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What's wrong with Auston Matthews?

"Report: Auston Matthews re-aggravates existing injury, out for Saturday and questionable for Monday"

Translation from Leaf-speak: he's out until well into January.

Hoping I'm wrong but at least we know they generally play well when he's out.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1870589712513355844

I really don't get decisions like these. If he's not good enough to play tonight you absolutely just sit him Monday too so he's off through at least the whole Christmas break. That's a no brainer.

(I fully except him to miss multiple games considering the teams definition of day to day at this point)
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I think it is time we leave "Hans Christian" Berube quotes on Leafs medical forecasts / timelines to the young Leafs fans.
It is getting pretty stupid now.

Facts we know:
it is a chronic injury they are trying to 'manage' - corroborated by their own comments
It is susceptible to reinjury - as evidenced by his maintenance days and recent cross check that they corroborated
It is compromising his performance - he's a fraction of his former self - we see that with our own eyes and sprinkled throughout nearly all his stats
If there was an in season medical solution, reason tells us they would have done it already.

There is no lipstick for this pig. It is ugly no matter how you look at it.
 
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If it’s a surgery that requires a couple of months rehab I’d honestly rather he had it now and maybe got back a few weeks before the playoffs.

The fact they’re putting it off might even suggest he wouldn’t be back by then and would need the equivalent of an off season to recuperate/it could end his season completely.

Which ever way you try and skin it, seemingly it’s not good.
 
Arn said:
The fact they’re putting it off might even suggest he wouldn’t be back by then and would need the equivalent of an off season to recuperate/it could end his season completely.
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DING DING DING
 
A bit like Eichel, though, I hope that ultimately he gets whatever is the best treatment for him as an individual.
 
Elliotte Friedman starts discussing Matthews injury at 13:45 or so for 4-5 mins
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Sportsnet's Matt Marchese and former L.A Kings executive Mike Futa take you around the league on Sportsnet 590 The FAN’s national hockey show, airing live across the country daily from 12pm-2pm ET. Get your opinion, news and analysis featuring daily segments from insider Elliotte Friedman!
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He says this
"I think that there's a couple of things here. Number one, it is very clear that Matthews wants to play through it. He wants to keep playing. I think a) because players want to play, and b) as the captain, he feels he needs to set an example and to me, it's clear he wants to play. I think then it becomes a question of if a player thinks he's healthy enough to play, can the organization force somebody not to play if they are really concerned about it. I'm sure the Four Nations is apart of this. I'm sure he wants to play in that and I'm sure everybody putting on that tournament would like to see him play in that. I think there is probably a little push and pull there... I think we'll see this develop on a game in, game out basis as the season continues. He's going to have a few days off now... I think the one thing that is obvious here is that everybody in the league saw that highlight where Gilbert cross-checked him and as the games get more meaningful we all know that is going to happen a lot more often."
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He says that he hasn't detected any panic with the Leafs on the injury.
Those discussing this seem collectively suspicious it is a back injury.
They fear increased targeting of the injury as the games get more important
 
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Tomas Holmstrom used to get a lot of cross checks standing in front of the net
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Hockey Feed

Tomas Holmström used the same shoulder pads from 1991 to the day he retired.. with a slight modification to protect his lower back from cross-checks. 😮
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I wonder if they'll add padding like that to help protect Matthews
(they've probably improved on it)
 
Honestly the only thing that matters is playoff success. At this point just put Matthews on LTIR, reevaluate in 6-8 weeks. If he comes back mid March there about a dozen games to play before playoffs start, just enough to get him up to speed and ready for the grind. If he can't be healthy with that much time off then he needs surgery.
 
Keeping up the cardio is good. He can still be effective if he can skate. Not 13+M effective, but not just a warm body. He scored 40 the previous season he played through the wrist injury (tips, tap ins, and wraps)
 
herman said:
Keeping up the cardio is good. He can still be effective if he can skate. Not 13+M effective, but not just a warm body. He scored 40 the previous season he played through the wrist injury (tips, tap ins, and wraps)
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Even as he is presently injured, he's still better than Holmberg for 2nd line center.
 
cw said:
Even as he is presently injured, he's still better than Holmberg for 2nd line center.
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But will playing injured now either risk further injury, or prevent him from healing up for playoffs? The team looks fine without him a lot of the time. They need to prioritize him getting healthy for playoffs, not getting as many reg season games in as he can.
 
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Bill_Berg said:
But will playing injured now either risk further injury, or prevent him from healing up for playoffs? The team looks fine without him a lot of the time. They need to prioritize him getting healthy for playoffs, not getting as many reg season games in as he can.
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If that conclusion is accurate, for sure.

If it is chronic and only solvable by season ending surgery and he is not exposed to making it worse or compromising next season/his career, then they may collectively elect to 'manage' the condition and play on. That may be what has been going on already. They know how he is hurt. They got the expert opinion in Germany. etc. They've alluded to managing the injury. I'm sure they know as much as doctors are able to about the physical condition of their $13.x mil/yr athlete. There's been no report of '2 more weeks and he's good as new'. This injury may go back to last season. Maybe it can't be fixed or it is too risky at this point and they want to exhaust the non surgical, less risky options.

The team's clandestine approach to injury information makes it tough to figure out. But it is getting obvious that something is going on beyond a straightforward recovery.
 
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