After a week of mostly bad news, Islanders captain John Tavares relayed some good on Tuesday.
Tavares told assembled media he only suffered a partially torn MCL in a collision with Latvian defenseman Arturs Kulda at the Winter Olympics, meaning he won’t need to undergo surgery to repair the ligament.
The 23-year-old also said his expected timetable for rehab is 8-12 weeks.
The injury will still keep Tavares out for the remainder of the regular season though, meaning he’ll miss substantial time (22 games) for the first time in his NHL career. Prior to the MCL tear, he’d appeared in 350 of 354 games since debuting during the 2009-10 campaign.Tavares had same partial MCL tear in left knee at 16, needed 6 weeks to recover. Familiar with recovery for injury at least.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) February 25, 2014Related: Isles GM Snow furious over Tavares injury; calls IOC, IIHF ‘a joke’