Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews took to the ice Saturday as he continues to rehabilitate his injury, and hinted that a return could come as early as next week.
Matthews, who has missed 7 straight games with what the team has labelled as an upper body injury, recently returned from a trip to Germany where he consulted several specialists on the matter. Head coach Craig Berube previously confirmed that the injury isn’t related to the wrist injury that required surgery back in 2020-21 but stopped short of providing any additional information.
“It was great,” Berube said of having Matthews back on the ice. “He’s feeling a lot better, which is good. He skated today and he will probably get on the ice again tomorrow.”
Prior to going down with his UBI, Matthews posted 11 points (5G, 6A) across 13 contests with the Leafs. Despite his absence, Toronto has posted a 12-6-2 record, including a current 3 game winning streak, to sit atop the Atlantic Division at the 20 game mark of the season.
“Today was a good day to get back on the ice,” Matthews said. “It’s been probably over a week since I’ve been on the ice, so we will take day to day, continue to try to progress in the ice and see how this week looks and feels. Obviously, I want to get out there. Tomorrow [is] not realistic but Wednesday [is] possible, but we will just see how the week goes.”
When asked why he felt the need to see a specialist overseas by reporters, the 27 year old responded “I just wanted to be proactive about it, not that it was getting worse, it just didn’t feel like I was progressing like I needed to or wanted to.” Matthews said. “I think the team and I just tried to collaborate and their support obviously meant a lot to get that done and go on the trip and just be proactive about the whole situation.”
The Leafs are next in action against Utah on Sunday, before travelling to Florida to take on the Panthers in what could be Matthews return to on ice action.
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