Report: Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews expected to undergo surgery

Surgery looks like it’s in the cards for Auston Matthews.

The Toronto Maple Leafs captain is expected to go under the knife as part of his recovery from a season-ending MCL tear suffered last week, it was reported on Thursday.

Here’s what you need to know.

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Auston Matthews injury

After the surgery, Matthews is still expected to be fully ready for the start of next season. He was injured after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas in a 6-4 home win on March 12.

The lack of on-ice response from Matthews’ teammates has been a hot topic since the hit. Matthews immediately went down on the ice visibly in pain, while Leafs players watched Gudas, who was suspended five games for the hit, skate away.

Matthews was ruled out for the remainder of the season the next day.

Toronto Maple Leafs

It’s been a tough season all-around for Toronto. The Maple Leafs enter Thursday third-last in the Eastern Conference standings, 12 points out of a playoff spot.

Things get even more complicated for Toronto as Boston owns their first-round draft pick this year, which is top-five protected as part of last year’s trade for Brandon Carlo. The Leafs are 24th overall in the NHL standings and they are five points ahead of where they need to fall in order to hold onto their 2026 pick.

However, if Toronto keeps their pick this year, the Bruins will get the Leafs’ 2027 first-round pick unprotected and Philadelphia gets Toronto’s 2028 first-round pick unprotected from a different trade.

As it stands, if the draft lottery were held today, the Maple Leafs would miss the playoffs and almost certainly be forced to give Boston a top-10 pick at this year’s draft. Ouch.