John Tavares Makes His Return, William Nylander Sidelined at Maple Leafs Practice

With the Toronto Maple Leafs already dealing with several injuries this young season, having star forward John Tavares out with an illness was the last thing they wanted; Tavares missed Saturday's game against Pittsburgh and wasn't skating Monday so many questioned how bad the illness is.

Well, fans can rest assured that Tavares seems to be back to form, as he was seen skating on the second line in practice this morning in between Pontus Holmberg and Nick Robertson:

You may be asking yourself, where is William Nylander? The Swedish superstar missed Tuesday's practice with an illness, potentially the same one that kept Tavares out. No word yet on when he will return or the severity of the illness:

It would be a huge blow to the Maple Leafs to lose Nylander, the team's current leading goal scorer in this young season. Showing fantastic chemistry with linemate Max Domi, it looked like Nylander was poised to keep riding a wave of momentum before this illness halted him.

Scoring twice in three games while being a +3 +/-, Nylander has been one of the bright spots this season. Considering goal-scoring phenom Auston Matthews has yet to register a point, it would be tough to justify saying it's fine to have Nylander out.

The Toronto Maple Leafs can't keep affording any setbacks this season, no matter how long or short the absences will be. Toronto is lucky that they were able to deal with John Tavares' absence, and if Nylander misses any time, Toronto can't rely on luck again. Joseph Woll is on the shelf for an indeterminate amount of time, and if the rest of the team falls apart piece by piece, it would create a domino effect that could become catastrophic come playoff time.