Auston Matthews is still battling through an upper-body injury, so why in the world are the Toronto Maple Leafs still playing him?
Here's what Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said about Auston Matthews on Friday morning, regarding the health of his captain:
"Well it's tough. I mean, he's fighting through it and he's doing, you know, he's doing a pretty good job out there on the ice...Like he's producing and playing hard and working and, you know, we just got to manage it... You know, it'll get better. We just got to manage it though. And that's why he's off the ice today." (via: TSN.ca)
Matthews missed Friday morning's practice, but it didn't stop him from playing, which is crazy. Matthews has already missed nine games this year, and the team is 8-1 without him, so his absense hasn't been truly missed. Obviously, you'd hate to see your captain, and best player, out long-term, but the team is fine without him.
If this was the playoffs, I'd have no issue with him battling through any injury, but the regular season doesn't matter, especially when the team is playing well without him. Keeping that winning record is unsustainable over the course of a season, but if Matthews needs another week or so to rest and recover, I don't think the Leafs season is going to fall apart.
Matthews Should Not Be Playing Right Now
Instead, it's only going to highlight how great William Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner are. The three of them have had a fantastic season thus far, and they're the real reason why they're currently leading the Atlantic Division. Matthews only has 10 goals and 22 points thus far, so he's well-off his Hart Trophy season, but the team is performing as well as they ever have.
Toronto has a busy stretch with three games in four nights but have the luxury of the Christmas Break, where they'll be off until December 27th. As a result, I don't see why he's playing as he could get a nice stretch of rest and only miss three total games.
We all want to see Matthews play every night, but we'd much rather prefer him to be healthy when the playoffs start. If he's continuing to have lingering injuries at this point in the year and doesn't get better, then they're probably just going to come back during the playoffs, which is the last thing we want.
I have loved Craig Berube's approach to the Toronto Maple Leafs this year, but if he's going to continue to play Matthews when he's hurt, then he needs to reevaluate his actions as they could be costly by playoff time.