The Leafs have been without the services of captain Auston Matthews since the start of November, but thankfully, Craig Berube shared some good news on that front.

At some point in the first few weeks of the season, Matthews suffered some sort of an unspecified upper-body injury that seemed to linger, taking him well beyond his original day-to-day injury designation, pushing him more towards a week-to-week situation.

Despite the extended time off, the Leafs were consistent with their messaging throughout that nothing was getting worse and that Matthews’ recent trip to Germany was not related to requiring surgical intervention.

Leafs GM Brad Treliving had suggested within the past week that Matthews could potentially return on Sunday against Utah, but more likely would sit out until next Wednesday to make better use of the quiet schedule to ensure that when he does return, he’ll be doing so at 100%.

On Thursday after a brief skills session, following a thrilling 3-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday evening, Leafs head coach Craig Berube shared a positive update on Matthews, who has returned from Germany, which bodes well for his fairly imminent return.
“Everything went well. He’s actually improving and in a really good spot right now going forward so we are very happy with that.”
 

Last week, Matthews was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to November 3rd. The team has played 7 games without their captain and has now won 6 of them.

Still, even with the team really rolling right now, I think it’s safe to say that Matthews can’t return soon enough and that both the team and the fanbase are looking forward to having the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner back in the lineup as soon as possible.