Early Trading: Dreger on Matthews being ruled out vs. Bruins

Auston Matthews is out. Now, this opens up a whole load of other questions.To discuss those and more, here's our Hockey Insider, Darren Dreger. So, Dregs, we know Auston Matthews is out for at least one game. The question has now become, what's the extent of the injury? Do we have any idea what specifically it is, and is it something new or something that's been holding him back? And maybe that's why he's had trouble scoring?

Darren Dreger: Yeah, I mean, my sense is, based on source, that this issue that Auston Matthews is currently dealing with - that is going to keep him out of at least one game, tonight against the Boston Bruins - has been something that he has been fighting through a bit. And, it happened reasonably recently. So, to pinpoint where exactly, what the incident was, we can't do that given the level of information that we have or don't have. But, I can appreciate concern from Leafs Nation, but that's not how the Toronto Maple Leafs feel going into this game against the Bruins. They say that they're not concerned, that this shouldn't be a long-term issue. And, really what they're doing is taking advantage of the schedule. Now, it's an aggressive one this week. So, they've got a tough game against the Bruins tonight. But they don't play again until Friday in the Hall-of-Fame game against the Detroit Red Wings. Then immediately following, they've got the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. So, again in just managing as best they can this upper-body injury hoping that it settles down. They sit him for one game. He gets some rest for the rest of the week. And then they'll re-evaluate going into Friday and into the weekend.

Let's go from the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs to the high-flying Winnipeg Jets. 11-and-1 out of the gate, but not all is perfect. Connor Hellebuyck is still kind of fuming about something that happened over the weekend. Maybe even a bigger picture issue as well?

Dreger: There was a goalie interference controversy on Sunday. Imagine that. How many times have we talked about goaltender interference and the grey area that seems to plague this issue?. Look, it's not a simple one, there's no doubt about that. But if you go back to Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning - the first goal of the game, which was awarded to Brandon Hagel of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Goalie interference was challenged by Scott Arniel, the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets will tell you that they will challenge on this play ten times out of ten. That's how confident they were. That's how confident they are. But wisely, Connor Hellebuyck, who as we know can be very vocal, he's very opinionated, but he can also collect his thoughts before delivering that opinion. He wisely waited until meeting with the media on Monday to further discuss. I thought he was respectful. I thought he was to the point and what was most noteworthy there was the fact that he acknowledged his presence on the Competition Committee and the fact that he's taking his concerns with video evidence to support his claims to this competition committee. And, yet there still seems to be a level of inconsistency. So, I have no doubt that the [NHLPA] will directly talk with Connor Hellebuyck. Maybe, maybe representatives from the Situation Room who were part of that decision-making on Sunday. But it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere anytime soon. 

Elsewhere, looks like we could be in for a seismic shift in junior hockey and Canadian university hockey, NCAA hockey, where for the first time, we could see the NCAA open up its doors to players who have played in the Canadian Hockey League. And the decision could be coming very soon?

Dreger: Look, there is uneasiness based on the uncertainty and it'll come as early as later this week. The Division 1 Council of the NCAA is expected to make the decision on Thursday or the latest on Friday. Everyone associated believes that the ban on CHL players will be lifted with this decision later this week. This could be very significant and impactful, not just with the three Canadian hockey leagues, but I had conversations with people who are deeply associated with youth sports. Normally, that's where graduating major junior hockey players shift over to play university hockey in Canada. Well, now the NCAA Division 1 is going to have access to those graduated players. The only thing that remains intact though is year for year. So, if that graduated major junior player is playing youth sport and he's in his second year, well that's two years of eligibility that now gets removed. So, that means that player only has two more years of college eligibility in the NCAA. You mention any league feeder system in Canada or internationally and this is going to have an impact, no doubt about that. I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't garnered more attention from media globally.