{"id":37377,"date":"2018-10-29T10:30:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T14:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=37377"},"modified":"2018-10-29T10:30:12","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T14:30:12","slug":"toronto-maple-leafs-lose-auston-matthews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2018\/10\/29\/toronto-maple-leafs-lose-auston-matthews\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs Lose Auston Matthews For Four Weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>\u00a0announced that centre Auston Matthews<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0will be sidelined for at least the next four weeks with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

Auston Matthews (shoulder) is expected to be out a minimum of four weeks and will be placed on injured reserve today. #LeafsForever<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) October 29, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Matthews was hit by\u00a0Winnipeg Jets<\/a>\u00a0defenseman\u00a0Jacob Trouba<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0during the second period of Saturday night\u2019s game. He played just 7:38 and managed three shots on goal before leaving the ice. Matthews didn\u2019t return to the game after the hit. He suffered a similar shoulder injury last year for the Leafs, though the team notes that it is the opposite shoulder.<\/p>\n

\n

Matthews heads to the tunnel after taking a big hit from Trouba. pic.twitter.com\/ItKCJlVYI7<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Flintor (@TheFlintor) October 28, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Auston Matthews Out With Shoulder Injury<\/h1>\n

The first overall pick in 2016 is in his third season with the Leafs. This season Matthews has 10 goals and six assists for 16 points in just 11 games; good for the team lead, and third in the NHL.<\/p>\n

Matthews has only committed one minor penalty this season, but his boxscore stats hide a concerning \u2013 if likely short-term \u2013 problem. His possession numbers are 49.5 percent Corsi-for with a relative Corsi of -0.4; not the kind of numbers an elite top line centre should deliver. Matthews has 84 goals and 64 assists for 148 points in 154 career games.<\/p>\n

What This Means for the Future<\/h3>\n

This is a huge loss for the Leafs as Matthews is their top offensive player. The Leafs will especially miss Matthews on the powerplay where he is a vital part of their man advantage. He\u2019s currently leading the Leafs in goals so far this season. Matthews is set to be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. The spotlight will now turn to\u00a0John Tavares<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0with Matthews out. The Leafs will look to either\u00a0Nazem Kadri<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to take Matthews role on the second line.<\/p>\n

Even with Matthews out the Leafs will continue to be strong contenders in the East.
\nIt will be interesting to see if Matthews injury puts more pressure to sign\u00a0William Nylander<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to a contact.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo:\u00a0BOSTON, MA – APRIL 25: A dejected Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) after Game 7 of the First Round for the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 25, 2018, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeated the Maple Leafs 7-4. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Maple Leafs\u00a0announced that centre Auston Matthews\u00a0will be sidelined for at least the next four weeks with a shoulder injury. Auston Matthews (shoulder) is expected to be out a minimum of four weeks and will be placed on injured reserve today. #LeafsForever \u2014 Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) October 29, 2018 Matthews was hit by\u00a0Winnipeg Jets\u00a0defenseman\u00a0Jacob […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2360,"featured_media":29325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,18],"tags":[228,37,38,72],"class_list":["post-37377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-leafs","tag-auston-matthews","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}