Auston Matthews secretive about injuries, while other Maple Leafs open up
'I got injured in training camp, wasn’t feeling great for the first month or so.'
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With their season done, the Maple Leafs pulled back the hospital room curtain on several injuries.
While captain Auston Matthews steadfastly refused to discuss his lingering upper-body issue — which would have stopped ongoing speculation — he did share some details of what derailed his shot at a third Rocket Richard Trophy.
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He dropped from 69 goals in 81 games to 33 in 67 this past campaign, with just three in 13 post-season appearances.
“It was a very tough season, physically,” Matthews said Tuesday at the Ford Performance Centre. “I got injured in training camp, wasn’t feeling great for the first month or so and went to (a clinic in) Germany to do all those things to feel better, get to a place where I felt I could manage it better.
“There were good stretches (he did play in the 4 Nations Face-Off for Team USA) and stretches where I didn’t feel very good. It impacted a lot of things,” he said when asked about his shooting. “I’m confident with some time off, going through my own process and treatment that I’ll be back 100% next season.”
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In other words, no surgery is required.
Matthews indicated he doesn’t want to give opponents information they could potentially use against him, although the next Leafs game of consequence is five months away.
Defenceman Chris Tanev, hit more than any Leaf in playoffs and their lead shot-blocker all season, volunteered he had come through a sterno-clavicular (collarbone) injury in March, but was none the worse for wear when the Senators and Panthers hunted him.
“When you go back and get a lot of pucks, you’ll probably be hit a lot in playoffs,” he reasoned.
Also on Tuesday, goaltender Anthony Stolarz finally was available to discuss what happened in Game 1 against the Panthers that concussed him.
The 6-foot-6 Stolarz said it was not caused by Sam Reinhart’s hard shot that dislodged his mask, but was indeed former teammate Sam Bennett’s elbow to the head that wasn’t detected by the officials.
“It was unfortunate, he just caught me in a bad spot,” Stolarz said. “No malicious intent on Benny’s part. Not just him but that entire team plays hard. He obviously felt pretty bad. It’s a pretty fast game and s— is going to happen. About 45 minutes later, I felt the symptoms.”
After trying to continue playing, he was ill at the Leafs bench and stretchered to hospital.
“It was more or less precautionary,” Stolarz said. “I’d had my leg sliced open in junior and that was a little more scary.
“It was extremely frustrating not to be there with the guys, even on the bench, but I was able to dress for Game 7.”
Winger Matthew Knies said there was no way he was coming out of Game 6 or 7 when he suffered a lower-body mishap from Niko Mikkola’s hard hip check.
“An awkward hit when I was going in for a collision,” Knies said. “I just felt something and needed to be careful.”
He was not at full capacity on Sunday, but the injury should heal soon.
Winger Max Pacioretty, 36 and dogged by all kinds of health issues the past few seasons, missed time after the 4 Nations Face-Off break before making an impressive playoff comeback.
“Mid-to-upper, lower body,” he teased when asked what his injury was.
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