Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving breaks silence on Auston Matthews' travel to Germany for treatment

By Ankit Kumar

Modified Nov 24, 2024 17:45 GMT

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Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving addressed Auston Matthews’ trip to Germany for treatment of his upper-body injury. Matthews had been dealing with the injury for a while. With a light schedule of games, the team saw it as a good time for him to get treatment.

“It’s bugged him for a bit,” Treliving said on Friday, via The Athletic. “With time, it’ll get behind him. We looked at the schedule. We had like three games over two and a half weeks."

After the Maple Leafs' 4-3 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 16, they only had one game in the next seven days. Toronto won 3-0 against the Vegas Golden Knights without its captain in the lineup.

The Maple Leafs have done a good job of regrouping after Matthews' injury. They have won six out of seven games in his absence. They only lost to Ottawa 3-0 but had solid wins against the Boston Bruins (4-0), Washington Capitals (4-3 OT) and Oilers (4-3 OT).

Treliving also explained the trip was not just for injury treatment, but also for general maintenance, to check on Matthews' overall condition.

“As much as it was to go over there to get treatment for what he was dealing with, it was also like you take the car in sometimes because you need to get the oil changed," Treliving said. "But when you’re getting the oil changed, let’s rotate the tires, let’s check the brakes, let’s do everything. That’s really what this was."

Matthews has worked with the doctor in Germany before and trusts the process. Trevliving said he has "faith" in him.

Auston Matthews' return to the ice after medical trip to Germany

Auston Matthews, who has missed seven consecutive games, returned to the ice for the first time on Saturday. He shared that he is feeling much better and hopes to return soon.

"Today was a good day to get back on the ice," Matthews said, via NHL.com, "It's been probably over a week since I've been on the ice, so we will take day to day, continue to try to progress in the ice and see how this week looks and feels. Obviously, I want to get out there. Tomorrow [is] not realistic but Wednesday [is] possible, but we will just see how the week goes."

He was proactive in seeking further treatment after his injury did not improve as expected.

Auston Matthews led the league last season with 69 goals and has scored 40 or more goals in each of the last five campaigns. Since joining the NHL in 2016-17, he has 373 goals, 30 more than Alex Ovechkin.