John Tavares’ Injury Might Be Worse Than First Thought
After Canada’s 2-1 victory over Latvia, it was confirmed by head coach Mike Babcock that the injury that John Tavares suffered in the second period will keep him out of the rest of the Olympics. However, according to Bob Mckenzie and Arthur Staple on Twitter, the news could be much worse.
Extent of John Tavares' Olympic-ending knee injury won't be known til MRI/re-evaluation on Thursday but sense out of Sochi is it's not good.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 19, 2014
NYI anxiously awaiting word on extent of injury/how much NHL time Tavares will miss. Hockey Canada doctors will be in contact with NYI docs.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 19, 2014
Echoing @TSNBobMcKenzie, heard that initial news on Tavares is not good. Could be multiple ligament damage. Exam tomorrow will tell. #Isles
— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) February 19, 2014
No one really knows what is wrong with Tavares’ knee, but if this is a really bad injury that keeps out Tavares out for a sustained period of time, it will severely hamper the New York Islanders for the rest of the season.
This is proving to be the Olympics of the injured superstar. Prior to the Olympics, players like Steven Stamkos, Mikko Koivu, Valtteri Filppula, Henrik Sedin and Johan Franzen have gone down. Now that the Olympics have begun, we’ve lost Henrik Zetterberg and now Tavares.
Tavares failed to record a point in Sochi but is the most important player on Long Island. If he were to be out for the rest of the season, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Islanders would fall into the lottery for this years draft.
There is one thing for sure, a good portion of time without Tavares would prove just how much he means to the Islanders team. If they were to completely fall of the map without him, well let’s just say that the Islanders are lucky they already have Tavares signed long-term.
For the sake of the Islanders, let’s hope that Tavares’ knee injury isn’t as bad as it looks to be.