'I'm Certainly Not Gonna Say Sunday, And I'm Not Gonna Say The Game After That': When Could Auston Matthews Return To The Maple Leafs Lineup?

It still might be a while before we see Auston Matthews back in the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup.

TSN's Darren Dreger, who appeared on TSN 1050's First Up with Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo, says he isn't hopeful that the 27-year-old will be ready to return to Toronto's lineup on Wednesday in Florida.

Matthews flew to Germany earlier this week to see a doctor for treatment of his upper-body injury.

"I'm certainly not going to say Sunday, and I'm not going to say the game after that because we've been playing this kind of dartboard game with Auston Matthews return for the last two-plus weeks. So I'm not going to do that. But I do like the fact that Matthews saw enough value and needed to invest, and did," Dreger said on Friday morning.

"I guess the one thing that comes to mind is a great idea to put somebody who's got something nagging on an airplane, even though he's flying business class for seven, eight hours, one way to go see a doctor.

"But let's see how it turns out. If it turns out that he's back on the ice and the issue that he's struggling with dating back to training camp has been remedied, then all good, all good, and there'll be no concern moving forward."

Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said earlier this week that it's possible Matthews could play on Wednesday. However, the forward hasn't been seen on the ice since the morning of Toronto's game against the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 9.

Related: VIDEO: Auston Matthews Returns To The Ice For First Skate With Maple Leafs After Upper-Body Injury – When Will He Be Back?

According to Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli, who appeared on Amazon Prime's NHL Coast To Coast on Thursday, Matthews is set to return from Germany within the next 24 hours and is still an option for Wednesday's game.

"What I can tell you is that he's actually still in Munich, Germany, getting treatment for this injury. He's scheduled to return to North America sometime within the next 24 hours. The Toronto Maple Leafs believe he's made significant progress over the course of this week in treating that injury," Seravalli reported.

"They're hopeful that when he comes back, this will be completely in his rear-view mirror, and when is that? Well, it seems like all signals point to Auston Matthews returning to the Maple Leafs lineup on Wednesday."

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said on Thursday that Matthews could skate this weekend at some point.

"He's actually improving and in a real good spot right now going forward. We're very happy with that," Berube added.

Matthews has five goals and six assists for 11 points in his first 13 games of the season.