It’s no secret that the 2025 playoffs didn’t go great for the Toronto Maple Leafs. For starters, their starting goaltender, Anthony Stolarz, was injured in game 1 of the round 2 playoffs, and though things started well for the Leafs, Florida ended up getting their mojo back in no time… and how! Captain Auston Matthews managed to finally get a goal in the net in game 6, giving the Leafs a 2-0 lead and pushing the series into seven games, but still, his performance all postseason has been subpar, and speculation about an injury has been rife, especially considering he missed a few morning skates during the games, and while Matthews hadn’t confirmed anything during the tournament, he is now breaking his silence.

“Physically, it was a very tough season.” Matthews said after confirming that he suffered an injury during a training camp, “I don’t want to get into the specifics of stuff. . . I’m confident with some time off I’ll be back 100% next season.” He further added that his injury not only affected his shot but also had an effect on “a lot of things.”

While fans had been quick to speculate on the nature of Auston Matthews’ injury, nothing was confirmed by either Matthews or coach Craig Berube during the play. To make matters worse, Matthews was struck on the eye by Florida’s Sasha Barkov in game 6 and was forced to leave the ice to receive treatment; fortunately, he was able to return. But it is his undisclosed long-term injury that seems to have caused his subpar performance this season, so what could it be?

The nature of Auston Matthews’ injury

Back in the regular season, Matthews ended up missing 9 games in November due to an upper body injury. When he was back on the ice in December, he ended up having to take up another 6 games because it was re-aggravated. His playoff performance this year was more than underwhelming, with him having scored a total of three goals and managing 11 points in the 13 playoff games the Leafs played.

While Matthews’ regular season wasn’t great, it wasn’t as bad as his playoff performance, with him having managed 33 goals, 45 assists and a total of 78 points. NHL analyst Mike Futa certainly had some thoughts on the state of the Leafs captain, saying in a recent interview, “You can question certain things about a player, but when a shot that scores 70 goals one year just doesn’t, is shooting wide and it seems off,” Futa said, commenting on the sudden change in Matthews’ performance in the playoffs, adding, “I just think that there’s got to be something wrong with him physically.” Now we know that Futa hit the nail on the head, though we don’t really know how hard!

When asked about the nature of the injury, Matthews retained his right to privacy and stressed that he didn’t want to disclose the location of the injury; however, he did say that he sought treatment in Germany and things seemed to be manageable when he began the off-season.

At this time, it doesn’t look like Matthews will be needing surgery for whatever the issue is, and his conviction that he will be back in shape next season is promising, but if, in fact, he is still suffering from the same injury that pulled him out of those 15 games at the end of last year, six months later, then it is indeed worrying.