It’s unclear when Matthews sustained the damage. In all chance, it’s one thing he’s been enjoying via for at the very least a few video games, or it was sustained off-ice. He logged over 22 minutes in Sunday’s time beyond regulation loss to the Wild and didn’t miss a shift.
If the damage is one thing he’s been enjoying via, it may very well be a part of the reason for why the 27-year-old is off to a sluggish begin by his requirements. With 5 objectives in 13 video games, he’s tied with John Tavares for third on the workforce and has been out-scored by Matthew Knies (six) and William Nylander (9). In general scoring, he’s tied with Tavares for third on the workforce with 11 factors behind Nylander (13) and Mitch Marner (14). These numbers put him on tempo for simply 32 objectives and 69 factors over a full season.
It’s not for an absence of attempting, although. Matthews is capturing an unsustainably low 8.9% by his requirements. His earlier career-low was 12.2%, set in 2022-23 when he nonetheless managed 40 objectives. He at the moment leads the league with 56 photographs on aim, on tempo to take a seat atop the NHL in that stat for the third time in his nine-year profession.
Exterior of the surprisingly low aim and level totals, it’s been enterprise as ordinary for Matthews. The newly-minted captain of the Maple Leafs stays among the finest two-way facilities within the league. He’s averaged almost 21 minutes per recreation, gained 55.6% of his attracts and is controlling a team-high 57.3% of shot makes an attempt when on the ice at even energy. Among the many 14 ahead traces within the NHL to play at the very least 100 minutes collectively this season, Matthews’ unit with Knies and Marner ranks third with a 63.6% anticipated objectives share, per MoneyPuck.
In Matthews’ absence, Max Domi will slide up from the third line to middle the highest line, per Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun. Pontus Holmberg will return to the lineup and substitute Domi as third-line middle after serving as a wholesome scratch in Minnesota, relays Jonas Siegel of The Athletic. Head coach Craig Berube hopes the short-term promotion may also help jumpstart Domi, who’s but to attain a aim this season and solely has 15 photographs in 13 appearances, a fee that’s down sharply from his 137 SOG in 80 video games final season.
The Leafs don’t have room to make a corresponding recall for Matthews with out putting him on injured reserve. Doing so retroactive to Sunday would additionally rule him out of Friday and Saturday’s residence back-to-back in opposition to the Pink Wings and Canadiens, that means he’d miss a minimal of three video games with the damage.
Matthews is within the first season of the four-year, $53M extension he inked in August 2023. He carries a cap hit of $13.25M, at the moment the very best within the league.
