The Toronto Maple Leafs were hoping to get Auston Matthews back on the ice on Tuesday night, but now, Craig Berube has confirmed that won’t be happening despite a return to practice.

This season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been dealing with several injury issues, with the most concerning involving superstar captain Auston Matthews, who hasn’t played for Toronto since December 20.

However, No. 34 was back on the ice during practice on Monday, and while things went well, Head Coach Craig Berube has since confirmed that he won’t make his return against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

Tomorrow he will not play. He did a good job in practice today I thought and I think he feels pretty good so we’ll just go from there. That’s all I really got for you on that.

Despite the bad news, Berube is confident that Matthews’s return isn’t far off, noting that the organization is excited about his return to practice, with many believing that he’ll be leading the team out once more in the near future.

It was good to see Auston out there skating with us, that was a good sign, and I think everybody’s excited about him being out there too.

Although Matthews has missed plenty of games this season, Matthews still has a solid 23 points in 24 games played despite rarely being at 100% after suffering an upper-body injury early in the year.

Even without him however, Toronto have been thriving, with William Nylander and Mitch Marner leading the team to a 22-13-2 record through 37 games played, placing them at the top of the Atlantic Division, with the belief that a fully healthy team could finally make a run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024/25.