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Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews Out for Four Weeks

By Michael Mazzei |
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 27: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs takes a face off against the Winnipeg Jets during the first period at the Scotiabank Arena on October 27, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 27: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs takes a face off against the Winnipeg Jets during the first period at the Scotiabank Arena on October 27, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews will be out for at least a month.

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Monday morning that Auston Matthews was placed on injury reserved and will be out a minimum of four weeks.

This comes after he was forced to leave Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets with a shoulder injury. In his absence, the Leafs made a comeback and won 3-2.

Here are the details from Leafs PR:

The injury is a huge blow for both the Leafs and Matthews himself for obvious reasons. Heading into Monday’s game against the Calgary Flames, Toronto is off to an impressive start to the 2018-19 season with an 8-3-0 record, tied for first in the NHL.

Matthews himself had a hot start to the regular season with 10 goals, 6 assists, and 16 points as per Hockey Reference. He began the year with a six-game goal streak and a seven-game multi-point streak to lead the Leafs offensive attack.

During the game against the Jets, Matthews collided with defenseman Jacob Trouba and suffered a shoulder injury on his left arm. He left the game and did not return.

This isn’t the first time the Leafs have had to deal with life without Matthews in the lineup. Last season, the 2016 1st overall pick missed 20 games with varying injuries.

Matthews Out

Due to his now prolonged absence, the Leafs have had to shuffle the lines in order to compensate for the loss off their star centreman. The new look lineup as per Jonas Segal of The Athletic sees Nazem Kadri reunited with Patrick Marleau and Mitch Marner, while John Tavares will get a new linemate in Kasperi Kapanen.

Par Lindholm now becomes the Toronto Maple Leafs third line centre, while Andreas Johnsson will make his return to the lineup. The rest of the lineup, including the defensive units, remains unchanged for now.

The Leafs will likely need to make a call-up from the Toronto Marlies in response to Matthews’ injury.   Players such as Trevor Moore and Chris Mueller appear to be the most likely candidates should Toronto pursue this option.

The alternative would be for the Leafs to finally sign William Nylander to settle the contract dispute once and for all. Nylander had spent time last season taking faceoffs so should he return, it’s something for Mike Babcock to consider.

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In the meantime, the Toronto Maple Leafs will once again be forced to lose Matthews for at least the next 14 games as per James Mirtle of The Athletic. It will be a critical test for the next four weeks for how well their depth can sustain the loss of one of their core pieces.

Thanks for reading!

All stats unless otherwise noted are from Hockey Reference.

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