Matthews skipped the club's morning skate due to maintenance, but it's clear the player hasn't been himself since returning from an upper-body injury.
Auston Matthews has played in nine games since missing the previous nine due to an undisclosed upper-body injury. The hope was that the Toronto Maple Leafs star forward would be free and clear of whatever was bothering him.
So how is that going? Not great, it seems.
Matthews has five goals and four assists in his last nine games. A point-per-game pace would normally be ok for a top-range player. But for Matthews, it's far below is superstar pace. It's only marginally better than the 11 points in 13 games he had before he was shut down and traveled to Germany to see a doctor for additional treatment.
Ahead of Toronto's title against the Buffalo Sabres, Matthews skipped the full morning skate for maintenance. But Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube did admit that the player not taking part has something to do with making sure the player is fully healthy,.
"Well it's tough. I mean, he's fighting through it and he's doing, you know, he's doing a pretty good job out there on the ice. Like he's producing and playing hard and working and, you know, we just got to manage it," Berube said." We just got to manage it. You know, it'll get better. We just got to manage it though. And that's why he's off the ice today."
