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With the exodus of key players Frederik Andersen and Zach Hyman, the health and performance of the core group will be more important than ever for the Toronto Maple Leafs to make and have success in the postseason. On Friday, the Leafs announced that leading scorer Auston Matthews underwent wrist surgery and will be out a minimum of six weeks.
Matthews encountered discomfort after ramping up his on-ice training earlier this week.according to the club’s press release and after consulting with specialists and Leafs medical staff, surgery was the recommended course of action.
The Rocket Richard winner missed four games last season and battled a reoccurring wrist problem throughout the campaign, which is why the decision to address it surgically so late in the summer is curious. It would make sense that the club and Matthews would prefer to address the difficulty by rehabilitation, but with it flaring up again in mid-August, the six-week time frame will likely see Matthews missing all of training camp and some-to-all of the half dozen exhibition games, with the possibility of missing the start of the regular season in mid-October if the recovery is longer than expected.
The one positive is that the 23-year-old should be able to resume skating at some point in the recovery process, which should help Matthews stay in shape for the start of the season.
The news was not good on another front, as 2020 first round pick Rodion Amirov was injured in a KHL exhibition game for Ufa Salavat. The winger fell awkwardly into the boards in the third period against Severstal on Friday and did not return to the game.
Amirov went head-first into the boards, and stayed down for several minutes.
— Kevin Papetti (@KPapetti) August 13, 2021
Let's hope he's okay. pic.twitter.com/UDU8pvYDfp
Amirov posted a photo on social media after the game wearing a sling on his left arm and according to a source in Russia, the 20-year-old will be out at least a month and miss the beginning of the KHL season with the unspecified upper body injury.
#Leafs prospect Rodion Amirov looks like he’s going to be on the shelf for a bit. pic.twitter.com/ft0cdq9OQG
— Nick Richard (@_NickRichard) August 14, 2021
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Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
Convo on Podcast.#theleafsconvo https://t.co/Xdn3CDLVCI
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