Leafs’ centre depth will be tested with Tavares out to start season

SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN SportsCentre Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who skated in two groups at the Ford Performance Centre on Tuesday.

John Tavares will be sidelined at least three weeks with an oblique strain. The Leafs centre sustained the injury during Saturday's pre-season opener against the Ottawa Senators. Following a day off, Tavares practised on Monday, but didn't feel right. Testing on Tuesday revealed the injury. 

"He's a huge part of our team," said coach Sheldon Keefe. "Obviously, you're not going to replace John, but this is an opportunity for us to look at others to step up and take advantage of that opportunity."

It's a setback for Tavares, who turned 32 last week, and was hoping to build momentum from his off-season training. 

"There's some things, certainly, that I really like that I built some good habits on," Tavares told reporters on Monday. "It's on me to continue those things up through the season."

Tavares also sustained an oblique injury in 2019 when he was preparing to play in the world championship.

The Maple Leafs will be without the services of captain John Tavares for at least three weeks due to an oblique strain. He appeared in 79 games last year, scoring 29 goals and adding 49 assists. Toronto opens its 2022-2023 campaign on Oct. 12 against the Canadiens. Mark Masters has more.

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Alex Kerfoot, who filled in well as Toronto's second-line centre when Tavares missed most of the 2021 playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens, is a leading candidate to step up again. Kerfoot has been skating as a centre since camp opened last week. 

"I have not had a whole lot of time to process it," Keefe said of the Tavares injury. "Obviously, we've been