Auston Matthews’ knee recovery remains the single biggest question mark hanging over the Toronto Maple Leafs this summer. New details that surfaced this week have only sharpened the intrigue—and introduced an unexpected public voice into the conversation.
Dr. Shawn Robek, the Arizona-based chiropractor who has worked with Matthews for roughly four years, went public on TSN 1050 Thursday morning. A photo of the two together on Robek’s Instagram had already sparked speculation across X earlier in the week, landing at the precise moment fans began asking how ready Matthews would be for training camp.
The injury itself was straightforward and season-ending. On March 12 against the Anaheim Ducks, Matthews tore his MCL and suffered a quad contusion in a knee-on-knee collision with Radko Gudas. He finished the year with 27 goals and 53 points in 60 games, posting a minus-4 rating before the injury shut him down for good.
Robek’s relationship with Matthews began through another NHL star. “I met Auston about four years ago,” Robek said. “I met Clayton Keller, and through my relationship with Clayton I got to know Auston and Judd.” What started as an introduction has evolved into ongoing biomechanical maintenance work rather than simple injury repair. Robek described it as a collaborative effort involving a full team of specialists.
Importantly, he clarified the focus this year. “With Auston, low back was not the concern this year,” Robek said. “We’re taking care of his knee, and I was part of the team addressing the soft tissue around that injury.” He pointed to strength coach Bill Knowles as the specialist responsible for managing the actual load and demand on the rebuilt tissue, noting that piece falls outside his own lane.
Robek also revealed that a call to work alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl raised his own professional bar. Watching their daily habits, he said, showed him what elite recovery actually looks like.
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Gudas, for his part, received a five-game suspension for the hit. He was later dealt to the Florida Panthers in late June and is back in the league this season—an awkward subplot that will not go unnoticed when the teams next meet.
This is not Matthews’ first physical setback. An upper-body issue limited him through 2024-25, when he scored 33 goals in 67 games after a franchise-record 69 the year before. Back in 2021-22 he scored 60 goals and won the Hart Trophy. That version of Matthews feels increasingly distant after two consecutive seasons cut short by injury.
The Leafs themselves finished last season 32-36-14 with a minus-46 goal differential. New head coach Jim Hiller inherits a roster whose ceiling is tightly tied to Matthews’ health. Robek’s update sounds encouraging on the surface. Yet the presence of an entire team of specialists working around the clock also sends a clear signal about how carefully the situation is still being managed.
Whether all that work gets Matthews anywhere near 60 goals again is a question nobody—including his chiropractor—is willing to answer yet. For a franchise that has spent years waiting for its superstar to stay healthy long enough to deliver, the latest public comments offer both hope and a reminder of just how fragile the foundation remains.