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Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews out “at least” three weeks, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Gustav Nyquist out indefinitely, and more

NHL Notebook: Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews out “at least” three weeks, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Gustav Nyquist out indefinitely, and more

Massive news out of Toronto Friday as superstar forward Auston Matthews is set to miss “at least” the next three weeks.

Matthews, who is third on the Leafs with 53 points and second with 25 goals, was injured during their 3-2 OT win over the New York Rangers Wednesday and is dealing with what is described as a knee sprain.

“I noticed him in a little discomfort a couple times through the game but I didn’t think much of it at the time,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said, according to NHL.com. “He was still sore the next day, so they brought him for an MRI and there was an injury there, so he’ll take some time.”

Matthews was named to the NHL All-Star game this year, but the injury will keep him from attending. In turn, the league named Flordia Panthers center Aleksander Barkov as his replacement.

Forward Gustav Nyquist is “out indefinitely” after sustaining an upper-body injury against the Oilers on Wednesday. He logged just 3:33 in ice time and was injured on a hit in the first period.

Another significant injury as the Seattle Kraken have temporarily lost forward Matty Beniers. He will miss weekend games against the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets.

There’s no word yet if Beniers, who is set to be the lone Kraken representative at the NHL’s All-Star game, will be able to attend the game. He was injured Wednesday against the Vancouver Canucks when he was hit by rearguard Tyler Myers — a hit Kraken bench boss Dave Hakstol called “garbage.”

“I didn’t like it at all,” Hakstol told radio outlet 93.3 KJR. “Obviously. Didn’t like it at all. Love what [Jamie Oleksiak] did. He did what he needed to do right away.

“Like I said after the game, there’s going to be different stuff that’s going to happen during a hockey game once the score gets stretched out. That’s something our group is going to be comfortable with. Hey, that’s all part of it.

“I thought the hit on Matty was garbage. I didn’t like it at all.”

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaingor reached by email at [email protected]