Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas met with the media to provide an update on center John Tavares who suffered a concussion in a scary collision with Montreal’s Corey Perry in the opening game of their first-round series on Thursday night. The good news is that he was cleared of all structural damage to his head, neck, and spine, relays Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).
However, in addition to the concussion, Dubas revealed that Tavares also suffered a sprained MCL on the play, Johnston tweets. That carries a minimum recovery time of two weeks although the concussion will certainly keep him out longer. When asked about that potential timeline, Dubas was non-committal for when his captain might return (via TSN’s Kristen Shilton):
We have to be very careful and keep in mind he has a young family and there’s an onus on us to protect his future in that regard.
The important thing is that he was discharged from the hospital early on Thursday and has avoided any serious structural injuries but Toronto will be without their captain for the foreseeable future as they look to try to put together a long playoff run. The second game of their series against the Canadiens goes tonight.