Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews could play next Saturday.

Yesterday, it was reported by The Canadian Press and TSN that Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs could return from his shoulder ailment on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

A few weeks back, Matthews suffered a shoulder injury in a game against the New York Islanders. He was sandwiched by Islanders forward, Cal Clutterbuck and defenseman, Adam Pelech. Matthews immediately left the ice and hasn’t played for the Toronto Maple Leafs since.

In an interview with the press, Mike Babcock gave an update on Matthews.

“He’s skating every day, working hard on his conditioning,” Babcock said. “The big thing about this injury: you have your legs. When you come back from the previous injury, you don’t have any legs because you didn’t do anything. I think jumping right in and being ready to go when it’s time to come back will be positive for him. He won’t have to get his conditioning back. He’ll have it back already.”

Since Matthews has been out of the lineup, the Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t looked the same. Yes, they were able to defeat the Boston Bruins on February 24th. That was their only win without Matthews. They have suffered three straight losses to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Florida Panthers and the Washington Capitals. Though, to be fair, two of those went to overtime and the other one was an outdoor game.

What Needs To Happen Till Matthews Returns

While Babcock won’t admit that the Toronto Maple Leafs without Matthews aren’t the same, they plainly don’t look good. Some of the issues that have caused the Leafs to struggle have to do with the lineup. Babcock will hopefully shake up the offensive lines after their poor display in Annapolis. Personally, I think Babcock needs to consider pushing William Nylander back to centre till Matthews returns.

Babcock experimented with Nylander at centre in the game against the Bruins and it worked out well. Nylander collected two assists in the game against Boston.

The only reason why Babcock chose to roll with Nylander back at wing in the tilts in Florida and Annapolis is that the Toronto Maple Leafs had a new centreman, Tomas Plekanec to put into the lineup. Babcock should look to shift Plekanec back down to the fourth line against Buffalo. Then, he can insert Nylander back as the top line centre. Worst case if Nylander looks sluggish early on, Babcock can alter his lines in-game.

Hopefully if Nylander moves back to centre, he’ll be able to snap the Maple Leafs’ losing streak.