Auston Matthews is one of the best goal scorers in the NHL. But can he make an offensive impact immediately or will it take some time for him to get up to speed? TAMPA — The Toronto Maple Leafs will welcome Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies back to the lineup when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday. Heading into the game, Toronto was already at the maximum 23-player active roster limit, with both Matthews and Knies on injured reserve. To activate them, the team needed to clear two roster spots. One of those spots will be freed up by sending Alex Steeves down to the Toronto Marlies. Steeves, who was called up by the Leafs on Nov. 12, has gone scoreless in four games. The 24-year-old required waivers to be recalled, but under the NHL's collective bargaining agreement, players can be sent back down without waivers if they’ve played fewer than 10 NHL games or spent less than 30 cumulative days on the NHL roster since their recall. This exemption applied to Steeves, making his reassignment straightforward. That resolved one roster spot, but what about the second? Bobby McMann suffered a lower-body injury during Toronto's 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday. The simplest solution would be to place McMann on injured reserve, requiring him to miss a minimum of seven days. On Friday, head coach Craig Berube indicated McMann would likely be out for a couple of games, making IR the most probable outcome to free up the second spot. If McMann is moved to IR, the earliest he could return would be Dec. 6, when the Leafs host the Washington Capitals. While the return of Matthews and Knies is a positive development, the Maple Leafs remain shorthanded up front. In addition to McMann, they are still without Max Domi (lower-body), David Kämpf, Calle Järnkrok (sports hernia), and Max Pacioretty (lower-body).
