Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said Friday he's "feeling much better" after missing a couple of days of practice due to an upper-body injury.
Matthews left Tuesday's practice and was also out for the following day due to maintenance. He returned to the ice for Thursday's morning skate but did play in their game against the Montreal Canadiens.
"Just maintenance stuff," Matthews said. "Nothing crazy but just kind of needed a couple days to let it settle down and feeling good now."
Matthews was asked if the injury was a byproduct of training camp.
"Maybe," he said. "I think camp every year, it could be a bit of shock to the system most of the time no matter how much you skated or trained and stuff in the summer. Obviously, you get into a competitive environment like this. Practices have been long and hard.
"It's been good. Sometimes stuff like that just happens, just got to let it settle down."
The 27-year-old Matthews, who was named team captain in August, led the league with 69 goals last season.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.