Matthews has only five goals in his first 13 games of the season, eight less than he had at this time last year.
Auston Matthews won't be in the lineup when the Toronto Maple Leafs look for redemption against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
The Maple Leafs announced that the 27-year-old is day-to-day with an upper-body injury on Tuesday, shortly before the team took to the ice for their morning skate.
"He's been fighting through it a little bit, but so obviously he's out tonight," Berube said following the Maple Leafs' morning skate.
Matthews has dealt with wrist issues throughout parts of his career, but Berube said this upper-body injury has "nothing to do with that."
With Toronto's captain out of the lineup, Max Domi moves up to the first line centering Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner. Holmberg moved into the middle where Domi was on the third line, playing alongside Bobby McMann and Nick Robertson.
Holmberg was a healthy scratch in Toronto's 2-1 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
Matthews didn't appear to look worse for wear in Minnesota on Sunday. He played 22:12 in the game and set up William Nylander for the game-tying goal on the power play, which forced overtime.
Knies moved into Matthews' spot on the power play during the team's morning skate ahead of their game against the Bruins.
Matthews has five goals and six assists for 11 points through 13 games this season. That's eight goals less than he had at this point of the year last season. His shooting percentage is also 8.9 percent, nearly 10 percentage points lower than last season.
The forward is in the first year of a four-year, $53 million contract, which carries a cap hit of $13.25 million, the highest in the NHL. Matthews became the Maple Leafs' 26th captain in franchise history this past summer, having the honor passed on from John Tavares.
Matthews has 373 goals and 287 assists for 660 points in 575 career games with Toronto. He has 34 goals and 37 assists in 82 playoff games with the Maple Leafs.