Brad Treliving makes concerning comments about Auston Matthews.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have released a concerning update on star forward and team captain Auston Matthews.

As fans in Toronto will already know, Matthews has not appeared in a game since the Maple Leafs traveled to Minnesota to take on the Minnesota Wild all the way back on November 3rd, and it sounds like it may be some time before he returns to action.

Speaking with reporters on Monday, Treliving revealed that Matthews was unlikely to play in Tuesday's Battle of Ontario when the Maple Leafs take on intraprovincial rivals the Ottawa Senators. Additionally, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube revealed that Matthews has been dealing with a lingering issue dating all the way back to training camp with the team now trying to address it in a more long term manner. The Leafs are hoping that they will be able to correct what has been ailing Matthews in order to prevent this injury from becoming a long term problem for them this season, something that would of course be less than ideal.

"We just want to make sure we get ahead of it and hopefully get it behind us once and for all," admitted Treliving on Monday.

Although Treliving didn't entirely rule out the possibility of Matthews playing against Ottawa, he did describe it as "doubtful" when speaking to the media.

Although Matthews is still playing very well this season, with 5 goals and 6 assists for a total of 11 points in 13 games, he certainly has not matched the torrid pace he set last season with 69 goals and 38 assists over just 81 games last season. A lingering injury could certainly explain the slowdown in production this season.

It makes all the sense in the world for the Maple Leafs to be as cautious as possible with their star player, the questions now become whether or not they will be able to correct this lingering injury once and for all and how long that may keep Matthews out of the lineup.