Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews will return to lineup vs. Jets

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews joined his teammates for Thursday’s morning skate, and will return to the lineup against the Winnipeg Jets.

“It was worrisome, you never know what it could be,” Matthews said following the morning skate. “It kind of caught me in a difficult spot, and it was pretty swollen for a few days. So I just tried to do what I could to reduce all that stuff, put my foot in my skate and get going again. It felt good to skate yesterday and I feel like everyday I made good progress.”

Matthews missed Tuesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils due to a lower-body injury, after blocking a shot Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings. While Matthews returned and finished the game against the Red Wings after suffering the injury, it must have flared up the next day, and forced him to miss a game against his former head coach Sheldon Keefe.

Matthews has appeared in 33 games this season, scoring 15 goals and 12 assists, for 27 points. The Leafs captain is averaging 20:49 of ice-time per game, which is a slight increase from last season, and he’s currently winning close to 59% of his faceoffs, which is a career high.

With Matthews out of the lineup earlier in the week, the Maple Leafs used a next-man up mentality and had one of their most complete games of the season in their 4-0 victory over the Devils. Toronto got contributions from all over the lineup, they used their speed to establish a forecheck and throw the Devils back on their heels, meanwhile, Joseph Woll stole the show in the Maple Leafs’ crease.

While Matthews is ready to return and faceoff against the Jets, William Nylander doesn’t appear to be an option. The veteran winger is dealing with a lower-body injury, and while he skated before the team’s morning skate.

William Nylander is out on the ice early ahead of Leafs morning skate. pic.twitter.com/uBeeR2ZHfA

— Arun Srinivasan (@Arunthings) January 1, 2026

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Toronto enters 2026 with a 18-15-6, sitting four points back of the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference. They host the Jets on Thursday night, a team sitting dead last in the Western Conference with a 15-19-4 record. It’s been a disappointing season in Winnipeg, in large part due to injury.