Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews is fully healthy ahead of the 2025-26 season, and spoke about his recovery over the summer during his media availability at the Ford Performance Centre on Wednesday.

Matthews missed 15 games in 2024-25 due to a lingering upper-body injury that he suffered during training camp. It clearly affected his accuracy and long-range shooting, but the 28-year-old ought to be all the way back to his usual form.

“Yeah, health-wise, I’m feeling really good,” Matthews said. “I had a good summer. I think a lot of things that put me in a position to come to training camp were really good. So I’m really happy about that.

Matthews will be an essential part of the United States’ Olympic hockey team and captained the group during the 4 Nations Face-Off. It will be another long and laborious season ahead, so Matthews is keenly aware that he may need to balance his workload, with the Leafs as the top priority.

“I think you just have to manage it as the season goes along. I think for myself, over the last couple of years, this summer especially, I think you look internally at what’s worked for you, what hasn’t worked. I’ve always enjoyed different challenges over the summer, and change, whether it’s routine, workout stuff, on ice. I just think it’s as how the season goes along. It’s a pretty condensed season, similar to the COVID year, with the Olympics and all that. My main focus is obviously camp and when that time comes, I’ll take that on when it comes.”

Matthews is celebrating his 28th birthday, and he’s the clear, unquestioned leader of the Maple Leafs. William Nylander, John Tavares and Matthew Knies are expected to help Matthews take on the bulk of the offence, as a revamped Maple Leafs team still maintains the goal of winning an elusive Stanley Cup. Matthews returning to his peak form would go a long way in this quest, two years removed from a 69-goal campaign. And now that Mitch Marner has moved onto the Vegas Golden Knights, it’s incumbent upon the Maple Leafs’ remaining stars to propel a star-studded attack, in what should be a hotly contested Atlantic Division race.

We’ll get our first look at Matthews on the ice Thursday, where he’ll be paired with Matthew Knies to start, and with Max Domi ruled out with a lower-body injury, it appears that Matias Maccelli will get the first look on the open right wing.