It’s unclear when Matthews sustained the damage. In all chance, it’s one thing he’s been taking part in by means of for at the 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 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 objectives in 13 video games, he’s tied with John Tavares for third on the staff 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 staff 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 a scarcity of making an attempt, 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 purpose, on tempo to take a seat 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 common for Matthews. The newly-minted captain of the Maple Leafs stays top-of-the-line 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 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 change 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 will help jumpstart Domi, who’s but to attain a purpose 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 dwelling back-to-back in opposition to the Crimson 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.
