Player Discussion Auston Matthews (Captain Edition)

[Stephen]

He has had how many wrist surguries, some on the downlow..... I think he has some back issues but also some carpel tunnel issues in his wrist. If u have major back issues, no chance u are checking anyone, this situation would instantly throw the back out. He shoots like he is using a 130 flex stick now, not the whippy 70 flex he would load and release or drag into all different show angles etc. Its not his back, imo.

In 2024-25 he struggled with enough aspects that it could be anything. Skating was sluggish. Shot was terrible. Hands were impacted. Disengaged and low energy at times. Could be anything.

And he was put into defensive roles where you’d think it was a weird choice to put a hurt guy in the line of fire, or defensive zone where he’s winning faceoffs using his back, shoulder and wrists.

 

[mapleleaf979]

At the 4 nations with the USA, does anyone here think that Matthews hid his injury from his USA squad? NO chance. They all know. He wont tell the Toronto press though. I believe with no proof he has a grip strength issue in his wrist. Notice the 1 timers he took this year, wildly missing the net? He has rarely taken those in his career but had too floating out at the blueline on the PP like he was engaged.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

He's irrelevant in the playoffs because he doesn't want to be targeted.

 

[647Hockey]

So AM disappearing every playoffs in games 5-7 (especially) means he gets injured in the middle of a series for 9 years in a row?

Funny how he seems to play fine racking up goals and pts in the reg season and games 1-4.

And his core 4 buddies all seem to do the same thing. Who knew AM, JT, MM and WN all get injured in the off day between games 4 and 5 hurting their final games 5-7 in every series.

 

[killer1980]

Nuff said

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

He's been hurt since last year in the playoffs. But yet at the same time, no surgery is required and "rest" will return him to "100%". However, none of this was rest possible during the season. There wasn't a long track record of this team's success without him. There was no benefit to using LTIR like Vegas, Tampa, Florida, etc. And there definitely wasn't an extended break in the middle of the season for a tournament.

That's 25% of the contract that makes him the highest paid player in the world down the drain.

 

[thewave]

He's been hurt since last year in the playoffs. But yet at the same time, no surgery is required and "rest" will return him to "100%". However, none of this was rest possible during the season. There wasn't a long track record of this team's success without him. There was no benefit to using LTIR like Vegas, Tampa, Florida, etc. And there definitely wasn't an extended break in the middle of the season for a tournament.

That's 25% of the contract that makes him the highest paid player in the world down the drain.

What he said makes no sense. Why wouldn't we let him rest after 4 Nations. So stupid

 

[dougieg93]

In season rehab is often rushed and usually just a band-aid to get the player functional, where off season recovery allows players to work with specialists and follow structured rehab plans without the rush to return for games and lead to a more complete healing.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

In season rehab is often rushed and usually just a band-aid to get the player functional, where off season recovery allows players to work with specialists and follow structured rehab plans without the rush to return for games and lead to a more complete healing.

The dude got injured IN PRESEASON. Sorry I don't by it. How did Matthews/the organization not understand the importance of this year/playoff run? If all he needed was an off-season to fully recovery then he could have gotten ample time during the year. You LTIR him until he's 100% or as close to it as possible. How is this organization so short and narrow minded that you rush him back just for what? To have a hobbled Matthews in the playoffs that only scores 3 goals? Yeah home ice was definitely worth Matthew being injured in the playoffs.......

 

[likecheese]

In season rehab is often rushed and usually just a band-aid to get the player functional, where off season recovery allows players to work with specialists and follow structured rehab plans without the rush to return for games and lead to a more complete healing.

What rush, he could have Kucheroved out of the lineup in November and come back for game 1, and had 13.5M to play with, most of this board was calling for it. What is he without his shot, Phillip Danault? Throw in the 4-nations, none of it adds up, this org makes all the wrong moves all the time, should nuke the whole thing.

 

[Stephen]

Well, Matthew Tkachuk shut it down from 4 Nations to the first round of the playoffs. That could have been available to Auston if the injury was so severe (but not severe enough to require surgery).

 

[yubbers]

View attachment 1039405

It's true

 

[Superstar]

Yeah exactly.

Although I suspect the shroud of secrecy over the mystery injury is probably due to the fact that you can’t burn 3 months of a season for purely rest and relaxation and avoid surgery.

There’s no good PR spin here. Either the guy is lightly banged up and needs some downtime, which doesn’t explain his horrific season. Or he’s really banged up and didn’t take care of it properly, and doesn’t appear to plan on taking care of it properly.

So we’ll see how it goes. If he has another big down year, I think you start making other plans.

I wonder how hard will he be swinging the golf clubs in the next few months.

 

[Stephen]

I wonder how hard will he be swinging the golf clubs in the next few months.

Don't forget the tennis.

 

[theTTC]

Shame on the people bashing Matthews when he was clearly playing injured and just admitted to that.

I hope he gets the rest and recovery he needs, comes back next year and shuts the haters up once and for all.

Is that you, Mrs. Matthews? Well, your son played in 4 Nations, didn't R&R for a couple games just before the playoffs, and didn't go on a month long LTIR just before the playoffs (like Florida et al do to be able to add extra players and legally go over the salary cap). Sorry 'bout this, but we call'em as we see'em. Nothing personal I assure you.

 

[BallardEra]

I always maintained that Matthews had a back injury and I’m sticking to that based on him not saying what it was and the fact he could still win faceoffs. (Not his wrist)

Hopefully it doesn’t turn into something that becomes chronic.

 

[authentic]

I always maintained that Matthews had a back injury and I’m sticking to that based on him not saying what it was and the fact he could still win faceoffs. (Not his wrist)

Hopefully it doesn’t turn into something that becomes chronic.

Hey you may be right as we don’t see him attempting any one timers at all, you really have to put your back into those.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I always maintained that Matthews had a back injury and I’m sticking to that based on him not saying what it was and the fact he could still win faceoffs. (Not his wrist)

Hopefully it doesn’t turn into something that becomes chronic.

That's just the problem: back injuries are notoriously difficult to heal and easily become chronic.

 

[hockey20000]

chronic injuy that he will be dealing with forr rest of carreerr and just trying to hide it maybe?

 

[647Hockey]

chronic injuy that he will be dealing with forr rest of carreerr and just trying to hide it maybe?

Nah.

He's perfectly fine in the reg season when he plays racking up goals for 9 years. And he usually does ok first half of each playoff series.

Problem is the core 4 all bomb out together. And none of them (maybe excluding Nylander) are dynamic scorers. Marner can zip around and rush, but he's a creator. AM waits for passes or rebounds. JT's goals comes from 10 ft of the net jamming at rebounds or deflections.

Nylander does the best of the bunch in playoffs, but he gets neutralized too. Just not as bad in all the playoffs.

AM is fine. Other players on teams are banged up too. How comes Dallas has done fine in playoffs and they were missing Robertson and Heiskinen for half the playoffs. I'm sure they are banged up too coming back.

The core 4 as a whole just doesn't have the drive to go the distance against good teams in a long series. If it's the regular season, funny how the Leafs do fine and beat good teams in one-off games and get 100-110 pts every year being a top team. The just dont have it in the playoffs to do it for 7 game series grinding it out against good teams like Boston or Florida for series that can last 2 weeks long. And some of their losses are when they got home ice advantage. So even that isnt enough of a motivation boost to win.

 

[Schennanigans]

Him not talking about if he’s healthy or not is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

He's perfectly fine in the reg season when he plays racking up goals for 9 years. And he usually does ok first half of each playoff series.

He was clearly not perfectly fine in the regular season, he had the second-worst shooting percentage of his career after '22-'23, when he had major wrist issues. The deeper we got into the playoffs the worse his shot got. The one goal he got on Florida was a weak wrister five hole - well placed but basically nothing to do with the shot mechanics that make him a 60+ goal scorer.

Take a look at his EDGE stats: NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics - Skaters top shot speed 84.5 mph. He managed 90+ in previous playoffs, and this regular season. His skating stats are in the toilet too - as they were last playoffs, when he was also fighting some mystery injury. Probably back.

The difference is this year we had the bullshit secrecy and Matthews saying it's his right to not disclose anything, even in the offseason. No one is asking for a copy of his MRIs, fans just want to know what the hell is going on. He has a right to stay silent? Great, I also have a right to call him a selfish loser, and a waste of talent. If he cared about the team he captains and the fans who make him the highest paid player in the league he'd have sat out the Four Nations. He knew about this injury in preseason and could have rested it earlier too, but no, it was critically important to win the division. Well, it got them home ice advantage in round 2 and they proceeded to take a big wet dump all over home ice, so at the very least it's clear now that that plan was stupid. Is he ever going to acknowledge it? Yeah right.

Oh yeah, bonus credit to Craig Berube who insisted on playing Matthews on the PK all season long for some reason.

 

[647Hockey]

He was clearly not perfectly fine in the regular season, he had the second-worst shooting percentage of his career after '22-'23, when he had major wrist issues. The deeper we got into the playoffs the worse his shot got. The one goal he got on Florida was a weak wrister five hole - well placed but basically nothing to do with the shot mechanics that make him a 60+ goal scorer.

Take a look at his EDGE stats: NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking Statistics - Skaters top shot speed 84.5 mph. He managed 90+ in previous playoffs, and this regular season. His skating stats are in the toilet too - as they were last playoffs, when he was also fighting some mystery injury. Probably back.

The difference is this year we had the bullshit secrecy and Matthews saying it's his right to not disclose anything, even in the offseason. No one is asking for a copy of his MRIs, fans just want to know what the hell is going on. He has a right to stay silent? Great, I also have a right to call him a selfish loser, and a waste of talent. If he cared about the team he captains and the fans who make him the highest paid player in the league he'd have sat out the Four Nations. He knew about this injury in preseason and could have rested it earlier too, but no, it was critically important to win the division. Well, it got them home ice advantage in round 2 and they proceeded to take a big wet dump all over home ice, so at the very least it's clear now that that plan was stupid. Is he ever going to acknowledge it? Yeah right.

Oh yeah, bonus credit to Craig Berube who insisted on playing Matthews on the PK all season long for some reason.

If he hasnt said anything about, he likely never will until it gets fully healed. And even then, he might not as he doesnt want opposing players going after his wrist or back or whatever it is.

If he's that injured and not suited for playoffs, he should had been benched if the team and docs knows he's going to be that ineffective in the playoffs. Dallas benched Robertson and Hieskinen until they were worth coming back.

 

[Mr_Fun]

I always maintained that Matthews had a back injury and I’m sticking to that based on him not saying what it was and the fact he could still win faceoffs. (Not his wrist)

Hopefully it doesn’t turn into something that becomes chronic.

From my own personal experience with a chronic back injury I had in my mid-20's, this makes a lot of sense in that I can relate to the periods of pain and stiffness, and periods of not too, too bad. I'd bet you're right on this one.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

If he hasnt said anything about, he likely never will until it gets fully healed. And even then, he might not as he doesnt want opposing players going after his wrist or back or whatever it is.

It's not a secret he got surgery on his left wrist in 2021 so that excuse makes no sense.

The back injury is more mysterious, but also, what's there to gain from the secrecy? He doesn't have to specify which verbetera or even lower or upper, just say something. It seems ludicrous to think that nobody else in the league has any idea. Surely the many players who have and will continue to leave the team have a clue. And what are other teams going to do with that intel anyway? You think players are reluctant to crosscheck opponents in the back? Are they targeting Eichel's neck knowing about his situation? Come on.