Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 16, in Toronto.Claus Andersen/Getty Images
As the Maple Leafs’ long injury list continues to grow, speculation over the return date of Auston Matthews shows little sign of dying down.
Toronto’s captain flew to Munich this past week to see a specialist concerning the upper-body injury that has kept him on the shelf since he last played in Minneapolis on Nov. 3. While he was scheduled to return to Toronto in time for this weekend, with head coach Craig Berube stating that he could start skating at some point in the next couple of days, there is little clarity on when exactly he will be leading his team for actual NHL games.
The Maple Leafs play at home on Sunday against the Utah Hockey Club, before heading to Florida, first to take on the Stanley Cup defending champion Panthers on Wednesday ahead of a visit to Tampa Bay next Saturday.
While Berube said his captain is “in a real good spot right now,” NHL insider Darren Dreger said Friday on TSN Radio that he wouldn’t expect Matthews to play on Sunday or Wednesday. However, Toronto general manager Brad Treliving had said earlier this week that his star would “probably” return on the road trip, with hockey insider Frank Seravalli sharing on Amazon Prime’s Coast to Coast roundup show on Thursday that “all signals point to Auston Matthews returning to the Maple Leafs lineup on Wednesday.”
Whenever he does return, he will be coming back to a squad of players that is less ‘O Captain! My Captain!’ and more ‘No Captain! No Problem!’
This resilient band of Buds has rallied without its on-ice leader, going 6-1 since the loss to the Wild at the start of the month and finding its way to the top of the Atlantic Division.
Mitch Marner has led the way offensively in the absence of Matthews, posting 12 points in the seven games, while William Nylander and John Tavares have also helped pick up the slack with nine and eight points, respectively. And along with Morgan Rielly, the longest-tenured Leaf, the foursome have led by example, scoring five of the six game-winning goals during the seven-game stretch.
Of course, despite the recent run of success, the players would much rather have their captain – the winner of last year’s Rocket Richard Trophy on the back of a franchise-record 69-goal campaign – back in the trenches alongside them.
“I think our record’s got to be pretty good with him in the lineup too,” Tavares joked when asked about the team’s success in Matthews’s absence. “We miss him, and we want him back as soon as possible. I know he’s doing everything he can to do that for everyone.
“No one’s going to replace him or fill his shoes, but whatever your opportunity, your role is, you go out there and try to do at the highest level.”
Much has been made of Berube’s system, which has allowed the team to plug in younger forwards brought up from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL – such as Fraser Minten, Alex Steeves and Nikita Grebenkin – and barely miss a beat.
“I think right from camp, I think the guys have bought into the system,” Berube said Friday. “I think we’re doing a good job, our checking side of things without the puck, and our defence, our penalty kill, the goaltending’s been strong, and we’re manufacturing goals, enough to win hockey games.”
That ability has been tested with seven forwards currently out, with the two Maxes – Domi and Pacioretty – joining David Kampf, Calle Jarnkrok, Matthew Knies and Matthews in the club infirmary, and winger Ryan Reaves currently serving a five-game suspension for last weekend’s illegal hit on Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse.
Knies was the latest to go down – injured during Wednesday’s 3-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights – and so the team practised with 11 viable forwards on Friday morning, with Reaves taking part but unavailable Sunday.
Though Berube had discussed going with an 11/7 split of forwards and defencemen earlier in the week, that conundrum was partially resolved Friday when the team signed Alexander Nylander – William’s younger brother – to a one-year, US$775,000 contract.
It remains to be seen whether he will make his Maple Leafs debut on Sunday, but the team is turning its ‘next man up’ credo into something of an art form. The 20-year-old Minten, Toronto’s 2022 second-round pick, scored his first goal in his season debut on Wednesday, while 21-year-old Grebenkin garnered a lot of laughs and goodwill with his “backcheck, forecheck, paycheque” quip following his NHL debut in the same game.
In Toronto’s time of need, their ability to assimilate themselves almost seamlessly into an ambitious squad that just reached the quarter mark of the NHL season – with one more point than it had at the same stage last year – has not gone unnoticed.
“We’re obviously missing a few guys right now,” Tavares said. “[So it’s a] continuous opportunity for guys to step up, embrace bigger roles, more opportunity, and certainly some of the young guys we’ve brought up, to make an impact and show that they belong.”
Leafs place Matthew Knies on injured reserve and add Alex Nylander on a one-year deal
One of the TTC’s most famous riders may have company the next time he takes the subway to a game after the Toronto Maple Leafs signed William Nylander’s younger brother Alex to an NHL contract on Friday.
The siblings, born two years apart, could play together as early as Sunday, at home against the Utah Hockey Club, after Alex was signed to a one-year, US$775,000 contract and promoted from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, with Leafs winger Matthew Knies placed on injured reserve in a corresponding move.
While older brother William has been in red-hot form for the Leafs, registering 22 points in 20 games, Alex has been doing much the same down on the farm, scoring eight goals and four assists in 14 games with the Marlies.
With the Leafs currently embroiled in something of an injury crisis – they could be missing seven forwards for Sunday’s game – Toronto added the younger Nylander to ensure it would be able to dress 12 healthy skaters.
Alex Nylander is no stranger to the NHL. Like his brother, he was drafted eighth over all – by the Buffalo Sabres in 2016. After three seasons in the Buffalo organization, he was traded to the Blackhawks, where he played a career-high 65 games during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. After spending a year out of the game recovering from knee surgery, he played a handful of games for the Pittsburgh Penguins before landing in Columbus via trade last February.
The 26-year-old winger found his best form with the Blue Jackets, scoring 11 goals and 15 points in 23 games, and despite getting other NHL offers this past summer as a free agent, decided to sign a one-year AHL contract with Leafs organization in July. That allowed him to reunite with his brother, moving into his apartment and preparing for an eventual return to the NHL.
In 121 career NHL games, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound forward has 25 goals and 24 assists, and won a silver medal at the 2018 world junior championship.