Top prospect Auston Matthews hurt while playing in Swiss League

Auston Matthews takes top spot in Damien Cox’s first Top Prospect list of the season but there are a few names on the list that hold NHL connections.

Auston Matthews was not in the line-up Friday night for Zurich because of an upper-body injury, according to NHL.com.

The 18-year-old, projected to be the top pick of the 2016 NHL Draft, reportedly sustained the injury on Oct. 23 when he fell hard into the boards during a game in Switzerland’s top professional league.

“It was during a puck battle when he did fall head-first into the wall,” Central Scouting’s Thomas Roost told the NHL’s official website. “He felt some pain and didn’t show up for the next shift. But he did come back in that game.”

His timetable to return remains unclear and the injury could prevent him from playing for United States at the upcoming Deutschland Cup, scheduled for Nov. 6-8 in Germany.

Matthews has accumulated 10 goals and six assists in 14 games this season.

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