William Nylander the latest to fall victim to an illness spreading through the Toronto Maple Leafs locker room

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Tom Banks
October 15, 2024 (11:39 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have been great to start the 2024/25 season, but now they may face some missed time due to an illness spreading through their locker room.

The Toronto Maple Leafs season was going so smoothly after two straight victories, which came in spite of the illness that has kept former captain John Tavares out of the lineup. Unfortunately, the illness that forced him off the ice isn't gone, as it appears teammate William Nylander may now miss the team's next game as he goes through the same thing.

According to TSN's Mark Masters, Nylander's status is up in the air for Wednesday's clash due to the illness that is going through the team's locker room, and while he's the only one currently missing practice, he's not the only person going through it.

«We've had more guys [sick] too, but they were able to keep going,» Berube added. «We've got to watch for it. But it was great to see [Tavares] out there today and he got through practice. It looked like he was low-energy, but he's a good pro, got out, had a sweat and I'm sure he'll feel better later.»

Coach Craig Berube revealed that Tavares is slowly improving after the illness, and while he's not back to 100%, things are now looking good for the veteran forward to return to the lineup soon. It's a long season in the NHL, so a game this early likely won't impact their overall chances this season, and while players missing games will never be a good thing, it's given players opportunities up the lineup that we wouldn't usually see, with Pontus Holmberg playing a great game recently in place of Tavares.

Ultimately, it's only a matter of time until the illness passes through the locker room, but until that point, the team may have to make some big lineup changes to get through the games as they look to continue their solid start to the new campaign.