Leafs captain Auston Matthews breaks silence on injury speculation amid growing criticism - "It was a tough year"

Auston Matthews just had one of the more difficult seasons of his NHL career.

One year removed from a legendary 69-goal 2023-24 campaign, Matthews went through an injury-plagued 2024-25 season that saw his numbers take a big hit. The 27-year-old's goal-scoring numbers were cut in half, tallying just 33 goals and 78 points in 67 games played.

He missed 15 games early in the regular season with what was said to be a nagging upper-body injury. After returning from a second injury stint, Matthews didn't miss a game from that point forward, though he never looked like his dynamic self.

His health and lack of production became a major talking point among the fan base and media, particularly during the playoffs. And on Monday, Matthews opened up about it for the first time since Toronto was eliminated by Florida in Game 7 on Sunday night.

Leafs Latest shared his comments on X (formerly Twitter).

"I don’t want to get into the specifics, but it was a tough year. I’m confident that with some time off, I’ll be back to 100% next season. When asked if the injury affected his shot, he said it impacted “a lot of things," Leafs Latest wrote.

Auston Matthews just wrapped up the first season of his four-year, $53,000,000 contract extension signed with the Maple Leafs in 2023.

Auston Matthews shared more details on his injury battles

Questions continued to pour in regarding the health of Auston Matthews during end-of-season media availabilities.

The captain shared more of the struggles he dealt with this year, and Leafs Latest posted what he had to say on X.

"There were good stretches, there were stretches that weren't so good; it was just kind of a bit of a roller coaster, unfortunately, throughout the whole season, throughout the playoffs, just on a day-to-day basis," Matthews said.

It remains unclear what specific injury Auston Matthews has been suffering from throughout the last year; however, the Maple Leafs need him to make a return to full health for next season.

Matthews will almost certainly be back in 2025-26, though there could be a much different supporting cast around him for the first time in his career. While that's likely not what he wants, the playoff results have spoken for themselves far too many times over the last nine years to keep this core together.