Leafs' Matthews Dings Shoulder, Will Miss a Month

So much for the sizzling hot start to the season.

To be clear, Auston Matthews' 10 goals in 11 games will remain as much a scorcher as walking on the sun, but the operative word here is remain.

Dude's done for a while.

His 6-2, 216lb frame got rocked by a superior angle and acceleration from 6-3, 202lb Winnipeg Jet defenseman and fellow American Jacob Trouba on Saturday:

 

Kinda like a car collison on a neighborhood street, it didn't seem like anyone was going all that fast until the damage is inspected.

Trouba, of course, is fine. Dude made a clean hit.

Matthews, on the other hand, paid for having his head down. As in four weeks on the shelf.

 

All the way around, too ...

 

The Maple Leafs have a strong roster, of course. How many other teams would have John Tavares as a second-line center?

Unfortunately for all involved, holdout William Nylander hasn't improved his stock or his image prior to Matthews' injury. Now, his being unavailable -- so far -- to take up the slack in scoring could further spread the alienation to the locker room.

 

Dudes in there are in the Cup conversation and are hellbent in living up to the pressure.

Toronto stood at 8-3-0 when Matthews went down, second to Tampa Bay's Lightning. They held on to defeat Winnipeg, 3-2, but without their prolific Arizona native, they dropped a 3-1 decision to Calgary.

Yes, the Flames. At home.

 

Exactly.

This is gonna be an early-season storyline worth watching.