Auston Matthews had a concussion.
Auston Matthews has missed the last six Toronto Maple Leafs games with a concussion. One assumes it was from the Penguins game when Matthews and Morgan Rielly collided.
The problem with that, however, is that Matthews returned to the game afterwards. The NHL is supposed to have concussion spotters and players with head injuries are not supposed to end up back in games. Do the spotters have the nerve to pull a star player? It’s debatable, but watching the replay you have to ask yourself why the Leafs (or the spotters) would risk putting Matthews back in if there was even the slightest chance of a head injury. Seems pretty reckless to me.
The Leafs were 2-4 with Matthews out of the lineup this time, and 6-4 without him overall.
Cautious Afterwards
Though the Leafs may have screwed up by not removing Matthews from the game in Pittsburgh, at least they have acted cautiously since. It’s been over a week since Babcock said he thought he should be playing, and Babcock indicated that he has already sat out longer than probably necessary.
#Leafs medical staff and Babcock did talk about holding Matthews out another game but at the same time Mike said they’d probably already gone beyond what they need to do to get him healthy - “He’s ready to go so he’s going.”
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) December 23, 2017
While this is good to hear, with head injuries you can never tell. Weirder still, and sticking with the theme of the NHL not being forthright with injuries, no one ever technically said Matthews had a concussion. Just that he was ‘suffering concussion symptoms.’ I’m not sure there is a difference, but if there isn’t, why make the distinction?
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Matthews is Back
The Leafs take on the Rangers tonight and Matthews is going to play. Matthews – who led the NHL in 5v5 scoring last year – is averaging one point per game (26 in 26) and is the Leafs best player.
Tonight he will be back in his customary spot centering Zach Hyman and William Nylander. I thought Nylander was good playing centre on Wednesday in Columbus (a game the Leafs deserved to win) and I hope Bozak is traded soon so that the Leafs can have Nylander switch permanently.
What I’d like to see even more is Mitch Marner line up with Matthews regularly. Marner has been a revelation this week, showing that when he’s on he can be one of the NHL’s best players. I think a Matthews/Marner combo would be unstoppable, especially when you’re following it with a Kadri/Marleau combo and a Nylander/JVR combo.
I don’t think Kapanen is going to play tonight, which is a bummer because I think he’s been pretty good lately. Certainly his speed makes the Leafs even harder to play against.
Next: Matthews Rookie vs Sophomore Comparison
Regardless, the important thing is that Auston Matthews is back.