Leafs HC Craig Berube makes his thoughts on Auston Matthews return against Boston Bruins crystal clear

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube shared his thoughts on Auston Matthews’ return to the lineup against the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Matthews missed six games due to an upper-body injury.

Berube spoke highly of Matthews, via Arun Srinivasan of The Leafs Nation.

"He’s our captain, he’s a great player we all know that," Berube said. "He just drives the pace of play. Extremely hard worker, plays 200 feet."

He also talked about the Knies-Matthews-Marner line and said that he likes how they look together. The trio has had success in the past.

"Berube said he likes the look of the Knies-Matthews-Marner line, and they’ve had success together before," Srinivasan tweeted.

Berube added that managing Matthews' return is important and that the Leafs will communicate with him to ensure he feels good.

"He's the type of guy you want on the ice as much as you can," Berube said, via TSN's Tony Ambrogio. "At the same time, my job is to manage that. We'll get communication with him on how he's feeling, what's going on."

Matthews practiced and traveled with the team to New York during the 2-1 win against the Islanders on Thursday. He wore a noncontact jersey during his first practice but participated in drills.

Auston Matthews reaggravated injury and the challenges

Auston Matthews reaggravated his upper-body injury on Dec. 20. He also missed nine games in November due to it.

Before the game against the Buffalo Sabres, Matthews didn’t take part in a full morning skate but still played 19:18 and scored a goal. He took two hard hits, including one from Sabres forward Tage Thompson and another from defenseman Dennis Gilbert.

"Yeah, I don't know," Matthews said in December, via NHL.com. "I hope so, that's obviously the goal. It's tricky with these things. It's a physical sport, it's a contact sport, so things happen out there sometimes that are out of your control, so just trying to manage it as best I can."

Matthews has been managing this injury for a while, even visiting a doctor in Germany for a consultation. Matthews has 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in 24 games this season.