John Tavares Hand Surgery A Relief for Islanders Fans

It was revealed yesterday, that John Tavares had surgery for an injury on his hand. An injury he might have picked up at the start of the season. Making the sub-par season make sense.

With 66 points in 77 games, John Tavares had a pretty good year for the New York Islanders. But pretty good isn’t what we’ve come to expect from the captain.

We’ve come to expect extraordinarily. We’ve come to expect a point-per-game pace from the first overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft. So when that’s not what’s producing we assume something’s wrong.

It’s never that Tavares isn’t playing well. Because we can see he’s playing well. We generally chalk it up to his line mates. Who, in all fairness aren’t usually much to write home about.

More from Editorials

• Islanders key to success: Load management with goalies
• Islanders Zdeno Chara trending in the right direction
• Islanders: Semyon Varlamov Deserves Benefit of the Doubt
• Islanders Ilya Sorokin becoming number one goalie
• Islanders Zach Parise Was Quiet in Return to Minnesota

Not including this season Anders Lee and Josh Bailey haven’t been top line players. Complimentary players, sure, but not the core of the attacking line.

The confirmation that something’s been nagging at Tavares since the start of the season reaffirms that Tavares wasn’t playing at 100%. And should make us all feel better for next season.

At least this tweet from mid-April makes more sense. We all thought Tavares had a hamstring injury. Seeing his hand in a cast didn’t compute.

The News and The Injury

Arthur Staple reported that Tavares had surgery on his right hand to fix something that’s been bothering him for a majority of the season.

Think back to that game against Anaheim at the start of the season and how Ryan Kessler decided he wanted to start stockpiling lumber for the long winters of Southern California. Don’t remember? This will help you.

That’s the type of play that not only lacerated Marc Methot‘s finger, but it’s on that would have injured Tavares’ hand.

Knowing that he had that knock, pull, tear, whatever was nagging him, from the start of the season makes sense with the OK season that Tavares had.

Next: Tavares Likely to Get 8 Year Deal

With the surgery occurring right at the start of the offseason Tavares will be fine to suit up to start the 2017-18 season. Don’t worry about this spilling into next season. Tavares still put up 66 points with an injured hand. I can’t wait to see an extended and fully healthy Tavares.