Hockey

Leafs say injured Tavares will return to off-season training in 1 month

The Toronto Maple Leafs say centre John Tavares is expected to return to his full off-season training program in a month after suffering an oblique injury.

Forward left world championship with oblique injury sustained in practice

Maple Leafs centre John Tavares will return to his off-season training program in one month after suffering an oblique injury in preparation for the world championships, the team announced on Saturday. (Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs say centre John Tavares is expected to return to his full off-season training program in a month after suffering an oblique injury.

The team announced the news Saturday.

Tavares sustained the injury earlier this week while practising with the Canadian team ahead of the world hockey championship, forcing him to miss the tournament.

It wasn't immediately clear how the 28-year-old centre suffered the injury.

Tavares had a career-high 47 goals with 41 assists in 82 games with the Maple Leafs in the regular season, and added two goals and three assists in seven playoff games.

Canada opened world championship play with a 3-1 loss to Finland on Friday in Kosice, Slovakia.