Auston Matthews participated in a full practice with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday but missed his ninth straight game when they played the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.
The center and Toronto captain has been out with an upper-body injury since Nov. 3. Matthews has been skating on his own since returning to North America on Friday following a five-day trip to Germany to visit a doctor, who both he and other Maple Leafs players have seen in the past for further consultation.
“He had a real good practice [Tuesday], but he has been off a while,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said after the morning skate Wednesday. “Getting into a full practice was very important. But both him and I, as well as the organization, feel he needs a little bit more to be ready to go.
“It’s not a healing thing … it’s stamina, getting up to speed and making sure he is ready. We want to make sure he is comfortable and ready to go.’’
Berube said he is not putting any pressure on Matthews to return.
“When a player comes to me and says he’s ready to go, then he’s ready to go,” Berube said.
Neither Matthews nor Berube have offered any further specifics as to the nature of the injury, though the coach has indicated it’s not related to a wrist injury Matthews previously had surgery on during the 2021 offseason.
Matthews, who has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 13 games this season, centered a line with left wing Pontus Holmberg and right wing William Nylander at practice Tuesday.
“I felt pretty good, so we will just take it step by step,” Matthews said after practice. “I don’t know, we’ll see. I’ll get with the training staff and chat some more. The individual skates are much different than a team practice, so this being the first actual team practice I skated in, I felt really good.
“But I might need maybe one or two [practices] to really get my legs and lungs back under me, but we will just kind of see how I respond today and see how it goes tomorrow.”
Toronto's next game after Wednesday will be against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, which could afford Matthews the chance to get at least another full practice before returning to game action.
“It’s a little bit of everything -- conditioning, timing, obviously getting back in that competitive atmosphere where everything is super reactive -- and I think that’s important to get as much repetition in those settings as possible to feel as game ready as you can,” Matthews said.
The Maple Leafs are 7-1-0 in their eight games without Matthews and are three points ahead of the Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division. They are 42-20-2 without Matthews since he entered the League in 2016-17.
“I don’t think it’s ever easy, but when you continue to bank wins and progress as a team, that’s the sign of a great team, and it definitely gives you a lot of encouragement to see that,” Matthews said.
“It [stinks] watching. I want to be out there as soon as possible, but to see guys step and other players step in and make an impact, that’s a great sign for us.”
NHL.com independent correspondent George Richards contributed to this report
