The Toronto Maple Leafs have already adjusted to life without superstar Auston Matthews, and they’ll have to make do without another forward for the near future. Max Domi was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body ailment on Wednesday, the team announced.
“The Maple Leafs have placed F Max Domi on IR (lower body) retroactive to November 16,” confirmed Leafs PR. “F Nikita Grebenkin has been recalled from the Toronto Marlies (AHL).”
Domi can return to the lineup as soon as Sunday’s game against the Utah Hockey Club at Scotiabank Arena; he must remain on IR for a minimum of seven days. The 29-year-old has struggled offensively this season after a solid start, failing to score a goal and managing just six assists over 19 games. He’s also gone pointless in each of his last 13 contests.
Last season, Domi was effective, chipping in 47 points while leading the squad in penalty minutes. Overall, he’s played 680 career regular-season games, amassing 130 goals and 423 points in that span.
Grebenkin will make his NHL debut when the Vegas Golden Knights visit Toronto on Wednesday night. The former fifth round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft spent the last two seasons in the KHL, helping Magnitogorsk win the Gagarin Cup last year.
Along with Domi, Matthews also remains out of the lineup as his injury absence drags on.
Leafs’ Auston Matthews went to Germany for injury
Matthews flew overseas to Germany this week, visiting a doctor as he continues to recover from an upper-body injury. The star American has missed each of Toronto’s last six games.
“The trip was more as a general checkup, but also to get some work done on his thing,” Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said on Tuesday, per NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy. “It’s not alarming. It’s something we have been discussing knowing that he’s going to be getting this week (off), but we are hopeful that once we get through the week here he will be back up and skating and his return to play would be after that.”
Matthews has scored five goals and 11 points in 13 games this season, and he’s one year removed from scoring a career-high 69 goals in 81 games in 2023-24. Treliving wouldn’t offer more specifics about the injury, but he did say he was pleased with how the recovery process has gone overall.
“Nothing new; there’s been no setbacks,” the longtime executive said. “Everything has been actually going quite well. We are just trying to use the days we’ve got here with less games being played to try to get this behind us.”
Although Matthews won’t play against the Golden Knights, and is doubtful against Utah on Sunday, he could be an option next week during a two-game road trip that passes through Florida and Tampa Bay.
“We haven’t been trying to be cryptic with all this stuff. We’ve been calling him day to day because that’s what he’s been. We’ve looked at the schedule here and what we are trying to do is use this week and hopefully get this thing behind him,” Treliving said.
The 11-6-2 Leafs will be hoping to have both Domi and Matthews back in the lineup next week as they continue to battle for the Atlantic Division crown.
The post Leafs’ injury woes continue with latest Max Domi update appeared first on ClutchPoints.
