John Tavares, the New York Islanders centerpiece of the future, suffered a mild concussion in a collision with Dallas Stars’ forward Adam Burrish late in the first period of Saturday night’s season opener in Long Island.
"Certainly not the way you want to start," said Islanders head coach Scott Gordon about the injury to his team's No. 1 center. "We have big expectations for John. Hopefully (the concussion) will be more on the mild side."
The Islanders have arguably been the unluckiest team in the league in terms of injury as star defenseman Mark Streit is expected to be out until at least February with a shoulder injury, and winger Kyle Okposo will be out until at least December after eerily suffering almost the exact injury with a torn labrum. Also, in pre-season, speedy winger Rob Schremp suffered a back injury that will put him out roughly a few more weeks’ time. Thankfully enough for both the young star center and his team, the concussion is said to be mild, but as is the case with all concussions the worries still exist. No further updates on his status have yet been released, and Tavares will undergo further evaluation Monday.
The injury occurred while he was back skating just inside of the blue line as Burrish ran into him. The hit didn’t look too violent, but it threw the unsuspecting 20 year-old to the ice with force. After laying face down for a bit, Tavares was helped off the ice and did not return. Burrish claims the collision was accidental as he was watching the play ensue.
"I bumped into somebody and I didn't know who it was," Burish said. "I was coming across the ice and I knew our guy was going to dump it. Tavares turned around as I was skating that way and I think we collided. I didn't know what happened. I turned around, as he was laying there. It was just an unfortunate thing. I for sure didn't mean to go after him in open ice. You hope he's OK."
The Islanders overcame deficits of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 to get to the shootout, where they fell short in Tavares’ absence. Team captain Doug Weight gave his viewpoint on the misfortunate injury dealt to their star forward.
“He’s arguably our best forward, and John’s a prolific player that brings a lot of offense to our team,” said Islanders captain Doug Weight. “Each day, every team goes through things like this, and I think we responded well. Hopefully he’s back sooner than later. I think he’s doing pretty good. Like I said, anytime you lose anybody, you’ve got to pull the rope a little harder and challenge yourself, and keep the accountability in the room, and we’re going to do that.”
Tavares is the guy that the Islanders organization rests its’ hope in, while Doug Weight is seemingly, as captain, the glue that is keeping this broken Isles’ team together as he scored a goal on six shots and added two assists in the Islanders’ comeback.
Tavares was the first overall draft pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and was the team leader in points through his rookie season, recording 24 goals and 30 assists for 54 points. Tavares broke into the league with possibly more expectations upon him than any other player has in recent years, and critics abound thought he should have done more. Quite honestly, you couldn’t ask for much more. To consider his rookie outing as average or disappointing is unjustifiable, but there is no doubt Tavares is on the cusp of raising his game to a new level in his sophomore season, just as Steven Stamkos did for Tampa Bay.
The injury is a major setback for the team as now their top three points scorers from last year, Tavares (54), Okposo (52), and Streit (49), are out with injury for an unknown time. These three were also team leaders in ice time as Streit led the team, and Okposo and Tavares were one-two respectively for forwards. The powerplay also takes a major toll, as once again all three of these guys were one through three in total powerplay points.
There’s no doubt that already they can’t wait to have the young star back on the ice, but the onus here is on the player and the coaching staff to give him as much time as he needs to be fully recovered. The Islanders don’t have a championship resting on these players return due to the fact that they don’t have that kind of an outlook on this season. Tavares is the future on Long Island, the long-term future, and the timetable in which they bring him back needs to be the right one or they may throw that future away. The short-term is not the worry, the long and glorious career that this kid could have is priority.
- Kendall Grubbs
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