Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews skates, inches toward return

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Auston Matthews gladly took part in the Maple Leafs’ optional morning skate on Thursday.

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The Leafs captain has been bothered by a minor ailment in his upper body, but looked like his usual self at the Ford Performance Centre, skating with teammates who were slated to be in the lineup on Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena.

“I know it wasn’t a long morning skate, but he’s doing well,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “It’s great to see him out there.”

Could Matthews suit up in the return match against the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday?

“I’ll just worry about (practice on Friday),” Berube said. “I’m not going to jump to conclusions. We’ll wait and see what happens.”

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It’s possible, too, that Matthews sits on Saturday and plays in the Leafs’ final two pre-season games, a home-and-home set with the Detroit Red Wings next Thursday and Saturday.

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Winger Calle Jarnkrok (lower body) skated with Matthews earlier in the morning, but did not participate in the optional.

“We don’t want lingering injuries and things like that going on,” Berube said. “We have to make sure that we’re smart. It has been a tough camp. When (players) need to take a break because of something going on, we let them.”

Meanwhile, defencemen Jani Hakanpaa (knee) and Ben Danford (concussion) and forward Connor Dewar (shoulder) all skated with the third group, each clad in a don’t-get-physical red sweater.

BODY MOVIN’

Joseph Woll is seeing a difference.

The work that the Leafs goaltender put in during the summer alongside biomechanics consultant Sally Belanger at the club’s facility has been bringing results through the initial stages of training camp and the pre-season.

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“More stable (in the crease),” Woll said. “It’s hard to describe.

“It’s subtle things, I guess, but you can feel yourself turn off certain muscles and feel yourself stay on with certain things. And when you’re on and different parts of your body are engaged in your core and your movements from a lot more economical, you’re a lot quicker, you’re a lot more stable, a lot more under control, but you don’t lose necessarily speed. I just feel more in control a bit.”

Good news, no doubt, as this was the aim in the off-season, considering Woll’s injury history and the expectation that he will be Toronto’s starting goalie in 2024-25 and beyond. We’ve seen Woll excel in past seasons when he has been healthy and, with a three-year extension that kicks in a year from now, the club has the belief that he can be the guy.

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Regarding his physical status, the 26-year-old St. Louis native takes a wider view.

“I don’t think we need to over-focus on the body stability stuff,” Woll said. “Goaltending, like anything, is something where you can work on a lot of different areas, from tactical approach to off-ice to the on-ice.

“Each is a little part of the puzzle. The body work, and honing in on that was nice, but, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle of the work I’ve been doing.”

OFF THE MATT

Every Leafs player wants to see his teammates succeed, but the cheering section for Matt Murray might be a little more vocal considering the netminder’s long road back from bilateral hip surgery.

Murray’s determination during his rehabilitation at the Leafs facility in Etobicoke following his operation last October was witnessed on a daily basis by his teammates.

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“Many people didn’t see it last year, but Murr was here every day and he worked his rear end off on the rehab and the commitment he made to get better and get healthy, and wanting to continue to push forward and keep playing and playing here,” John Tavares said. “I know he’s excited to start fresh and feeling good and ready to push himself.

“It’s great to see, because we saw firsthand how hard he worked on getting healthy and doing what he could to be available. I’m really happy for him.”

Murray, naturally, has the goal of becoming more than just a feel-good story after he signed a one-year, $875,000 US contract in July to remain with the Leafs.

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The next step for the 30-year-old is to demonstrate that he is capable of handling some goaltending duties in the event that Woll or Anthony Stolarz is injured. Martin Jones did that to an extent in 2023-24, going 11-8-1 with a .902 save percentage and a 2.87 goals-against average in 22 games.

Then there’s Dennis Hildeby, who is itching to get a chance to show he is worthy of playing in some NHL games after posting a .913 save percentage in 41 games for the Toronto Marlies last season.

If the Leafs wind up having to use Hildeby, though, it likely would be only because of a raft of injuries suffered by those ahead of him on the depth chart. And no one in the organization wants to envision that scenario.

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