Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews revealed he played through an injury sustained in training camp, but declined to reveal the nature of it.

Matthews was clearly labouring throughout the playoffs, and struggled to produce offensively at the pace that was expected of him. The 27-year-old recorded three goals and 11 points in 13 postseason games, after notching 33 goals and 78 points in 67 regular season games. This level of production represented a dramatic drop-off from his career-best 2023-24 campaign where he recorded a career-high 69 goals and 107 points in 81 regular season games.

Throughout the season, Matthews’ long-range shooting and accuracy was affected, but he still was able to work his way into high-danger areas at an elite rate.

“It’s a very tough season, I don’t need to get into the specifics of stuff, but, it happened to me in training camp, obviously wasn’t feeling great for the first month or so of the season, I took some time off, went to Germany, all of these things to try and feel better, than, you know, just kind of in a place that I felt like I could manage it.”

The term “managing it” was thrown around a lot regarding the injury that plagued much of Matthews’ 2024-25 season, which lines up with what he said about trying to get to the root of the problem rather than just keeping it at bay.

“There was obviously some stretches where I felt good and some stretches where I didn’t feel very good, definitely a tough year physically. But, you know, taking some time off and going through the process, stuff like that, I’m confident I’ll be back at 100% next season.”

When asked why he chose to be tight-lipped about his injury throughout the year, Matthews was blunt in his assessment.

“Because I can, because it’s my right to.” he said.

He was then asked if the worry about opposing teams targeting a tender area he might be nursing something on played a part into why he never revealed what it was.

“Yes.”

Matthews also confirmed that his injury would not require surgery over the summer.

The 2016 first-overall pick took over the captaincy from John Tavares on August 14, becoming the 26th captain in Maple Leafs history. He told media that he was grateful for his head coach’s support along with the support of his teammates in his first season as captain and said that he felt himself grow as a player into the role.

“I thought Chief [Craig Berube] pushed me in different areas and obviously just the support from my teammates, from John [Tavares], other guys,” Matthews said. “I’ve been around for a while, there’s a lot of steps that I’ve over-taken. Definitely very eye-opening, but, know, obviously getting better and better every day.”

Matthews finished the playoffs with three goals and 11 points in 13 games.