It’s unclear when Matthews sustained the damage. In all probability, it’s one thing he’s been taking part in by means of for no less than a few video games, or it was sustained off-ice. He logged over 22 minutes in Sunday’s extra time loss to the Wild and didn’t miss a shift.
If the damage is one thing he’s been taking part in by means of, it could possibly be a part of the reason for why the 27-year-old is off to a sluggish begin by his requirements. With 5 targets in 13 video games, he’s tied with John Tavares for third on the crew 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 crew with 11 factors behind Nylander (13) and Mitch Marner (14). These numbers put him on tempo for simply 32 targets and 69 factors over a full season.
It’s not for a scarcity of attempting, although. Matthews is taking pictures an unsustainably low 8.9% by his requirements. His earlier career-low was 12.2%, set in 2022-23 when he nonetheless managed 40 targets. He at the moment leads the league with 56 pictures on purpose, on tempo to sit down atop the NHL in that stat for the third time in his nine-year profession.
Outdoors of the surprisingly low purpose and level totals, it’s been enterprise as typical for Matthews. The newly-minted captain of the Maple Leafs stays top-of-the-line two-way facilities within the league. He’s averaged practically 21 minutes per recreation, received 55.6% of his attracts and is controlling a team-high 57.3% of shot makes an attempt when on the ice at even power. Among the many 14 ahead traces within the NHL to play no less than 100 minutes collectively this season, Matthews’ unit with Knies and Marner ranks third with a 63.6% anticipated targets share, per MoneyPuck.
In Matthews’ absence, Max Domi will slide up from the third line to heart the highest line, per Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun. Pontus Holmberg will return to the lineup and change Domi as third-line heart after serving as a wholesome scratch in Minnesota, relays Jonas Siegel of The Athletic. Head coach Craig Berube hopes the non permanent promotion might help jumpstart Domi, who’s but to attain a purpose this season and solely has 15 pictures in 13 appearances, a price 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 inserting him on injured reserve. Doing so retroactive to Sunday would additionally rule him out of Friday and Saturday’s dwelling back-to-back in opposition to the Pink Wings and Canadiens, which 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.
