Nursing a lingering upper-body injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs wisely made the decision to provide their franchise cornerstone with the opportunity to heal, hoping to avoid the further aggravation of whatever ailment is plaguing him.
Before you even say anything, I agree. This sucks. A Leafs game without Matthews is like Twitter with 280 characters. It just doesn’t feel right, and, honestly, what’s even the point?
Now, a lesser team (Edmonton) would be forced to play their star through a lingering injury, believing that, without him, their chances of winning are slim.
Luckily, the Leafs are no lesser team.