The Auston Matthews watch continues, post-Christmas, with Toronto’ top scorer to miss two more games, including his third consective and Friday night in Detroit.
Coach Craig Berube told media in Detroit that while Matthews is improving, it’s unlikely he plays Saturday at home against the Washington Capitals, which would be 13 games in all he would have missed since early November.
The earliest he gets back is the New Year’s Eve home game against the Islanders. From there, Toronto plays almost every second night until late January.
Matthews took a couple of hits in the Buffalo game, but the most painful was a cross check to the lower back, likely the source of pain that led him to see a specialist in Germany in November.
Through 24 games this year, the Rocket Richard Trophy winner has 11 goals and 23 points.
Berube had a first line of Max Pacioretty, John Tavares and Matthews’ regular right winger Mitch Marner in place Friday morning. Pontus Holmberg, despite weak offensive numbers, lined up at centre with Matthew Knies and William Nylander.
Berube has kept the hot third unit of Bobby McMann, Max Domi and Nick Robertson together.
Given that players listed as “day-to-day” by Berube have often been gone longer, a week or more, it was a relief for the club to see defenceman Chris Tanev skating. The shot-blocking leader was scratched for Monday’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets, his first no-show of the schedule.
The Leafs come off the Christmas break to face a Red Wings team that just fired its coach Thursday, Derek Lalonde, replacing him with Todd McLellan. If anyone has forgotten, the latter was considered to be on a short list behind Berube, hired after Sheldon Keefe was let go this past spring.
This is McLellan’s first stint in the Eastern Conference after seven seasons in San Jose, four in Edmonton and five in Los Angeles. The Melville, Sask., native developed his own successful bench style as an assistant under Mike Babcock with the Wings and Jacques Lemaire with the Minnesota Wild.
He cut his teeth as a player as captain of the maverick WHL Saskatoon Blades in the mid-’80s. They had a roster of future NHL rogues, Kelly Chase, Tony Twist, Kevin Kaminski, Shaun Van Allen, Wendel Clark’s brother Kerry and Brian Glynn.
“We used to say it wasn’t a junior hockey team, but a young offenders’ work release program,” laughed Chase in an earlier interview, a former Leaf, St. Louis Blue and a Blues’ analyst. He had McLellan in his wedding party.
“Todd needed to have the maturity of a 30-year-old to deal with that group of trouble makers, the bar fights and so much more.
“His dad was an RCMP officer (as was Leaf general manager Brad Treliving’s father, Jim) and I’ll bet he went home and asked him how he should be dealing with us. But it was a good team and we all made sacrifices.”
Detroit GM Steve Yzerman, who is being roundly criticized for not improving the roster in his tenure and thus handicapping Lalonde and before him, Jeff Blashill, addressed the media Friday morning. Instead of being in the thick of the Eastern wildcard race, the Wings are closer to the Atlantic Division basement than a playoff spot.
“Clearly we aren’t there, hence the change,” Yzerman said.
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