Photo credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
The Toronto Maple Leafs shuffled their practice groups Wednesday, but without Auston Matthews, the lines in their top group were shuffled significantly.
After a very brief 25-minute practice, Matthews left the ice on Tuesday with an upper-body injury that Craig Berube said was ‘not serious’.
Matthews did not take part in practice on Wednesday, which forced Berube to shuffle his line combinations in Group A. Max Domi was given the opportunity to skate alongside Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner while William Nylander continued at center on the second line with Bobby McMann and Nicholas Robertson flanking him. Robertson earns this opportunity after Calle Jarnkrok also recently suffered an injury of his own.
After a 3-point night on Sunday, Max Pacioretty remained on the wing of John Tavares on the third line with Pontus Holmberg, while David Kampf centered Ryan Reaves and the now healthy Steven Lorentz on the fourth line.
Matthews is unlikely to play in Thursday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, which could provide the likes of Robertson and Lorentz a huge opportunity to show why they deserve what is seemingly the only spot left on the roster.
Although Matthews’ injury is not considered serious by the team, if he remains off the ice for any extended period of time throughout training camp, there will certainly be speculation as to true seriousness of the ailment.
