Why Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews won't play vs. Connor McDavid, Oilers

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews has been on injured reserve with an upper-body injury since November 3. He is eligible to return at any time, as he has missed the requisite amount of games, but is not fully ready yet. TSN's Darren Dreger reported a unique reason why the Maple Leafs captain will be out for Saturday's game against the Oilers.

"Auston Matthews won't be available for tomorrow's game vs the Oilers," Dreger posted. "Given the Leafs schedule the extra time off aligns with Toronto's focus to get their captain 100% healthy."

The Maple Leafs host the Edmonton Oilers on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night. It is the biggest spotlight in the sport and would have been a great showcase for the two biggest stars in the game. Instead, McDavid, a freshly-minted member of the 1000-point club , will go up against the rest of Toronto's solid team.

The Maple Leafs must keep their superstar healthy for the stretch run of the season. While it is important to win games early in the season, they have done well enough without him to keep him out. The team is defined by playoff failures and needs Matthews to get that monkey off their back.

Maple Leafs keeping best interest in mind with Auston Matthews' decision

This season could be the last of the Core Four in Toronto. Mitch Marner and former captain John Tavares are both on expiring contracts, bringing a seven-year era to an end. If they both return, nothing much will change for Toronto but if one of them leaves, they can revamp their defense and goaltending, which is a desperate need.

American hockey fans should also be keeping a close eye on this injury situation. Matthews is already a part of Team USA for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off. He is the reason they can win the championship and beat Canada in a best-on-best tournament for the first time in a generation.

Matthews is hoping that his season ends with two pieces of hardware; the Stanley Cup and 4 Nations trophy. The main goal of course is the Cup, which has not returned to Toronto since 1967. If he is healthy, he has shown a goal-scoring knack, unlike any player in recent NHL history.

After his 69-goal season, Matthews has a lot of ground to make up to get back to that number this season. In the 13 games he played before the injury, he scored five, a 31-goal pace.