The Toronto Maple Leafs announced that forward Auston Matthews underwent successful wrist surgery earlier today.
Matthews encountered discomfort upon increasing his on-ice training earlier this week. After consultations with specialists and Maple Leafs medical staff, surgery was the recommended course of action. His recovery will be a minimum of six weeks.
This news release, in it’s entirety as copied here, was posted at 8 p.m. on Friday, August, 13.
Six weeks lands on what is likely to be mid-training camp, and one day before the first preseason game.
Matthews had been obviously labouring with his wrist during the season, which ended over two months ago, leading to a rearrangement of the power play structure for a time to allow him to stay away from the one-timer.
He later returned to form and, as you know, won the Rocket Richard for the most goals scored in the season.
In other news, many Leafs reporters today were noting that the Leafs PR department has lost a long term employee:
I’m late to this but sending my love to Mr. @chrisjlund after moving on from @LeafsPR. A personal joy of mine was getting to work with him and @mattiaboni on the digital end of things during the 2014-15 season. A friend when in need of advice and forever a #HashtagSavant.
— David Alter (@dalter) August 13, 2021