Maple Leafs Get Bad News On John Tavares Injury
John Tavares is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury, the Maple Leafs announced. https://t.co/13E9f0x6yw
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 17, 2026
The former captain was injured when he was felled by an unexpected collision with Buffalo Sabres center Josh Norris Thursday night.
Tavares leaves the game after a scary collision between him and Norris https://t.co/uztUAUp1vG
— Jesse Blake (@JesseBlake) October 16, 2026
Tavares was off to a solid start on the scoresheet, with two goals and five assists for seven points in seven games to start the season. He had a couple of helpers against Buffalo on Thursday before the injury.
Nick Paul was shifted up to second-line center in Tavares's absence in that game, so we'll see if he gets the call again going forward.
The other intriguing part of this will be to watch Gavin McKenna's ice time. The Leafs are down a top-six forward, and could certainly use the No. 1 pick's offensive creativity to pick up some of the slack from the void Tavares will leave.
McKenna's benching in the last game for the entire second half of the contest has been the subject of debate around Leafs Nation ever since Thursday's game.
We saw a quick glimpse of the rookie on the first power-play unit when Tavares was missing in an earlier game, and he looked just fine in that role. Will head coach Jim Hiller take the reins off the kid and let him play?
We'll see, starting Saturday night in the game against the NY Islanders.