Auston Matthews was concise.
“Good.”
That one-word answer was all the Maple Leafs captain offered when we asked him about the status of his health three weeks ago, before he took part in the Hockey Night in Brampton charity event.
Matthews would have spent a good portion of his off-season in recovery mode after he acknowledged in May, a couple of days after the Leafs were eliminated by the Florida Panthers, that the 2024-25 year was “a very tough season, physically.”
Injuries have nibbled at Matthews’ participation during his nine-year National Hockey League career to the point he has played in every game in just two seasons — 2015-16 and 2019-20.
With that in mind, there’s little doubt that Matthews’ health will be an ongoing hot-button issue in Toronto, even if he gets off on the right foot once the regular season starts on Oct. 8 at home against the Montreal Canadiens.
Here, we delve into Matthews’ history of ailments in the NHL along with his games missed due to injuries or illness only, not suspension or scratch:
2024-25
Games missed: 15
An upper-body injury that arose in training camp poked at Matthews through the season and he acknowledged after the playoffs that it had been a physically tough year for him.
Matthews missed nine games in November, during which he went to Germany to get examined, and was out for a span of six games in late December/early January with the same issue.
The impact on his ability to produce was clear, as he finished with 33 goals, his lowest total in his nine NHL seasons.
In the playoffs, Matthews played in all 13 games, but scored just three goals — well below reasonable expectations, even taking into account he was not 100%.
Leafs record: 10-5-0
2023-24
Games missed: One
Matthews got through his team-record 69-goal season unscathed, missing only the Leafs’ Dec. 16 home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins because of illness. His services were not required, as the Leafs ruined Kyle Dubas’ initial return to Toronto with a 7-0 victory.
In the three games that followed, Matthews scored five goals and had an assist.
Leafs record: 1-0-0
2022-23
Games missed: Seven
Matthews was on the sideline for back-to-back games in mid-January against Nashville and Detroit with an undisclosed injury, though he acknowledged it was something that had been nagging him for a while and had been impacting his game.
Matthews missed an eighth game, on April 11 against Tampa Bay, but for a good reason: Along with Mitch Marner and Mark Giordano, Matthews was scratched in Toronto’s second-last game of the regular season in order to get some pre-playoff rest.
Leafs record: 3-4-0
2021-22
Games missed: Six
After enduring wrist troubles through the 2020-21 season, Matthews underwent surgery in Aug. 2021 and missed the first three games of the season as he recovered. He scored once in his first six games, but it absolutely was not an indication of what was to come.
Matthews scored 59 goals in his next 67 games, becoming the first Leafs player to score 60 in one season and, with 106 points, he topped 100 for the first time in his NHL career.
Matthews was absent for three games in April as he nursed an injury that was not disclosed.
He also was suspended for two games for cross-checking Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres in a game in March and, for the final game of the season, was a healthy scratch along with Marner and John Tavares.
Leafs record: 4-2-0
2020-21
Games missed: Four
The lingering hand/wrist issue knocked Matthews out of the lineup on three occasions as the Leafs and the rest of the Canada-based teams duked it out in the North Division.
He missed a home game against the Edmonton Oilers in January, the first two games of a three-game set in Edmonton in February/March and then sat out a mid-April game against the Winnipeg Jets. In two of the three games upon returning, Matthews scored.
In 52 games of the shortened season, Matthews scored 41 goals, which equates to a 65-goal pace in a normal 82-game season.
Leafs record: 3-1-0
2019-20
Games missed: None
Having played in all 70 games before the regular season was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic (the only other Leafs player to do so was defenceman Tyson Barrie), Matthews scored 47 goals and was well on his way to recording his first 50-goal season in the NHL.
He scored the Leafs’ last goal, netting the winner during a third-period power play as Toronto beat visiting Tampa Bay 2-1 on March 10, 2020. Two days later, the NHL shut down.
Leafs record: N/A
2018-19
Games missed: 14
Matthews missed a month after his shoulder was injured on a hit by defenceman Jacob Trouba, then with the Winnipeg Jets, in a game in Toronto on Oct. 27.
In Matthews’ first game back, on Nov. 28 at home against the San Jose Sharks, he scored two goals in a 5-3 Toronto win and then had three more in the next two games.
It was the only span during the season that Matthews was out of the lineup. He ended with 37 goals in 68 games.
Leafs record: 9-5-0
2017-18
Games missed: 20
Matthews was on the shelf three times during his sophomore year in the NHL.
He missed four games in November because of an upper-body injury (the team would not confirm at the time the suspicions that Matthews had a back problem); in December, Matthews missed six games after he suffered a concussion in colliding with teammate Morgan Rielly in a game against Pittsburgh; and in February/March, Matthews was idle for 10 games as he recovered from a separated right shoulder suffered in a game against the New York Islanders.
To no surprise, Matthews scored in his first game back after each injury.
Leafs record: 11-7-2
2016-17
Games missed: None
In his rookie season, for the first and only time (so far), Matthews played in all 82 games.
It was no coincidence that Matthews became the first Leafs player since Brit Selby in 1966 to win the Calder Trophy.
In scoring four goals in Ottawa in his NHL debut, Matthews immediately set the bar awfully high for himself. He finished with 40 goals, hitting the milestone in the Leafs’ penultimate game of the regular season. That night, in a 5-3 home win against Pittsburgh, the Leafs clinched their first playoff berth since 2004. They haven’t missed the post-season since.
Leafs record: N/A
X: @koshtorontosun