Toronto Maple Leafs Receive Horrendous Blow: Auston Matthews Injured

The Maple Leafs were hit with a blow when the team announced Friday morning that superstar Auston Matthews will be out for three weeks.

The Toronto Maple Leafs best player and reigning Hart Trophy winner suffered the injury Wednesday vs the New York Rangers.

The injury does not appear to be related to the back issue that kept him out for two games early this month as the teams Twitter account announced that he sustained an injury during Wednesday nights game against the New York Rangers.

While many have made remarks that Matthews is having a down season after recording a franchise record 60 goals last year, he was still on pace for 43 this season despite nagging injuries throughout the year.

If the injury keeps him out the reported three weeks (21 days), the reigning Hart Trophy winner will miss just six games due to the All-Star Break.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews

Mark Masters reported that the Leafs lines in practice had rookie Pontus Holmberg centering William Nylander and Calle Jarnkrok which would form an all Swedish line.

Holmberg has impressed management with his detailed game play and has a chance to show how much of an offensive side he has.

With Holmberg’s promotion, Alex Kerfoot looks to center the fourth line between Joey Anderson and Zach Aston-Reese who will draw back into the line-up after his first healthy scratch since October 29 on Wednesday.

Given Matthews previous injury (it’s been speculated that it was his wrist) and the fact that the Leafs already know who they are playing this spring, it won’t be the worst thing to have the best player take a vacation and get healthy, since the rest of the season is more or less exhibition games at this point.

You would have thought that onne bright spot here is that with Matthews now out for three weeks, that Nylander would replace him in the all-star game. However,  Sportsnet reported a short time after the injury was reported that Florida Panther Aleksander Barkov would replace Matthews.

Nylander is currently following up a breakout 2022 season with an even more impressive 2022-23 year.  Nylander has 57 points through 49 games and is on pace for 44-goals and 95-points which will both be career highs, while Barkov is currently on pace for got 23-goals and 77-points due to him missing ten games this year.

It’s obviously a bad call.  William Nylander should be making an all-star appearance.