Auston Matthews injury timeline revealed, not good news for Leafs fans

The Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten their fair share of awful injury news over the last week or so. After coming back from a lower-body injury, center Scott Laughton went down again after getting sent into next week by Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov.

Then, disaster struck last Tuesday. Starting netminder Anthony Stolarz left the first period of the Leafs-Bruins tilt at the TD Garden. The injury has been called an upper-body one and has forced the club to call up Artur Ahktyamov.

Now, the worst possible news of all. Captain Auston Matthews will be sidelined for “at least a week,” insider Chris Johnston reported.

The injury is being called a lower-body ailment. But what exactly does that mean? It could be anything from a torn ACL to a soreness in a knee. The worst part of all is the cryptic nature of the Maple Leafs’ injury updates. While we get that the club won’t reveal specifics of injuries, there’s always room for terror.

Talk has surfaced that this new lower-body injury had nothing to do with the vicious hit from Zadorov during the second period of Tuesday’s game. Judging from the hit, there may be some sense to it. Matthews went awkwardly into the boards, suggesting an upper-body injury.

Perhaps Matthews has been dealing with some unknown ailment that was simply aggravated in that fateful game against Boston.

Whatever the case, the Maple Leafs will now face the prospect of playing about four games without Matthews, at best. That means that John Tavares will have to step up into the top-line center role with, gasp, Max Domi likely jumping into the top six.

The loss of Scott Laughton means the Maple Leafs don’t really have another center who could really take over and play meaningful minutes. Perhaps Craig Berube moves up Nic Roy into the top six, leaving Domi down in the lineup.

We shall see what Berube comes up with on Thursday night as the Maple Leafs take on the LA Kings at Scotiabank Arena. Whatever line combos hit the ice, there’s reason to believe there may be a shakeup during the game if things somehow don’t work out in the early going.