NHL Insider Reveals Auston Matthews' Plans for the 4-Nations Face-Off
Auston Matthews' health has been the biggest talking recently and Elliotte Friedman wonders if he will still take a run at playing for Team USA in February.
Auston Matthews last suited up on the 20th of December in a game against the Buffalo Sabres. He was quickly ruled out ahead of their final game before the holiday break after it was mentioned that he had re-aggravated the same upper-body injury that had plagued him earlier in the season.
Craig Berube exercised patience as they were unaware as to how long he would remain out of the lineup this time around. The updates haven't been much clearer since the end of December but he has been seen at practices in recent days.
While getting Matthews healthy for a post-season push is the ultimate goal, this year things are a little different with the 4-Nations Face-Off taking place in the middle of February. The best on best haven't seen the international stage since the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 and the it's certainly a prideful event for all involved, which makes the Matthews situation a little dicier.
It's easy for for us to say that Matthews should just sit this one out but with international pride on the line and the first opportunity in almost a decade to support your nation, it's a hard conversation to have regardless of the situation at hand.
We're still 5 weeks away and Matthews should have a resolute update by then, however the talking point in recent weeks is whether or not the Toronto Maple Leafs should allow him to partake, especially considering the severity of his injury and the nature of re-aggravations.
Elliotte Friedman took to his "32 Thoughts" podcast alongside Kyle Bukauskas and talked about what he thinks is currently happening between Matthews and the Leafs and whether or not the 4-Nations should be a concern:
I kinda look at it this way, first of all I still think it's too early to talk about the 4-Nations, it's 5 weeks away, but the one thing I do think is that I kind of wonder if he's looking at it like you can't keep stopping and starting, especially with this tournament getting closer in your windshield.
I just think that there's probably a sense that you can't keep stopping and then starting this close to it. So I wonder if it's kind of like we're going to take one more big shot here and see what happens so we better make sure we're really ready to go before he returns, it's kind of what I'm wondering."
As Friedman alludes to, there's still 5 weeks to go and there should be concrete information about Matthews' health well before then to truly make a decision.
However, it sounds like the Maple Leafs captain could also be frustrated with the stop-and-start regiment currently employed. It certainly doesn't make things any easier as an athlete to have to stop and start every so often but it does sound like he's still looking to participate in the international tournament.
Only time will tell if that's going to be a good idea or not but at least this time around, they have the benefit of being patient. He's currently making progress, which is great news, however we still don't have a concrete timetable for when he will return. Consider him doubtful at best for the upcoming home and home against Philadelphia.
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