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It’s going (really) badly for Auston Matthews for nearly two months
Félix Forget
It’s going (really) badly for Auston Matthews for nearly two months
Credit: Once again this year, the Maple Leafs are having a great regular season. Craig Berube’s men have a record of 39-23-3, and the team is headed straight for another playoff appearance. But of course, in Toronto, all that is secondary: what matters is the team’s performance in the playoffs. It’s a challenge every year for […]
Once again this year, the Maple Leafs are having a great regular season. Craig Berube’s men have a record of 39-23-3, and the team is headed straight for another playoff appearance.

But of course, in Toronto, all that is secondary: what matters is the team’s performance in the playoffs. It’s a challenge every year for the Leafs, and we hope that this year, the team’s stars will be able to take them far in the playoffs.

However, right now, there is one Leaf who is struggling: Auston Matthews. On paper, his 23 goals and 56 points in 50 games seem fine… but for the past two months, he’s really been struggling.

In fact, since January 23 (so, for almost two months), Matthews has only one goal at 5 against 5. And in total, he has only three goals in that sequence.

Over 16 games, it’s a very disappointing production for one of the best goal-scorers in the NHL.

And beyond the points, when we watch Matthews play this season, we notice that he doesn’t seem comfortable on the ice. In this case, the score sheet reflects what we see: there’s something wrong with the captain.

One of the theories that keeps coming up is that Matthews is carrying an injury. We know that he was affected by an upper-body injury earlier this season (he had even sought medical opinions in Germany), and in an article for The Athletic, Jonas Siegel has indeed found statistics on his skating stride that suggest Matthews is physically hindered.

He is still able to reach his top speed, but he does it much less often.

That being said, we can also wonder if Matthews is feeling pressure from being the captain. Let’s remember that it’s his first year as captain of the Leafs… and we can wonder if it’s affecting him a bit.

Without being the main factor, it can, for example, be a factor that makes him feel the need to be in the lineup every night even if he’s carrying an injury.

In any case, Matthews needs to give more. In an Atlantic Division as strong as this one, the Maple Leafs need their captain to be the elite player he’s capable of being.

It’s up to Matthews to find solutions now.


In a hurry

– Alexandre Carrier, one of Kent Hughes’ good moves.

– The Canadiens’ prospect Vinzenz Rohrer seemed to get injured today. At least he was able to get up by himself.

– Your predictions.

– He’s not the only one who would like that.

– Erik Cole and David Desharnais reunited for a Canadiens alumni game in Michigan.

– Wow!

– What an image!

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