Auston Matthews injury update means good news for Leafs fans

The Toronto Maple Leafs were dealt a heavy blow when captain Auston Matthews had to leave the game against the Detroit Red Wings on Dec. 28 after blocking a shot. It got even worse when the news was out that he would miss the following game two days later. But thankfully, the nightmare is over and Matthews is going to be back in the lineup for Thursday's game against the Winnipeg Jets.

Matthews was on the ice at Leafs morning skate before they host the Jets and then the assumed news was able to be confirmed: The captain is back.

Matthews returning gives Leafs massive boost

While the Leafs certainly didn't look like they missed Matthews against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, it's never a bad thing to get a player like the captain back, even if he's not having a typically dominant season.

The key will be if adding Matthews back in the lineup will lead to any change compared to how they played against New Jersey. They were physical, fast, willing to drop the gloves, and scoring some high-octane goals. Matthews can do some of those things but with him leading the team throughout this season, it has been a far cry from that -- basically the opposite with a slow, low-scoring team being on the ice.

Players like Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann will have to keep up their great level of play as the Leafs host the Jets -- a team experiencing a similarly bad season and having had taken a massive step back compared to where they were just last year.

Matthews has scored 15 goals and 27 points in 33 games while averaging 20:49 of ice-time a game.

Additionally, fellow Leafs star William Nylander is still out of the lineup with his injury. But, he was on the ice before practice on Thursday morning and head coach Craig Berube gave a fairly neutral update.

So, yeah, I guess we will just have to see. It's a steady progression and now we just have to worry if Nylander will be out for anything longer than just day-to-day.