Breaking: The Toronto Maple Leafs have gone five games without a regulation loss, and seem to have righted the ship for now, especially on the defensive end. They’ve allowed just five regulation goals in those five games, and haven’t missed a beat with sensational breakout youngster Dennis Hildeby in net.
All that said, this doesn’t mean that the Leafs aren’t missing Chris Tanev. The shot-blocking defensive rock hasn’t played in well over a month, and his return is still undetermined. In fact, we’ve got a huge, potentially ominous update on Tanev’s health from Sportsnet Leafs insider Nick Kypreos.
Kypreos says the team and the d-man are deciding this week whether he should undergo surgery, which could potentially help him make it back “before the end of the season.” Yikes.
At this point, Tanev and the team are considering whether or not he will have some sort of structural surgery that will help him return and a decision on that will be made this week. If he does lean towards having surgery, the hope would be for him to return well before the end of the regular season. The biggest concern for Tanev is if he takes another hit similar to the one he received on Nov. 1 that knocked him out of the lineup. What are the risks of him further exacerbating the symptoms he’s had since? The hope is that any potential surgery would help alleviate that risk.
Tanev suffered severe neck/head injury in collision six weeks ago
On Nov. 1, Tanev had his neck and head snap back on this collision from behind with Matvei Michkov.
Tanev has had concussion problems in the past, but there’s no word on exactly what he is suffering from at the moment. Kypreos suggests it could be similar to what former Leaf defenseman Jake Muzzin went through a couple of years back, when he sustained a cervical spine injury “that put him at risk for permanent paralysis if he took another big blow,” writes Kypreos.
Whatever the case with Tanev, this is a obviously a serious situation that all involved need to consider closely before moving forward.
