The Toronto Maple Leafs came into the season with the hope that this would be the year that they could assert themselves in the Atlantic Division and possibly rise to first place before having the kind of run in the playoffs that would bring them their first Stanley Cup since 1967. Instead, the Maple Leafs have fallen flat and they are fighting to stay out of the division's cellar.

In addition to struggling to put together winning efforts on a nightly basis, their captain and best player Auston Matthews is out for the season following surgery on his medial collateral ligament. Matthews was injured in a collision with defenseman Radko Gudas of the Anaheim Ducks last week, and it was clear after the knee-on-knee hit that Matthews would not play another game this season.

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However, the announcement by the team that Matthews had undergone surgery was a bit of a surprise. While surgery is the normal procedure following an ACL injury, it is not always necessary with the MCL. The announcement of the surgery also included that the recovery time is expected to be 12 weeks.

If that is accurate, Matthews should be able to train throughout the summer and would likely be ready for the start of training camp in September. He would then be ready for the star of the 2026-27 season in October.

While Matthews was the captain of the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the recently completed Winter Olympics, he has endured a tough season with the Leafs. He has scored 27 goals and 26 assists for 53 points in 60 games. That's a far cry from the player who scored a team-record 69 goals in 2023-24. Matthews had never scored fewer than 33 goals in a season prior to this season.