Ahead of the Leafs’ clash with the New Jersey Devils and former coach Sheldon Keefe, Auston Matthews made some concerning comments about his injury situation.
Matthews returned to the lineup against the Tampa Bay Lightning last week after missing nearly a month with an undisclosed injury that sent him to Germany to receive treatment.
When he visited Germany, concerns were raised about the severity of the injury. Those concerns were mitigated by comments from Brad Treliving, who stated that the treatment was hopefully going to put the injury in the rearview and that Matthews would return at 100 percent.
Following practice on Monday, however, Matthews was asked if he was 100 percent healthy and his response raised some eyebrows and concern among Leafs Nation.
“I’m getting there. I mean, it’s tough. You know, you jump right back into the games. After being out, I think it takes a little bit of time. It seems like the first couple of games, you’re kind of running on adrenaline just because you’ve been out, and you’re so excited to be back. Then, obviously, the wear and tear and the grind of playing a lot kind of comes back. So, it takes a little bit of time to really get your full conditioning and everything back. But like I said, every day, every game, I’m feeling better.”
As the former first-overall pick noted, no player will ever be 100 percent with the wear and tear of a full NHL season. However, after playing just 5 games in the last month, the fact that he confirmed he isn’t completely healthy has caused some concern about him potentially aggravating the injury again.
The three-time Rocket Richard winner is still trying to get back up to game speed as he noted, so hopefully once he gets there, any remnants of the injury are put behind him for the rest of the season.
