Maple Leafs Shuffle Lines Amid Return of Auston Matthews against Bruins
The Toronto Maple Leafs made some significant changes to their lines during Saturday's morning skate amid the expected return of Auston Matthews from injury.
Placed on injured reserve on New Years Eve in what was a paper transaction to free up a roster spot, Auston Matthews appears set to return to action Saturday against the Boston Bruins.
Matthews took his usual spot between Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner on the Leafs' top line, meaning David Kampf has been relegated back down to the fourth line with Steven Lorentz and Connor Dewar.
The Max Pacioretty, John Tavares, William Nylander and Bobby McMann, Max Domi and Nicholas Robertson lines remained intact at Saturday's practice.
The 2016 first-overall pick has not played since December 20th against the Buffalo Sabres when he re-aggravated his nagging upper-body injury.
The Arizona native has been skating for the better part of a week already, but only returned to practice a few days ago.
Matthews surprisingly admitted his injury will likely bother him all season, but at this point, surgery is not needed and has not been discussed.
The Leafs and Matthews have an understanding of how to manage his injury to allow him to keep playing, but it should not come as a surprise to see him get a few extra games off here and there the rest of the season to ensure that he is as healthy as possible when the playoffs roll around.
The 27-year-old has skated in just 24 games thus far for the Leafs, and while he only has 11 goals, he has collected 23 points.
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