There’s been this sense for much of the season that something wasn’t quite right with Auston Matthews.
It was clear in the numbers — so eye-popping the year before, so good-but-not-great for months this year. But you could also just see it. Matthews didn’t look like the guy who nudged Connor McDavid aside for the Hart Trophy last season, the one who scored 60 goals and ran over anybody in his way.
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He fumbled pucks. He missed the net. He fired fewer of those patented, mostly unstoppable wrist shots. The variety in his shooting diminished. Matthews was even held without a single shot in one game in early November for only the sixth time in his career.
After the trade deadline earlier this month, Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas conceded what long seemed apparent but was never definitively acknowledged — that Matthews had “played through some injuries and things that have hampered him.”
But what injuries and things exactly?
Of late, I’d noticed that Matthews was starting to shoot the puck with force again and wondered if he was feeling similarly. I asked him as much in a brief 1-on-1 interview after a recent practice and he responded by revealing at least part of what was really going on.
“I think my hand and everything has been feeling a lot better, just stronger,” Matthews said, acknowledging the nature of that injury for the first time. “So yeah, I’d have to agree with you there. Just shooting it a little bit more fluidly I’d say.”
A hand injury, on top of other bumps and bruises in what’s been an injury-plagued year, explains a lot.
A hand injury would obviously be limiting to arguably the greatest shooter in the world. It would explain why Matthews has shot the puck less this season – 12.6 attempts per 60 minutes, down from 13.9 last year. It would explain why his shooting has been less precise at times, why he seemed to be missing the net more than usual. It would explain why his puck handling, an underrated part of his dominance over the years, just didn’t seem as sharp. It would explain why his faceoffs and takeaways were down.
“It was bothering me,” Matthews told me. “It just felt like something was off. I just felt like not completely, like I wasn’t able to do exactly what I wanted to at times.”
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There have been signs that the old Matthews, an admittedly healthier Matthews, is re-emerging. When the Leafs played in Calgary on March 2, Matthews shot the puck as aggressively (and mostly accurately) as he had all season. He had seven shot attempts in the first period alone. He uncorked a dangerous one-timer in the second and an overpowering wraparound a couple minutes later.
Last weekend, Matthews went head-to-head with McDavid, the best player in the league by a mile this season, and won the matchup with grit, determination, and two-way skill. (The Leafs won 72 percent of the expected goals in their 9.5 minutes opposite one another at 5-on-5.). His shot looked like it was back.
He uncorked this one-timer on full throttle:
That’s the fluidity that Matthews was talking about.
It’s unclear when exactly the hand injury first emerged — we know Matthews had surgery on his left wrist before last season — or how long it was bugging him. It’s possible it’s been an on-and-off sort of thing all year. Matthews missed three weeks with a knee injury in late January/early February, time off that was presumably beneficial for the hand injury.
On the state of his shooting during those times when his hand was still bothering him, he said: “Just maybe not as strong honestly, and (it) just didn’t feel as fluid. I think sometimes it can be like a number of different things, whether it’s footwork or stuff like that.
“Now it’s feeling a lot better.”
The fluidity was a big thing, Matthews said. And getting that back, he said, involved more than just getting his hand healthy. That’s where pre-practice skill development sessions with Darryl Belfry really paid off.
“I really enjoy the skills sessions before practice,” Matthews said. “I just think you can get a lot out of it. You jump into a regular practice, you’re not really thinking too much about that kind of stuff.”
This is the kind of work (this video being from last season) that Matthews is talking about.
“I think it’s nice to get those kind of touches and get that kind of skill work that you wouldn’t necessarily get throughout practice and then try to maybe implement some stuff too,” he said.
Practice could be repetitive throughout the long 82-game grind and didn’t really allow for that kind of specific skill work (which is why the Leafs under Dubas and Sheldon Keefe implemented those skill sessions in the first place).
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It wasn’t unlike a shooter in the NBA, Steph Curry say, fine-tuning his three-point shot outside the confines of practice.
“Just getting repetitions,” Matthews said, “and shots and putting yourself in those kinds of situations and movements that you’d be in during a game and in situations and trying to work through different stuff.”
A lot of it came down to the footwork (another underrated part of Matthews’ shooting). And you can see from his maneuvering against the Sabres earlier this week that he’s found that rhythm again.
“A nice fluidity I’d say,” Matthews said.
He scored his 31st goal of the year by driving hard to the net, following up on a play that started in the Leafs zone.
Matthews has scored in three straight games (and also added three assists) and fired 29 shots on goal on 45 attempts in his last five outings. That’s almost six shots on nine attempts per game.
That’s more like the Matthews who led the NHL with 348 shots – 4.8 per game – on 599 (!) attempts last season.
It speaks to his greatness that Matthews is still on pace to score 40 goals playing through injuries all season. He recently clinched his seventh straight 30-goal season, one for every year he’s been in the league. For context, consider that John Tavares, long one of the NHL’s better players, hit 30 for the sixth time in his career the same night last weekend that Matthews got there again.
It’s obviously a big deal for the Leafs that Matthews is feeling healthy(ier) again, more like himself, more like one of the greatest players in the world. They need that dude if they have any chance of not only getting by Tampa in the first round, but making a serious run at the Stanley Cup.
They may have that dude back.
(Photo: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)
