overhauled the team’s goaltenders. He also added depth to Toronto’s last six forward group and Toronto’s defence. No one knows how the team will perform until the games start in October. Until then, let’s do our best to think positively and share Tavares’ optimism.
