Maple Leafs practice sees return of Calle Jarnkrok and John Tavares as well as one surprising return

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Chris Gerics
October 2, 2024 (11:28)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs got some good news as Calle Jarnkrok and John Tavares returned to skate on Wednesday alongside a surprise appearance from Jani Hakanpaa.

With the regular season only a week away, the Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to narrow down their roster and ensure their best players take the ice when they face Montreal in the season opener. The team has dealt with several injuries over the past few weeks including ones to Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, Fraser Minten, Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok.

While the majority of those players have returned (minus Minten whose status is unknown as of now) questions surrounded Jarnkrok and Tavares' timeline. Tavares was injured off a hit from the Canadiens' Michael Pezzetta and remained out for a week, meanwhile Jarnkrok suffered an injury either during or shortly after his preseason game against Ottawa.

Well those questions have been answered as per David Alter of The Hockey News via LeafsLatest on X; Tavares and Jarnkrok are back with the club.

This is a huge sign of relief for the Maple Leafs and their fans. Tavares has been a huge part of the team since coming over in 2018 and him missing any amount of time would have been devastating for Toronto, especially at the beginning of the year.

His return will allow him to slide back into the third line role he was skating in earlier along with Nick Robertson and future Maple Leaf Max Pacioretty; who is still on a PTO but will sign a full contract in the coming days.

Calle Jarnkrok's return is also a big boost for the Maple Leafs, as the veteran forward is a versatile jack-of-all-trades for the team, and he will be able to slide into the bottom-six when necessary and will see some penalty kill time as well; he can be depended on for faceoffs and he fits Craig Berube's system even if he does cost the Maple Leafs a good chunk of cap space.

One surprise to practice on Wednesday though was the return of Jani Hakanpaa who was seen skating with the main club, a huge boost that shows he is just one step closer to fully recovering from his knee issues. It's the first time he's skated with the main squad since signing with Toronto, and him being healthy for the start of the season shows just how intense and dedicated the Toronto Maple Leafs medical staff is to get him healthy and on the ice.

The return of these three to the Maple Leafs should give fans a lot to be excited about. It would be in the best interest of the team to not push them hard off the bat and ease them into their final preseason series against Detroit. Berube has an idea of who he needs on the team and knowing the roles of Tavares, Jarnkrok and Hakanpaa makes it easier for him to slot them in where necessary. Having the roster that GM Brad Treliving envisioned for opening night not only healthy but game ready? That makes this team a deadly force to be reckoned with especially if they can get that chemistry built up quickly.

Having your third line center score 60+ points and providing top defense should spell success for the long-run, and holding down the blue line with shutdown defense on the third pairing; these Maple Leafs look as deep as ever.

It should get Maple Leafs fans excited that this iteration of the team looks bigger, meaner, and tougher. They added the right pieces this offseason and ended up giving themselves a bit more insurance than they had in previous years, but there's only one way to be sure they'll have success this year: Just get past the first and second rounds.