Auston Matthews’ offseason work points to one thing above all else: Toronto is trying to get the captain’s shot back to where it used to be.
The Maple Leafs star has gone through chiropractic procedures with Arizona sports chiropractor Shawn Robek, a sign that he’s taking every possible step to stay healthy. The specific treatment wasn’t disclosed, and no injury details were shared, but the bigger picture is clear enough. Matthews is working to restore a release that has slipped with injuries.
And that release has always been about much more than pure force.
Matthews’ shot is built on how well his body creates momentum. He changes the puck’s angle, keeps his hands away from his body and loads his stick fast enough to beat defenders and goalies before they can reset.
The whole thing depends on timing and efficiency. When the motion is clean, he can create separation, adjust the shooting angle and let the puck go in one move.
That’s what has made him so hard to read.
The mechanics behind it are the real story here. Hockey demands torque, power and speed while balancing on skates, and Matthews gets a big chunk of his scoring ability from translating lower-body and core strength into that explosive release. The comparison is a baseball pitcher’s windup, or even a spinning top: the body twists to build momentum, then lets it snap free at the end.
For Matthews, the key is whether he can create that rotational force without needing extra time or space. His back and knees matter a lot in that process, which is why strengthening those areas is part of the conversation.
That’s where Andy O’Brien comes in. Toronto recently hired him as VP of Sport Performance, and he and his staff will play a major role in helping Matthews stay healthy and as strong as possible. O’Brien’s job is to oversee how players prepare, recover and handle their workloads, and for Matthews that could matter a lot after two injury-affected seasons.
O’Brien won’t be able to stop injuries from happening, and there’s no guarantee Matthews avoids issues this year. But he can help guide the best path forward, especially when it comes to stabilizing the weak spots around the knee and back.
The Maple Leafs don’t just need Matthews available. They need the version of him whose movement makes the shot so dangerous in the first place.
The first real check on that comes at training camp. If Matthews is again creating those quick angle changes and getting the puck off without extra setup time, Toronto will have a strong sign that one of the most important parts of his game is coming back.
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What makes the feat linger is not just its scale, but how the game around it has changed since then. Scoring rates have shifted, goaltending has gotten sharper, and the kind of all-out offensive eruption Sittler produced has become harder to imagine, let alone duplicate. For Leafs fans, it is one of those records that does more than survive the passage of time - it quietly reminds every new generation just how exceptional one night in Boston really was. [Read more 🡒]