Most notably, he didn’t have a sling on his injured left arm, which rested comfortably on a ledge.
The Maple Leafs announced on Monday morning their young star would miss a minimum of four weeks with a shoulder injury, but the exact nature of the issue — and treatment plan — weren’t disclosed. Medical professionals accustomed to dealing with hockey injuries, however, are fairly confident saying that how he was hit, how he reacted and the expected timeframe away is consistent with a first or second degree sprain of the AC (acromioclavicular) joint in the shoulder.
And that is very good news, as far as the prognosis.
“Most of the time when they’re talking about a separated shoulder, they’re talking about the AC joint,” said Dr. Ron Noy, a highly regarded orthopedic surgeon based out of Manhattan who has treated many NHL players with shoulder injuries over the years. “It’s a grade one or two sprain for the most part in professional athletes. You’re just waiting for the inflammation to come down, and it should be fine.”
Most importantly, the injury is not the type that’s considered to typically be chronic or recurring. It also shouldn’t cause Matthews to lose any strength or ability in his dominant hand and arm — as a left shot — beyond the short recovery period.
The fact Matthews has had shoulder injuries twice in back-to-back seasons is likely more an unfortunate circumstance than anything to worry about long term.
“This is purely a traumatic (impact) thing,” Dr. Noy said. “It’s common in hockey. It’s not something that anybody else wouldn’t have gotten an injury on with the exact same mechanism. I don’t think it’s of any concern about his future, like he’s going to be an injury problem (consistently) at all.
“I’d be more concerned if his shoulder dislocated. As a 21-year-old, if you dislocate your shoulder, and you have a labral tear, then more than likely, he would have needed his labrum fixed (surgically to prevent it from becoming a chronic issue) … But this isn’t a genetic thing. It didn’t look like that kind of injury. He just looks like he’s in some pain.”
What’s interesting is Leafs coach Mike Babcock has pointed out twice now that Matthews specifically put in some time in the summer to build up his shoulder strength. It’s clearly an area that’s been identified for him to work on — and an outside trainer explained to me that that’s not uncommon in the NHL, as many players have “uppercross syndrome” due to the fact they’re leaning over their stick and skating so much.
But, given he is only 21 years old, the fact there could be minor strength imbalances in Matthews’ body is not a huge concern. And not a sign of problems to come.
So stand down Toronto. Crack a beer and relax. Nothing to worry about.