Maple Leafs' John Tavares leaves practice after awkward fall, but Jake McCabe returns to ice
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The Maple Leafs might have to find a way out of their losing streak without John Tavares.
Toronto’s second-line centre departed practice on Wednesday at the Ford Performance Centre after he got tangled up with defenceman Chris Tanev.
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Maple Leafs' John Tavares leaves practice after awkward fall, but Jake McCabe returns to ice Back to video
“Still being evaluated,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “Hopefully, he’s OK.”
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Tavares was hurt in the corner during a power-play drill. Tanev’s left skate caught Tavares’ left skate, pulling the latter’s legs apart and causing him to fall awkwardly to the ice.
Tavares writhed in pain before slowly making his way off the ice under his own power. He was limping as he walked to the dressing room and appeared to be favouring his right leg.
The incident puts Tavares’ participation against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday in doubt.
Going into the game against former coach Sheldon Keefe — who makes his first return to Scotiabank Arena after he was fired by Toronto last May — the Leafs have lost three consecutive games in regulation for the first time in 2024-25.
Any games without Tavares, it goes without saying, would hurt the Leafs. With 42 points in 44 games, the 34-year-old has made a consistent impact this season.
And we know that general manager Brad Treliving already has been targeting help at centre before the National Hockey League trade deadline comes on March 7. If Tavares is out for a while, Treliving’s search could be expedited.
Tavares has been resilient during his NHL career, especially since he signed with the Leafs in the summer of 2018. He has missed just 15 regular-season games with Toronto.
“He has been a great player for us,” Berube said. “I think it started (with) the captaincy switch (in handing over the C to Auston Matthews) and how he handled that.
“That’s his character. He didn’t take it badly or anything like that. He accepted it and moved on.
“He has done a lot of good things for us. He’s a great teammate, a great leader and he has been a fabulous player for a long time.”
Tavares was between Max Pacioretty and William Nylander during line rushes at practice. If Tavares is out, Berube has a few options, including moving Max Domi, Pontus Holmberg or David Kampf into that second-line spot. Perhaps Fraser Minten would be recalled from the Toronto Marlies.
On the blue line, meanwhile, there is some good news on the horizon.
Jake McCabe could return on Thursday after he missed the past four games with an upper-body injury. McCabe practised with Tanev, his regular partner, on Wednesday.
It was McCabe’s first full practice since he was hurt during a fight with Garnet Hathaway of the Philadelphia Flyers in a game on Jan. 5.
“Felt great to be back out there with the fellas,” McCabe said. “It’s coach’s decision (as to whether he plays on Thursday). I’m not going to make any lineup decisions for him.”
We don’t have to go into great detail here regarding the influence that McCabe and Tanev have had on the Leafs’ success. Whether McCabe plays against the Devils will be decided on Thursday.
“Him and Tanny as a shutdown pair have done a great job for us, penalty killing, stabilizing the team at times,” Berube said. “He’s a good guy in the locker room and on the bench, vocal. We miss him for sure when he is out. He does a lot of good things for us.”
McCabe missed five games earlier this season after he took a shot off the head in a game against Tampa Bay.
The Leafs are 4-5-0 in the games that McCabe has not played in 2024-25.
“Unfortunate,” McCabe said of getting hurt in the fight with Hathaway. “We’ve all watched enough games and seen situations like that. Unfortunately, I was the one that took the brutal end of it.”
Does McCabe get nervous about suffering a similar kind of upper-body injury?
“No, I don’t really operate like that,” McCabe said. “I understand the risks of this game and they take really good care of us, so I have taken every precaution needed to make sure I’m safe and cleared to go.”
Jani Hakanpaa, recovering from his knee injury, skated on a fourth pair with Simon Benoit. The Leafs sent defenceman Marshall Rifai back to the Marlies.
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