Auston Matthews Injury Status Confirmed Following Latest Health Report
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs are only a few points out of the top spot in the Atlantic Division, but is Auston Matthews playing through an ailment that's affected his scoring?
The good news for the Toronto Maple Leafs is that they are only a few points out of the top spot in the Atlantic Division and will likely have home ice advantage in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The less than good news is that captain Auston Matthews has routinely been hurt this year, and hasn't been scoring at the same normal rate that made him a 3x recipient of the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goal scorer.
He has been one of the NHL's best 5-on-5 scorers, if not the best over the past few seasons, but this year only has 11; less than a 50% clip.
He was also hurt during last spring's postseason, missing a handful of games against the Bruins:
He's on pace to hit nowhere near last year's output of 69 goals, the most of any NHL player since Steven Stamkos hit 60 in 2011-12.
Auston Matthews Dealing With A Potential Injury?
Per former NHL player Jordan Schmaltz, Matthews is likely dealing with a physical ailment that has played a key role in his lack of scoring this year.
Auston Matthews has to be playing thru some sort of LBI at the moment. 34 doesn't have his pop that he usually has that makes him one of the best 2-3 players in the league.
It's nails he's playing through whatever he is and gutting it out despite being 100%. Something I noticed last night sitting on the glass eh.
It's nails he's playing through whatever he is and gutting it out despite being 100%. Something I noticed last night sitting on the glass eh.
Matthews has already sought treatment overseas, traveling to Germany to for what general manager Brad Treliving described as a "general checkup"..
(The trip was) more as a general checkup, but also to get some work done on his thing. It's not alarming.
It's something we have been discussing knowing that he's going to be getting this week (off), but we are hopeful that once we get through the week here he will be back up and skating and his return to play would be after that.
It's something we have been discussing knowing that he's going to be getting this week (off), but we are hopeful that once we get through the week here he will be back up and skating and his return to play would be after that.
So far this year, Matthews has 56 points (23G, 33A) in 49 games, good for 3rd on the Leafs roster in total points behind Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
| POLL | ||
MARS 14 | 704 ANSWERS Auston Matthews Injury Status Confirmed Following Latest Health Report Is Auston Matthews being hindered by an injury, or is it Craig Berube's defensive playing system that's caused a drop in his scoring? | ||
| He's hurt | 361 | 51.3 % |
| It's Berube's system | 85 | 12.1 % |
| Both | 227 | 32.2 % |
| Neither | 31 | 4.4 % |
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