Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews admits he's been dealing with season-long injury

Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews is still a man of mystery.

In 67 games with the Leafs this year, Matthews put up 33 goals and 45 assists for a total of 78 points.

It’s a season most players would be thrilled to have, but Matthews has shown over the course of his career that he isn’t at the skill level of most players. Just a year ago, Matthews led the league with a franchise-record 69 goals, putting up a career-best 107 points.

Speaking to reporters at his end-of-season media availability, Matthews confirmed that he’d been suffering an injury since the team’s training camp way back in September.

“It’s a very tough season; I don’t need to get into the specifics of stuff, but it happened to me in training camp. Obviously, [I] wasn’t feeling great for the first month or so of the season. I took some time off, wanted to germinate all of these things to try and feel better [rather] than, you know, just kind of in a place that I felt like I could manage it,” Matthews said.

But when pressed on further specifics, Matthews declined to detail what exactly had been ailing him.

Matthews’ tumultuous season by his standards included a November visit to Germany to meet with Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, who has a history of working with star athletes, including sprinter Usain Bolt and the German men’s national soccer team.

“There was obviously some stretches where I felt good and some stretches where I didn’t feel very good, definitely a tough year physically,” Matthews said. “But, you know, taking some time off and going through the process, stuff like that, I’m confident I’ll be back at 100% next season.”

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