Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews returned to skating following a medical evaluation trip to Germany. The star says Wednesday against the Florida Panthers is a possibility for his return. Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews was back on the ice on Saturday following his trip to Munich, Germany, where he received treatment for an upper-body injury. This is the first time we've seen the 27-year-old on the ice since the morning of Nov. 9, when he skated briefly before Toronto's morning skate against the Montreal Canadiens. Matthews hasn't played since the Maple Leafs' 2-1 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 3. He's been day-to-day with the upper-body injury since then. "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're trying to do is use this week to hopefully get this thing behind him. As part of that, he and our Doc (Noah) Forman went over to Germany to see a doc that he's used in the past," Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said after practice on Tuesday. "More as a general checkup, but also to get some work done on his thing. It's not alarming. It was something we've been discussing, knowing that he's going to be getting this week, but we're hopeful that once we get through the week here, he'll be back up and skating and his return to play would be after that. So again, nothing new. "There's been no setbacks. Everything's been actually going quite well. We're just trying to use the days that we've got here with less games being played to just try to get this behind us." Treliving added that Matthews could return on Sunday when Toronto hosts the Utah Hockey Club, but "would feel more comfortable" waiting until the team heads to Florida for a two-game road trip on Nov. 27. Matthews has five goals and six assists for 11 points in 13 games this season with the Maple Leafs. More to come...
