Insider provides major update on John Tavares rumored injury

On Tuesday night, when the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Vegas Golden Knights a camera captured Leafs' Captain John Tavares on the bench. While on camera, Tavares appeared to be in significant discomfort and pain. This led to many making the assumption that the captain was battling an injury that could have potentially been nagging him for a while.

This led to speculation that Toronto could place him on long-term injured reserve ahead of the trade deadline. This would have given the Maple Leafs over $11 million in salary cap flexibility.

But not so fast.

Today NHL Insider Darren Dreger of TSN spoke to both the Maple Leafs and John Tavares agent and provided the following update.




While Dreger is confident in this report, it's very unlikely the Maple Leafs or the agent would be willing to give up any information this close to the playoffs. Tavares has experienced a down year based off of his standards this season. While still producing the center has shown some age and his slowed down significantly.

Tavares, 33, has 17 goals and 26 assists in 56 games this season. Recently JT has found himself demoted to the 3rd line and also lost his spot on the Leafs top powerplay. With one season left on his current deal, if this regression continues next season could be very tough for both the team and the captain.