Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews went to a clinic in Germany to receive treatment for an upper-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup for the past three weeks.

GM Brad Treliving spoke with reporters on Tuesday morning to update them on the status of their star forward, who is already slated to miss Wednesday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights. He noted that there is no reason for concern and that the hope is that Mathews can resume skating later this week, with a projected return to the lineup as early as Sunday but more likely for next week during their Florida trip.

“More as a general check-up but also to get some work done on his thing.  It’s not alarming,” Treliving said via TSN’s Mark Masters. “There’s been no setbacks. Everything’s been going, actually, quite well”

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Matthews visited a doctor he trusts and that the destination of the clinic should not give fans concern. The purpose of the trip was to receive treatment for what had been bothering him and to have his ‘overall body work’ done, which was accompanied by one of the Leafs’ doctors. One thing that sources stressed with Friedman is that surgery has never been considered and was not part of the process of his visit to Germany.

It is certainly understandable why some fans may be panicking that the team captain is off to Europe to receive treatment for an injury that was deemed ‘day-to-day’ earlier this month. After all, the team has not revealed much about the injury, and fans just want to see Matthews back on the ice as soon as possible. At the same time, the team is doing well in his absence, and the last thing they can afford is rushing him back when he isn’t at 100% and risk him playing injured the entire season.

It certainly helps that the Leafs have a light schedule this week that does not require any travel, so they will no doubt want to take full advantage of it to ensure Matthews gets all of the rest he needs.

“It’s a little bit of a holding pattern, but he’s not getting worse, so that’s a good thing,” Craig Berube said about Matthews on Monday via the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan. “It’s just taking time. It’s taking long, but it is what it is. He’s doing what he needs to do to get back in the lineup and get healthy, and our team needs to just push on.”

Before his injury, Matthews recorded 11 points (five goals and six assists) in 13 games played. The time off has resulted in him sliding down to sixth on the team in scoring while his teammates have picked up the pace offensively and gone 5-1-0 in his absence.