Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews will be unavailable for Wednesday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Head coach Craig Berube broke the news to reporters during an off-day for the team. Matthews will have now not skated for over a week, but the bench boss ensured that this isn’t a sign that his recovery has hit a snag.
“It’s a little bit of a holding pattern, but he’s not getting worse so that’s a good thing,” he said via the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan. “It’s just taking time. It’s taking long, but it is what it is. He’s doing what he needs to do to get back in the lineup and get healthy, and our team needs to just push on.”
It is understandable why there would be reasons for concern given that Matthews has been listed as ‘day-to-day’ for three weeks. But as TSN’s Darren Dreger reported, the Leafs have a light schedule with no travel which may explain why they are not rushing their captain back into the lineup. Their next game after the Golden Knights is on Sunday when they host the Utah Hockey Club.
The Leafs are reportedly trying to nip the injury to Matthews in the butt to ensure that he is fully recovered from whatever is nagging him. The last thing they want to do is have him performing at less than 100% the entire season to the point where a re-aggravation results in more time missed.
It certainly helps that the rest of the team is doing well in his absence with a 5-1-0 record since he last appeared in a game. But make no mistake: the Leafs are better with Matthews in the lineup and they have certainly missed him despite the winning ways.
Prior to his injury, Matthews has recorded 11 points (five goals and six assists) in 13 games played. The time off has resulted in him sliding down to sixth on the team in scoring while his teammates have picked up the pace offensively.
