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Auston Matthews Injury Would Devastate Toronto Maple Leafs

By Stephen Nixon

DALLAS, TEXAS - JANUARY 29: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates a goal against the Dallas Stars in the first period at American Airlines Center on January 29, 2020 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TEXAS - JANUARY 29: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates a goal against the Dallas Stars in the first period at American Airlines Center on January 29, 2020 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs star centre Auston Matthews left practice on Thursday for undisclosed reasons.

Toronto’s depth has already taken a hit with the injuries to Nick Robertson and Joe Thornton, so if Matthews misses time, this team is in serious trouble. After practice, TSN’s Kristen Shilton reported the following: “No real update. He wasn’t feeling great today coming off the game yesterday.”

That statement unfortunately doesn’t give us much to work with at the moment. I’m not going to speculate anything because I don’t know anything, but the Leafs have played five games in seven nights. Matthews is averaging 23:24 TOI right now, which is almost three more minutes than his previous high, so the workload could be getting to him.

Regardless, the Leafs showed how much different they could look if he’s out of the line-up. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported the following lines at practice on Thursday:

  • First Line:
    • William Nylander-John Tavares-Zach Hyman
  • Second Line: 
    •  Jimmy Vesey-Adam Brooks-Mitch Marner
  • Third Line:
    •  Ilya Mikheyev-Alex Kerfoot-Wayne Simmonds
  • Fourth Line: 
    •  Alexander Barabanov-Pierre Engvall-Jason Spezza

Toronto still has a talented first line, but after that, the wheels fall off. Simmonds has been a fine energy player on the fourth line, but I’m not sure if he should be used more than that. I’d almost rather see Spezza in that role instead.

Regardless, without Matthews as that top-line centre, the Leafs go from contender to middle of the pack pretty easily.

Injuries Could be Devastating for Toronto Maple Leafs

Whenever a team has significant injuries, it’s devastating. However, in a 56-game sprint where every game is a divisional match-up, it means even more. If a player misses 10 games, that’s 18 percent of the season, compared to 12 percent in a regular season. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but that six percent could be the difference between missing and making the playoffs.

You can’t predict injuries but you can counteract it by having a ton of depth. Before the season started, I loved the depth of this team. Having the ability to rotate Barabanov, Engvall, Brooks, Robertson, Travis Boyd and even Joey Anderson in-and-out of the line-up looked great. However, it starts to become an issue when those players are playing inside the top-six.

When you’re paying four forwards $40M, it doesn’t matter how much depth you have because if any of those players get injured, you’re finished. That’s the risk you face when you put all of your eggs in one basket with a core-four. Adam Brooks is a fine depth piece, who won’t hurt you if he’s playing on the fourth-line. He’s not someone who should be playing on the second-line beside Jimmy Vesey and Mitch Marner for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Next. McDavid vs. Matthews Isn't a Rivalry, Yet. dark

Obviously, we have no idea if Matthews is even going to miss a second of action, but the thought of it scares the hell out of me. Maybe Keefe should start putting a leash on the top-six to limit their minutes because as we just discussed, this team could be one more injury away from missing the playoffs.

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