The Toronto Maple Leafs look ahead with Auston Matthews 3-week Knee Sprain

Auston Matthews’s injury, which has taken shape this past week, one week before the 2023 All-Star Break for the Toronto Maple Leafs, may be a game changer, depending on how the Leafs team performs during those 3 weeks.

In my opinion, this may be a setback for the Toronto Maple Leafs, certainly looking at the fact of how long it will last or how this will this affect Auston Matthews’s game at some point during the end of the stretch of the season.

Matthews is a tough competitor with the strength to carry on throughout the years he has played, complementing his core 4 teammates that have worked as hard as he has this season.

To maintain stability for the Toronto Maple Leafs, tracking the first two lines’ production will help adjust the depth lines. That means that they should be flexible with who plays with the three remaining core 4 players and take notice of who complements who in a manner of point production.

What strategy should the Toronto Maple Leafs use to win?

To be more in-depth, reinserting Wayne Simmonds into the lineup and playing him on the third line or fourth line may be beneficial, because of his physicality and experience, which will also keep the fourth-line depth intact and ready for anything.

To be honest with you, the current third-line for the Toronto Maple Leafs, with or without Matthews, will need certain tweaking to make it more competitive and help add to the team’s overall depth.

This means they will be looking to add one or two steady forwards with a certain physical presence, wonderful skating ability, and most importantly, good defensive awareness that will give the Maple Leafs an excellent source of stability to move on into the 2023 postseason.

Head coach Sheldon Keefe will need to re-arrange the formations at one point in time if the team does head a bit south during this stretch without Matthews and keep in mind that bolstering the third line may help the most.

On a separate note, the goaltending due for the Toronto Maple Leafs was a great choice for management, and kudos to them for bringing out the best in the two netminders.

Auston Matthews working hard to be back to succeed in the post-season.

For Auston Matthews, his injury should give him time to rest and heal along with intense rehabilitation, but also, get him in gear for the test of his life, and perhaps this will indeed set the tone for the postseason.