Maple Leafs Notes: Matthews, Tavares, Shaw
Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews is still feeling the effects of the upper-body injury that sidelined him for nine games earlier this season, head coach Craig Berube told Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. Berube shared that Matthews is fighting through the ailment and that the team is managing his load while he returns to full health. No injury specifics were provided, and Berube didn’t seem to suggest Matthews would need to miss any additional time.
Matthews may not look as fluid as normal, but he’s certainly appearing on the scoresheet all the same. He’s recorded points in all but two games since returning on November 30th – totaling five goals and 11 points, good for second on the team in both categories. The hot return slots Matthews in at fourth on the Leafs in scoring on the year, and third on the team in points-per-game, with 22 points in 23 games this season. Digging even deeper, Matthews’ goal in Toronto’s December 14th win over Detroit was his 50th of calendar year 2024. He’s now totaled at least 50 goals in each of the last four calendar years – making him the ninth player in league history to achieve such a feat. The record for that category is split between Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy, who each managed the feat in seven straight years, per Rotowire.
In additional Maple Leafs news, former captain John Tavares is hoping to sign an extension with the club, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast. Friedman pointed out how Tavares’ has adjusted to new head coach Berube as a big contributor to the veteran wanting to stay. Tavares’ last contract negotiations with Toronto were legendarily contentious. He signed a seven-year, $77MM deal with the club on July 1st, 2018.
It was one of the league’s priciest contracts at the time, and more notably pulled Tavares away from the New York Islanders, where he spent the prior nine seasons. Tavares was a star with the Islanders, posting 621 points across 779 games with the club and even earning their captaincy. The Ontario native has since become vilified by Long Island hockey fans, though he’s continued to score at an incredible rate with the Leafs. Tavares has 448 points in 471 games in Toronto, including a career-high 88 points scored in 2018-19 – his first year with the club. A new deal will likely come with a significant decrease in pay – especially with Mitch Marner‘s extension looming – but Tavares is still likely to be paid handsomely for his production out of a middle-six role. He ranks third on the 2024-25 Leafs in scoring, with 29 points in 31 games, despite averaging the least ice time of any of the top six scoring leaders.
Continuing updates for Toronto captains, the AHL’s Toronto Marlies have signed forward Logan Shaw to a two-year contract extension. Shaw has been the Marlies’ captain for the last three seasons, after serving two years as the Belleville Senators ‘C’. He’s been fantastically productive with the Marlies, totaling 144 points in 160 games with the club. That includes Shaw’s 17 points in 23 games this season, which ranks third on the minor-Toronto in scoring. The new deal will take Shaw through his age-34 season, and his 14th professional season.
Maple Leafs To Activate Auston Matthews From Injured Reserve
Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews will return to the lineup Saturday against the Lightning, he told reporters today, including David Alter of The Hockey News. He’ll need to come off injured reserve, so Toronto will need to make a corresponding transaction to open a spot on the active roster.
So ends a lengthy saga that’s seen Matthews sit out the last nine games, missing nearly a month with an upper-body injury that was initially termed day-to-day. While not a significant injury, it was potentially concerning enough long-term for the Leafs to hold him out and for him to even briefly head overseas last week to see a specialist in Germany that he’s worked with before.
Toronto went on quite the run without the services of their star goal-scorer, going 7-2-0 and outscoring opponents 26-18. That was even as additional injuries to top-nine fixtures like Max Domi and Matthew Knies piled up, at one point leaving them without seven of their usual top 12 forwards in the lineup.
That number could drop to five against Tampa, with Knies also taking line rushes alongside Matthews and William Nylander in today’s practice, per Luke Fox of Sportsnet. He’s also on IR, so if he’s ready to return, a second corresponding transaction would be required.
Things did come to a bit of a head for the Leafs in their last outing, losing 5-1 to the Panthers and seeing their Atlantic Division lead drop to one point. The pending returns of some important forwards will allow overmatched AHL fixtures like Alexander Nylander and Alex Steeves to return to the farm, as could youngsters Nikita Grebenkin and Fraser Minten.
Matthews’ injury had been plaguing him a bit this season before he exited the lineup, evidenced by his subpar five goals and six assists for 11 points in 13 games. He was shooting at a career-low 8.9% rate, though, so his numbers should come alive in short order with natural regression and improved health. The 27-year-old has taken home the Rocket Richard Trophy three times in the past four years, including last season’s career-high 69 tallies (51 at even strength).
Leafs Notes: Matthews, Knies, Domi, Kampf
The Toronto Maple Leafs received a string of injury updates at practice today, kicked off by captain Auston Matthews taking the ice for his first team skate since November 3rd. Matthews has missed Toronto’s last eight games with an upper-body injury. He returned to the ice on Saturday, working on individual drills after arriving back from a trip to see a specialist in Germany. But despite the return to full practice, Matthews said he’s uncertain if he’ll play on Wednesday, adding that he may need a couple more practices before he feels ready per TSN Sports. The Leafs begin a two-game road trip to Florida tomorrow that will take them through the end of the week.
It goes without saying that Matthews’ return is hotly anticipated. He has a modest 11 points in 13 games this season, but had a career year in 2023-24 – scoring 69 goals and 107 points. His goal-scoring set a Leafs record and marked the most anyone has scored in one season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. But the Leafs have been doing surprisingly well in his absence, posting a 7-1-0 record and outscoring their opponents 25-to-13. Their 3.125 goals-per-game average on this run is a boost over the 3.0 goals they averaged through their first 13 games. They’ve even improved their goals-per-game average, rising to 3.125 goals over this span after averaging 3.0 in their first 13 games. Matthews is a tremendous talent to add to a hot lineup – and Toronto will hope they can maintain the run through a stretch of tough matchups.
Other updates from today’s Leafs practice:
- Matthew Knies also returned to practice donning a no-contact jersey, shares David Alter of The Hockey News. Knies is currently on injured reserve with an upper-body injury suffered in Toronto’s November 20th matchup against Vegas. Knies will be another notable addition to the top-six when he returns. He’s so far scored eight goals and 12 points in 20 games while averaging roughly 18 minutes of ice time, and served a key role on both special teams units. Knies is playing through his second full NHL season, after scoring 15 goals and 20 points as a rookie last year.
- From great, to good, to bad – center Max Domi won’t join Toronto on their two-game road trip, as he continues to heal from a lower-body injury per Alter of The Hockey News. Domi will mis his third and fourth consecutive games with this news. He’s been on injured reserve since the 20th as well, and head coach Craig Berube didn’t provide an update on when Domi may return. Berube similarly didn’t have an update on David Kampf, shares Alter’s colleague Evan Doerfler. Kampf was placed on long-term injured reserve on November 16th and is expected to miss through mid-December.
Injury Notes: Matthews, Thompson, Jones, McCarron, Samberg
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has returned from Germany where he consulted with a doctor he had worked with in the past in an attempt to relieve his lingering upper-body injury. It appears some progress was made considering he skated with the team during this morning’s practice.
In an article by David Alter of The Hockey News, Matthews was quoted saying, “We’ll take it day to day, continue to try to progress on the ice and see how this week looks and feels. Obviously, I’d love to get out there. I mean, tomorrow, not realistic, but Wednesday possibly, but we’ll just see how the week goes.”
Matthews’s reintroduction into the lineup would give a large boost to the Maple Leafs who’ve produced a 6-1-0 record since their captain went down with injury on November 3rd. He has scored five goals and 11 points in 13 contests for the games he’s been healthy for.
Other injury notes:
- Forward Tage Thompson has been ruled out of tonight’s contest in another unfortunate turn for the Buffalo Sabres (X Link). There was plenty of expectation that Thompson would return tonight but he will now miss his fifth straight game due to a lower-body injury. Impressively, despite the injury, Thompson still leads Buffalo in goal-scoring with 11 goals in 16 games.
- According to Colin Stephenson of Newsday Sports, New York Rangers defenseman Zachary Jones is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Jones was likely injured in New York’s recent loss to the Calgary Flames, and he won’t be able to help the Rangers finish off their Western Conference road trip against the Edmonton Oilers later tonight.
- The Nashville Predators are without forward Michael McCarron tonight due to an upper-body injury reports Alex Daugherty of the Tennessean. McCarron had been enjoying a consistent role down the middle of Nashville’s fourth-line scoring two goals and four points in 18 games on the year while averaging 12:24 of ice time per game. There was no added context of how long McCarron is expected to miss.
- The Winnipeg Jets won’t have Dylan Samberg for the rest of tonight’s action as the organization announced he has left the game due to a lower-body injury. Samberg took a shot from Nashville’s Steven Stamkos off the foot and was in visible pain afterward. The Jets organization should provide an update on Samberg’s status at some point tomorrow or even after tonight’s game.
Atlantic Notes: Sabres, Edvinsson, Rasmussen, Matthews, Point
The Buffalo Sabres received unfortunate news on the injury front earlier today after an MRI confirmed the severity of Jordan Greenway‘s current injury. It had already been announced that Greenway wouldn’t play in the team’s loss on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers but Paul Hamilton is reporting he’s expected to miss the next few weeks.
Greenway has played in 16 of a potential 18 games for the Sabres this season but has significant injury concerns dating back to last season. In his first full season with the organization in the 2023-24 campaign, Greenway missed 15 games due to injury while scoring 10 goals and 28 points in the other 67 contests.
It’s not all negative on the injury front in Buffalo as Hamilton also reported that Tage Thompson has become a realistic possibility to play on Wednesday. Thompson hasn’t played since November 11th due to a lower-body injury making Wednesday his first day of eligibility from the injured reserve. He’s been electric for the Sabres this season scoring 11 goals and 18 points in 16 games when healthy.
Other Atlantic notes:
- The Detroit Red Wings should have a few returning players tonight as defenseman Simon Edvinsson and forward Michael Rasmussen are expected to return (X Link). Edvinsson missed the team’s most recent game against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night due to a lower-body injury from a blocked shot against the Anaheim Ducks. Rasmussen joined Edvinsson in the press box on Saturday with an upper-body injury. A decision on both player’s game-time status should be confirmed shortly after warm-ups.
- According to David Alter of The Hockey News, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews is expected to miss his seventh straight game on Wednesday. Alter interestingly adds that Matthews hasn’t been skating the past couple of days but the organization assures he hasn’t taken a step back in his recovery. Toronto has earned a 5-1-0 record since Matthews exited the lineup on November 3rd.
- Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times couldn’t get any confirmation on Brayden Point‘s status tomorrow night for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s next game. Encina shares that Point is ‘trending in the right direction’ but is still in danger of missing a fifth straight game for the Lightning.
Maple Leafs Recall Alex Steeves
The Maple Leafs announced they’ve recalled forward Alex Steeves from AHL Toronto under emergency conditions ahead of tonight’s contest against the Senators. The news confirms that captain Auston Matthews will not be coming off injured reserve after being labeled doubtful by head coach Craig Berube yesterday.
They still would have had 12 forwards available without Matthews since Connor Dewar came off long-term injured reserve last Friday. Thus, Steeves’ recall indicates that Max Domi or William Nylander could be questionable for tonight after missing Monday’s practice for maintenance days.
Steeves, 25 next month, was an undrafted free agent signing out of Notre Dame in March 2021. He’s suited up mainly in the AHL since then, but he has a few NHL appearances under his belt and has played at least one game in the last three seasons. The 6’0″ New Hampshire native has one assist, a -4 rating, 10 hits, and six giveaways in seven career games. He’s recorded six shots on goal and averaged 8:14 per game.
Steeves, who can play center and wing, has grown into a prolific AHL scoring force despite his lack of NHL point production. He recorded a career-high 27 goals and 57 points in 67 games for the Marlies last season, and he leads the club in scoring through the early going of 2024-25 with nine goals and three assists for 12 points in 10 games.
The Maple Leafs had an open roster spot after placing Max Pacioretty on IR on Monday, so no corresponding transaction is required. Toronto’s $1.83MM in current cap space under their LTIR pool is plenty to absorb Steeves’ $775K cap hit, per PuckPedia.
Steeves had his first go-around with restricted free agency this past summer after his entry-level contract expired. He waited until August to re-sign but eventually put pen to paper on a one-year, two-way deal ($775K/$300K) to return to the Maple Leafs organization. Since he’ll be 25 next summer with fewer than 80 NHL games played and four professional seasons under his belt, he’ll be eligible to test unrestricted free agency via Group VI status.
Atlantic Notes: Sabres, Maple Leafs, Senators
The Buffalo Sabres used both rostered goaltenders in a tough loss to the Montreal Canadiens earlier today. After the game, Bill Hoppe of the Buffalo Times-Herald passed a note from head coach Lindy Ruff indicating Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen suffered an ‘ailment’ in yesterday’s practice before Luukkonen’s game descended further.
The injury concern didn’t end there for Buffalo as the team announced Tage Thompson and Mattias Samuelsson had left the game due to upper-body injuries. Samuelsson, whom the team had made a healthy scratch for the last three games, only managed 6:49 of today’s contest.
No further updates were made regarding the status of the injured players but the Sabres are again heading in a negative direction. Despite making a head coaching change and overhauling the bottom-six forward group this past offseason, Buffalo has a 7-8-1 record through 16 games and has given up the second-most goals of any team in the Atlantic Division.
Other Atlantic Notes:
- According to David Alter of The Hockey News, it’s trending toward a fourth-straight missed game for Auston Matthews. The franchise icon hasn’t missed this many games in a row since the 2022-23 NHL season and the Toronto Maple Leafs hope it doesn’t extend further. To add insult to injury, Alter further added that forward Calle Jarnkrok experienced a setback in his recovery from a sports hernia and he’s now headed to New York to see a specialist. Jarnkrok hasn’t skated put together a full season since the 2022-23 campaign and it appears this year may be more of the same.
- Nearly 250 miles northeast in Ottawa, the Senators are experiencing better luck on the injury front of late. Shane Pinto, who hasn’t played since October 22nd after scoring three points in his first six contests, could be an option for the team tomorrow night (X Link). If Pinto can’t go, the team announced the call-up of Zack Ostapchuk from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, to fill out the rest of their forward core.
Atlantic Notes: Byram, Matthews, Jarnkrok, Gadjovich
With the Sabres struggling out of the gate, it appears that some teams are kicking the tires to see if a core piece could be pried away. TSN’s Darren Dreger reported earlier this week on Sekeres and Price (video link) that some teams from the West have inquired about defenseman Bowen Byram although Buffalo has been informing teams he’s not available. Byram is in his first full season with the Sabres after being acquired at the trade deadline from Colorado and he’s certainly off to a solid start with nine points in 14 games while logging over 21 minutes a night. A pending restricted free agent, Byram will be in line for a significant raise on his current $3.85MM AAV next summer.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews skated today for 25 minutes with no signs of discomfort, relays TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link). Toronto moved him to injured reserve on Friday, making him ineligible for tonight’s game against Montreal but he is eligible to return Tuesday versus Ottawa. Assuming Matthews is cleared to play in that game, the Maple Leafs will have to make a roster move beforehand, likely a waiver placement as things stand, to open up a roster spot.
- Still with Toronto, head coach Craig Berube told reporters including Nick Barden of The Hockey News that winger Calle Jarnkrok is “probably a ways away” from making his season debut. The 33-year-old is dealing with a lower-body injury that’s believed to be a sports hernia. Jarnkrok skated before practice a couple of times this week but it looks like he’s still not particularly close to being cleared to play. Jarnkrok had 10 goals and 11 assists in 52 games for the Maple Leafs last season.
- The Panthers will welcome back winger Jonah Gadjovich to the lineup tonight against Philadelphia, the team announced (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has missed the last three weeks with a back injury. Gadjovich has played in six games so far this season, notching a goal and 26 hits while averaging just 7:25 per night on the fourth line; he leads the league in hits/60. Mackie Samoskevich will come out of the lineup to make room for Gadjovich’s return.
Maple Leafs Place Auston Matthews On IR, Activate Connor Dewar
The Maple Leafs have moved Auston Matthews to injured reserve with his upper-body injury retroactive to Nov. 3, the team announced. They’re using the open spot to reinstate forward Connor Dewar from his LTIR conditioning loan and add him to the active roster.
The IR placement only minimally affects Matthews’ timeline for a return. Head coach Craig Berube already told reporters that the superstar would miss his second straight game tonight against the Red Wings and that he was doubtful for tomorrow’s game against the Canadiens. He’s now been ruled out against Montreal thanks to the move to IR but could return for Tuesday’s matchup against the Senators. He’ll miss at least three games in total with the ailment, which he’s been playing through for a good chunk of the season.
Meanwhile, Dewar was one of two players for the Leafs in the AHL on LTIR conditioning stints. They assigned both he and defenseman Jani Hakanpää to the minors at the beginning of the month as they each got their feet back under them after offseason surgeries – in Dewar’s case, a shoulder procedure. LTIR conditioning stints can only last up to three games or six days, and the time constraint ends today. The lack of news regarding Hakanpää indicates he’s not entirely cleared to return to full-time action and will remain on LTIR for a tad longer.
Matthews’ IR placement buys the Leafs a little bit of time, but they’ll still need to make a roster move when the captain is ready to return next week and another one when Hakanpää is eventually ready to play. They have $1.83MM left in their LTIR pool after today’s transactions with Hakanpää, Calle Järnkrok and Dakota Mermis still on the list.
In his lone appearance on his conditioning stint, Dewar had a goal and an assist in what amounted to his first AHL action since the 2021-22 campaign. Acquired from the Wild at last season’s trade deadline, Dewar had a goal and four assists in 17 games for Toronto down the stretch and avoided arbitration over the summer with a one-year, $1.18MM settlement.
The high-energy 5’10” forward can play both center and wing and was a fixture on the Leafs’ penalty kill to close out 2023-24, averaging nearly two-and-a-half minutes per game shorthanded. He’s projected to serve as a healthy scratch against Detroit tonight while Steven Lorentz, David Kämpf and Ryan Reaves remain in fourth-line roles, but he could get a chance to play against the Habs tomorrow.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Atlantic Notes: Matthews, Pinto, Lyon
Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (upper body) remains unavailable for Friday’s home game versus the Red Wings, as head coach Craig Berube told David Alter of The Hockey News.
Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun reported earlier today that Matthews did not participate in this morning’s optional skate. Berube added that Matthews’ recovery is “going in the right direction,” although he also remains doubtful for Saturday’s game against the Canadiens as Toronto closes out a back-to-back. In all likelihood, it appears the captain’s absence will last three games and he’ll return Tuesday against the Senators.
A few more injury-related notes from around the Atlantic:
- Senators center Shane Pinto (undisclosed) could return Saturday in Boston after missing over two weeks, head coach Travis Green told TSN 1200 Ottawa. The club was without No. 1 pivot Tim Stützle in practice today, but that was only due to a black eye he sustained in yesterday’s loss to the Senators and he won’t miss any time. Pinto had a goal and two assists through his first six games of the season before exiting the lineup.
- Red Wings goaltender Alex Lyon, who was slated to start tonight’s matchup in Toronto, is instead on the shelf with a minor lower-body injury that he sustained in practice Thursday, head coach Derek Lalonde relayed to FanDuel Sports Network Detroit’s Daniella Bruce. His absence explains the recall of Ville Husso from AHL Grand Rapids earlier today under emergency conditions. He’ll back up while Cam Talbot starts his third straight game. Lalonde is “not overly concerned about [Lyon’s injury] being long term,” Bruce said.