A former Maple Leafs winger has accused Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs of hiding the truth about his injury, suggesting that he’s dealing with something entirely new.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been dealt a pretty rough hand this season when it comes to the number of injuries they’ve been forced to endure through the first half of the 2024-25 campaign.

Not only are the Leafs currently missing number one goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who went under the knife recently to remove a “pebble” from his knee, they are also currently missing elite defensive defenseman Chris Tanev and captain Auston Matthews, who is on the shelf for the second time this season.

According to a recent report, Matthews and the Leafs have reached an understanding on how to best approach his recovery, indicating that both sides are on the same page.

The Leafs are suggesting that Matthews is dealing with an “upper-body injury”, with the organization going so far as to indicate that this current injury is a re-aggrivation of the same issue he missed 9 games with in November.

However, a former Leaf is calling bulls**t on that report from the team, indicating that he believes that the issue is an entirely new ailment.

Kris Versteeg, who played 53 games with the Leafs in 2010-11, recently appeared on the JD Bunkis Podcast, revealing that the cross-check that Matthews took from Buffalo’s Dennis Gilbert may have caused an injury to his iliac crest in his lower back and side.

 

Last season, Matthews filled the net at an elite rate, producing 69 goals and 107 points to cap off the best season of his career.

With teams and players currently enjoying their holiday break, neither the Leafs nor Matthews have had the opportunity to address this accusation. They also may choose to simply ignore the outside noise and focus on things internally, as they have shown a tendency to do in the past.

Whether the issue is new or a re-aggrivated previous injury does seem somewhat irrelevant. It really doesn’t matter why he’s sidelined. The only thing that matters is that Matthews and the team do whatever they can to get him back to 100% health as quickly as they can.