Trusted NHL Insider Reveals Matthew Knies' Projected Return Date for the Maple Leafs

After missing the last week of action due to an upper-body injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to welcome Matthew Knies back to the lineup for their matchup against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night, per Darren Dreger.

The Maple Leafs have received some good news in recent days regarding the statuses of several injured players, including Knies and John Tavares.

Although the former was seen skating at practice today, the Leafs would prefer to give Knies some extra time to ensure that, when he returns, he does so at 100%.

The Maple Leafs play their final home game for over 3 weeks tonight against Minnesota before they head out west for pit stops in Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle, and Vancouver, leading up to the highly-anticipated 4 Nations Face-Off.

Knies was originally hurt during Toronto's loss to Columbus on the 22nd of January. Near the end of the second period, the sophomore attempted to finish a check against Kirill Marchenko, but bounced off the Russian forward and fell awkwardly into the leg of a nearby linesman.

Having already dealt with a concussion earlier in the season, there was plenty cause for concern after Knies was immediately ruled out for the rest of the game. Fortunately, the updates that followed the 5-1 loss were positive in the sense that he would miss days, not weeks, with what they deemed an upper-body ailment.

With 3 days in between games, that should give Knies plenty of time to get back up to speed and prepare himself for the Oilers. The sophomore had scored 7 goals and 12 points in the 9 games prior to the injury and should reclaim his top-line role with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner upon his return.

On the season, the 22-year-old has accumulated 18 goals and 31 points over 47 games all the while averaging 18:21 TOI.