John Tavares and Call Jarnkrok return to Maple Leafs practice accompanied by a surprising addition
Photo credit: (Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports)
Good news for the Toronto Maple Leafs as John Tavares, Calle Jarnkrok, and Jani Hakanpaa made a surprise appearance on Wednesday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are attempting to trim their roster in order to guarantee that their best players play in the season opener against Montreal, which is just one week away. Over the past few weeks, the team has had to deal with a number of injuries, including ones to Calle Jarnkrok, Fraser Minten, Steven Lorentz, John Tavares, Auston Matthews, and William Nylander.
Even though most of those players-aside from Minten, whose current situation is unclear-have returned, there were still concerns about Jarnkrok and Tavares' timeline. Jarnkrok sustained an injury during or shortly after his preseason game against Ottawa, while Tavares was sidelined for a week following a hit from Michael Pezzetta of the Canadiens.
According to David Alter of The Hockey News via LeafsLatest on X, the answers to those queries are as follows: Tavares and Jarnkrok are rejoining the team.
For the Maple Leafs and their supporters, this is a huge relief. Tavares has been a vital member of the team since joining in 2018, so his absence for any length of time would have been disastrous for Toronto, particularly in the early going of the season.
Upon his return, he will be able to resume his previous third line position alongside Nick Robertson and future Maple Leaf Max Pacioretty, who is currently on PTO but is expected to sign a full contract soon.
The return of Jani Hakanpaa, who was spotted skating with the main team, was a pleasant surprise. This indicates that he is getting closer to fully recovering from his knee problems. Hakanpaa hasn't skated with the starting lineup since signing with Toronto, so the fact that he's healthy to begin the season speaks volumes about how committed the Toronto Maple Leafs medical staff is to getting him back on the ice.
Craig Berube on Jani Hakanpaa's progress toward a return: «The process has been going well Hopefully, we get him into a camp group to start this [upcoming] week."
Berube knows exactly who he needs on the team, and it's easier for him to fit Tavares, Jarnkrok, and Hakanpaa in where they're needed.
Fans should have a lot to cheer about with these three returning to the Maple Leafs. The team would benefit from taking it easy in their final preseason series against Detroit rather than throwing them into the deep end right away.
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