Quick Shifts: Matthews' injury highlights Maple Leafs' big trade need

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Fourth-fastest to 1,000 words.

1. You could call Auston Matthews’ prolonged absence a scheduled loss.

As fans get robbed of marquee matchups this week against Alex Ovechkin and Connor McDavid, the Toronto Maple Leafs are taking advantage of an unusually light work week and prioritizing rest and recovery for whatever ails their No. 1 centre’s upper body.

Following Saturday’s prime-time tilt against the Edmonton Oilers, the Leafs will play just once (Vegas on Wednesday) over a seven-day span with no travel.

“It’s a nice window. You don’t get that too often,” Matthews’ winger, Matthew Knies, said to reporters Friday.

Easing pressure to rush a return is Toronto’s 4-1 record since its 69-goal man went down after a 22-minute effort on Nov. 3.

It is curious, though, that a player listed as day-to-day will now miss a minimum of 17 days between games.

Matthews skated solo last Saturday and Sunday, but not since. Those close to him are saying the same thing as the team: He’s day to day. He’s improving. There is no setback. It’s best he returns at 100 per cent.

Most improving players on the IR ramp up their on-ice work instead of scaling it back. But, hey, we get it.

The Leafs tried winning a playoff series with Matthews at something less than healthy, and it didn’t work out.

Provided Toronto doesn’t hit the skids, there are positives to be gained by this situation. John Tavares lived one on Wednesday. All successful teams point back to strength gained by overcoming adversity along the way.

Perhaps most important is what GM Brad Treliving learns about his group before the trade deadline: Centre depth is a serious issue.

Whether it’s Matthews or someone else, surely Treliving realizes his roster would have a hard time winning one round, let alone four, with an injury in middle ice.

The third line is a struggling hodgepodge of forwards who can’t score, and Max Domi’s latest trial as a top-six pivot has been rough.

Domi has gone 12 games without a point and 23 without a goal. This despite getting shifts with the Leafs’ dynamic playmakers. (To be fair, Domi has missed consecutive practices due to “maintenance”; he’s battling something other than confidence right now.)

The Capitals already snatched one middle-six centre off the trade market.

Treliving, surely, has begun looking at potential rental options such as Brock Nelson (easily the best choice) out of New York or Mikael Granlund in San Jose. Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano, perhaps? Utah’s Nick Bjugstad? Montreal’s Jake Evans?

The class isn’t exactly flush with options, so the GM will entertain trading for a centre with term. Those are more expensive.

But one thing is becoming increasingly clear as Matthews heals: A 3C solution for the Maple Leafs must come from outside.

2. Rasmus Sandin flashes a devilish smile, reminiscing about his epic summertime training battles with close friend William Nylander back in Sweden.

“We get into some fights. I broke a visor for him this summer,” Sandin says, proudly.

“We're battling hard in practice in the summers. He wanted to be a little flashy, I guess. So, I tried to lift his stick and put a stop to it. Cracked his visor in half.”

The good-natured competitiveness between the defenceman and the winger has carried over into what is tracking to be career years for both friends.

Sandin helped ruin a piece of Nylander’s equipment; Nylander helped solve a piece of Sandin’s.

The elite Maple Leafs skater suggested Sandin tweak the profile of his skate blade, and because the steel Sandin was using got discontinued anyway, Sandin is trying something new this season.

Sandin’s new blades pitch his weight more toward his toes. (Plus, he says, he packed on about eight pounds over the summer.)

“It’s a big difference,” Sandin says. “Probably should’ve switched earlier.”

Sandin is averaging nearly 20 minutes a night for a good team and has jumped to a 46-point pace, which would demolish his career high of 23.

He admits that a rough team start for Washington last season and his own status as pending free agent weighed on him.

Securing $23 million and five years’ worth of security in March was a load off his mind, and now that his team is rolling and his skates are flying, the joyful Sandin figures this is the most confident he’s been in the NHL.

“Toronto times were amazing in every possible way,” he says. "Last year was a lot of things, I think, in the back of your head that you weren't trying to think of. I mean, with the contract and stuff like that, and then obviously we had a tougher start and didn't play as good as a team.

“I've been doing pretty good so far, getting to play against good players, and feeling good about my defence and playing with the puck as well. So, yeah, I feel confident. I feel good about my game.”

Sandin feels less good about his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in Nylander’s Amazon docuseries episode, shot during the Toronto-Boston series.

“Thought they cut me out a little bit too much,” Sandin quips. “But I thought it was fun. I obviously had to see that one. I think that's a good thing they're doing, too, for the sport. I mean, it's growing, and William is one of the guys that is a good promoter for the sport.”

So, what was Sandin’s sense of Nylander as the star sat out his first-ever playoff games due to eye migraines?

“Like, it was tough for me to even talk to him, because he was pissed that he couldn't play,” Sandin says.

“Normally when I reach out to him, we just talk like normal guys. But at that point it was, like, I barely got a response. You could notice it was tough for him.”

3. The affable and energetic Spencer Carbery is a quick smile who generally oozes positivity.

Following Wednesday’s blown-lead loss to his former employer, the Maple Leafs, the head coach was as livid and as curt as any Washington Capitals reporter had seen him.

Since changing jobs, Carbery has lost all four games to Toronto, by a cumulative score of 20-8. Wednesday night, however, Carbery’s team was the favourite.

The Caps had a 3-1 lead with 4:09 on the clock. They sat back. They coughed up the puck. They missed chances at an empty net. Their previously unbeaten goalie, Logan Thompson, sat back in his crease while Tavares chased down a reachable game-winning puck. (Thompson’s explanation to Carbery: He was more confident in his ability to stop Tavares on a breakaway than the risk of a footrace.)

Carbery exhaled deeply, then used the word "embarrassing" thrice in his first post-game answer. His scrum lasted two minutes, abnormally brief by his standards.

He then took things a step further by scheduling a practice Thursday morning. The players were originally supposed to have morning off before flying west for a road trip.

The Capitals are off to a fine 10-4-1 start, but the top half of the Metropolitan is crowded. Carbery isn’t waiting to rachet the urgency in the nation’s capital.

“I know it’s (only) Game 15,” Carbery said the following morning. “You better make sure your desperation level is at least meeting the opponent. But we want to exceed that.”

4. Seven goals counted in that Leafs-Caps thriller Wednesday, but three other pucks entered the net in harmless fashion only to be nullified on technicalities.

Goalie interference (Nic Dowd), a kicking motion (Steven Lorentz) and a high-stick (Knies) all triggered lengthy, momentum-halting video reviews that totalled 10 minutes of extra time and more than a few “Ref! You! Suck!” chants.

Add all the nauseating freeze-framing to one of those criminal 7:30 weeknight starts, and it makes for a long night.

By the rule, the officials eventually got all three calls correct, even if an apoplectic Craig Berube said: “I don’t get it.” (Originally ruled a high-stick, there was not enough conclusive evidence to overturn Knies’s knock-down.)

By the spirit in which these rules were born, however, the NHL is blowing it. In this observer’s eyes, all three goals should stand.

Dowd’s drift into the blue didn’t prevent Jospeh Woll from stopping a John Carlson blast he didn’t see. This wasn’t Chris Kreider bulldozing Corey Price.

Lorentz’s modest hack-sack motion didn’t put anyone in danger with a swinging skate blade.

And Knies’s tip near the crossbar was a nifty display of skill. We’d like to see the refs default to “good goal,” then double-check if need be.

“I didn’t do myself justice when I kept my stick high to start with, but I thought when I made contact with (the puck), it was below the crossbar,” Knies told reporters.

We are slicing the onion too thin here — and, perhaps worse, wasting way too much time to do it.

5. Quote of the Week:

“I stopped counting at 20.” —New Jersey’s Brenden Dillon, when informed that Florida enforcer Jonah Gadjovich threw 37 punches in their heavyweight tilt

(Fantastic ESPN post-game interview with Dillon, who finished with: “Jeez, I wish I was a power-play guy sometimes.”)

6. Lars Eller wasn’t entirely shocked to be traded this season.

He’s 35. He knows what happens to guys on expiring contracts playing for underachieving teams. Heck, he’s lived it before.

The Capitals’ former and current third-line centre was, however, surprised to be on the move well before U.S. Thanksgiving.

“If anybody had told me when the season started, within two months I was going to be playing for the Caps, I probably wouldn't believe you. But things change quickly,” Eller said Wednesday, taking in Leafs-Capitals from the press box. “I don't think you ever quite get used to it. It's an odd feeling, leaving teammates and a place where I really enjoyed, really loved playing. That's hard.

“But I could not, at the same time, imagine a better place coming than here. Now that I have to move, it's the best possible scenario. I think just super excited to join a team that looks like they got something really good going for them. And, you know, I never really wanted to leave in the first place. I always loved playing here and a great opportunity I have in front of me."

Eller said all nice things about the Penguins, but as he toured Capital One Arena, he was beaming.

The author of the only Cup-clinching goal in franchise history said that he never sold his home in the DMV area when he was dealt to Colorado in 2023. It was there waiting for him after Pittsburgh dealt him for futures amid an ugly start and a rash of trade rumours.

“Just driving down Constitution (Avenue) and going into the arena, it's a special place that's very near my heart,” Eller said, beaming. “It's all good memories when you when you come back here.”

So, why didn’t it work in Pittsburgh?

“For me, I think it worked pretty well. I'm happy with how I performed. I had a good time there,” Eller replied.

“It's tough for me to dissect what went wrong last season, what didn't get off to a good start this year. We could never really string a consistent good game together over weeks or over months. Long story short, it's kind of been the same to start this year. We had a couple of good games; we had a couple of bad games. We had a bad trip out west. It's tough for me to say exactly what (happened). It just didn't work out for the team.”

7. This is not the first (nor will it be the last) time we give props to Winnipeg Jets fans in this space, but their savage chant of “U-S BACK-UP!” during the home team’s 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars is their best yet.

Chef’s kiss.

With Dec. 4’s announcement of the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters nearing, Connor Hellebuyck should be the easy front-runner, recent playoff letdowns be damned.

“I'd really love to be on the roster,” Hellebuyck says. “If I am, I'll be honoured,”

Hellebuyck’s stat line (12-1-0, .934) overshadows Jake Oettinger’s (8-3-0, .914) with the Stars.

A struggling Jeremy Swayman (5-6-2, .888) has cracked the door for a darkhorse like Anthony Stolarz (6-3-2, .930) or triple citizen Joey Daccord (7-3-1, .918) to sneak in as the third-stringer.

8. Hockey Hall of Famer Pavel Datsyuk’s final season in Detroit was Dylan Larkin’s first.

Amid the hype surrounding the Red Wings’ stud rookie and future captain, a silly and mildly embarrassing self-produced YouTube video made the rounds. A cocky, young Larkin draping himself in the American flag and putting on a “snip sesh” in his basement.

“No one enjoyed it more than Pav. That was the D-Boss video. He loved it.  He loved talking about it. He loved calling me D-Boss. Those were cool memories. It honestly helped me feel a little bit better about it when it came out,” a smiling Larkin recalled, just a couple blocks from the Hall.

“I played with him for a year, and just his sense of humour, it was very underrated. His English, I think, was better than he let (the media) believe.”

The freshman Larkin also cribbed leadership notes from Datsyuk, whose love for the game and devotion to the craft would manifest itself in 45-minute bike rides after the final buzzer.

“He was in the last year of his NHL career and still playing one-on-one with guys for 30, 40 minutes after morning skates. He loved the game, and he loved putting the puck through a guy’s triangle and going in and making a play,” said Larkin, now trying to carry the culture instilled by Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg forward.

"I think it’s because they loved the game. They loved coming to the rink and spending time with their teammates. So, they made me feel really comfortable, and it’s something I still cherish and try to bring myself as a leader.”

9. Roberto Luongo isn’t much for in-depth interviews about his playing career, but Keith Yandle convinced his pal and former teammate to chat at length on this week’s Spittin Chiclets podcast.

Luongo’s candid Q&A is mandatory listening for fans of the Panthers, Canucks, Islanders, and … Red Wings?

“I don’t think anybody knows this, but when I was traded to Van, I didn’t have a signed contract yet, and I actually got offer-sheeted by Detroit,” Luongo revealed, thinking back to the summer of 2006. “I didn’t accept it, though.

“It was a pretty quick no. I just got traded to Van. I wanted to be there. I didn't want to go to another team.”

Insert bulging eyeballs emoji here.

The stacked Red Wings had Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom at the time. They were a perennial contender amid a 25-year playoff streak. They had just lost in the first round to the Oilers.

Without Luongo, the Wings went to the conference final in ’07, then the Cup final in ’08 and ’09 — winning once with Chris Osgood carrying the load in net.

That’s one doozy of a what-if.

Not only did Luongo have a chance to move to Detroit, he came thisclose to staying in Florida.

Then-Panthers GM Mike Keenan dealt Luongo to Vancouver on the eve of the ’06 draft, acquiring Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen and Alex Auld in the process.

Luongo, a pending free agent, revealed on the podcast that he was willing to accept Keenan’s last contract offer. He just didn’t answer quick enough.

“I didn’t want to go anywhere, but I also wanted to win,” Luongo said. “I just wanted to see some progress and hopefully make the playoffs in the next year or two and aspire to win a Cup. And with that came the contract negotiations.

“They had offered me a contract, and I wasn’t crazy about it, so I was thinking about it. When I got back to them — I said, ‘OK, I’ll agree to it,’ — the (Vancouver trade) was already done.”

10. Most compelling conspiracy theory I heard from someone in Montreal this week:

The Canadiens are keeping an eye on Jim Montgomery, who is unsigned beyond this season and whose team is scuffling through an 8-8-2 start after spending big in free agency.

Montgomery, of course, is a bilingual Montreal native and a Jack Adams winner.

The Canadiens are having a horrible start (NHL-worst .353 points percentage), and although Martin St. Louis has contract security, management was not mapping out a tank year.

The theory is fuelled by the events of Valentine’s Day 2017, when Claude Julien got fired by Boston and rehired by Montreal in the same day.

Again: A theory, not a report.

But the seat is hot.

11. EA Sports and the NHL Coaches’ Association brokered a deal to update NHL 25 with the likeness of the actual bench bosses. The avatars are overdue when you consider the quest for realism in sports video games.

If you’re wondering why some of the coaches’ virtual selves appear more lifelike than others, it’s because not all 32 participated in the game developer’s session necessary to recreate a more accurate avatar. (Some had a schedule conflict; some couldn’t care less what they look like a video game.)

Already anticipating some in-season changes behind the bench, some yet-to-be-hired head coach candidates have already begun the avatar process for EA.

12. Love that Connor McDavid’s teammates pressed up these T-shirts for the occasion.

The Oilers should sell these beauties to fans at the team store and donate profits to the goalies of the Western Conference.