Latest Auston Matthews Update Music to the Ears of Maple Leafs Fan Base

Earlier this week, fans in Toronto were surprised when what appeared to be an otherwise healthy Auston Matthews missed the morning skate before Tuesday's game against the Boston Bruins -- a game the Leafs won, defeating their heated rival by a score of 4-0.

In the days that followed, Matthews did not return to the ice, ultimately culminating in an official IR placement on Friday, retroactive to November 3rd.

When Matthews landed on injured reserve, concerns began to mount that perhaps his injury was more severe than originally though and that his "day-to-day" injury designation may result in more of a week-to-week absence. Thankfully, that does not appear to be the case.

The Hockey News' David Alter has reported that Matthews has finally returned to the ice on Saturday morning, marking the first time he's been back on skates since last weekend's game against the Minnesota Wild.

Matthews is not eligible to play tonight against Montreal, but will be eligible to come off of injured reserve in time for Tuesday and Wednesday's back-to-back against Ottawa and Washington.

Matthews has had an uncharacteristically slow start this season in the goals department, firing only 5 pucks across the line in 13 games, just one season after scoring an NHL best 69 goals to capture his 3rd Rocket Richard Trophy.

The hope is that once he's back to full health, the goals will begin to come in droves. Fortunately, even when he hasn't been scoring, he's been finding other ways to contribute. Matthews recently earned some high praise from his head coach, Craig Berube, for his solid defensive play this season.

We'll await an official update from the team before we get too excited about Matthews' potential return, but the fact that he's back on the ice this morning is a promising sign that he's close.