Maple Leafs captain John Tavares joins Team Canada at worlds

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The season isn’t quite done for Toronto captain John Tavares, who will wear another brand of Maple Leaf. 

Tavares will join Team Canada at the world hockey championships in Czechia, according to a post on ‘X’ by TSN’s Darren Dreger. Tavares has already arrived there and will be eligible to play in Canada’s opening game Saturday against Great Britain in Prague. 

The 33-year-old centre has a long history with the national program, beginning with gold medals at the world junior tournament in 2008 and ‘09, the 2014 Olympics and the 2016 World Cup. He has not appeared in the men’s world event since 2010. Tavares might also be eyeing possible participation in next season’s Four Nation’s Face-Off in February with Canada, the U.S., Finland and Sweden.

It’s been almost a week since Tavares and the Leafs were knocked out of the first round of National Hockey League playoffs by the Boston Bruins. While Tavares was held to a goal and assist in the seven-game series, he was physically engaged and had completed the regular season with 29 goals and 65 points in 80 games. 

On the last day of player media interviews, Tavares repeated his contention the Leafs have been close to a major playoff breakthrough on a couple of occasions in elimination losses and expressed support for head coach Sheldon Keefe, who was fired days later on Thursday. 

Eliminated playoff performers to join Team Canada thus far include Los Angeles Kings’ Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Tampa Bay’s Nick Paul and Brandon Hagel. 

Canada also plays Denmark, Austria, Norway and Switzerland in its pool with its toughest preliminary round game shaping up againt the host nation on May 21 in Prague. Teammates Pontus Holmberg (Sweden) and David Kampf (Czechia) are also in the tournament. 

lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby