A good perspective on how the media works for Leafs player requests. Here's the full article for those who don't have a subscription:
On the morning of his much-awaited return to Toronto last Friday, the Vegas Golden Knights made Mitch Marner available to the media at their team hotel at 10:45 a.m.
Fifteen minutes after the Maple Leafs began their morning skate nearby at Scotiabank Arena.
The clash in timing left the local media with a choice: Marner or the Leafs.
Most chose Marner.
Which meant a smaller pack of media for the Leafs skate and no requests for Auston Matthews to speak. The same was true after the Leafs lost in dispiriting fashion to the Golden Knights.
Matthews wasn’t requested. Matthews didn’t speak. There was no refusal on his part to do so.
There’s been confusion about what happened that day and how things work between Matthews, the Leafs and the media in Toronto.
Here’s how it goes.
Before games, the Leafs will generally make two players available to all media who are interested at the back of their dressing room. Those players are typically requested by one representative of the media who ends up doing so on behalf of the group.
Reporters (like me!) are free to request, and speak to, anyone else who skated that morning.
The same is true for the most part after the game.
A request for four players comes in from that one media representative, and others are free to request more as they see fit. (I asked to speak to Matthew Knies following the Leafs’ Sunday loss to Colorado, while the group landed on four others, including Matthews.)
Typically, postgame requests take a familiar form: The goal scorers, the starting goaltender, and if it’s a particularly bad loss, a member of the team’s leadership group — often the captain, but not always.
After that Friday loss to Vegas, the three goal-getters — Scott Laughton, Bobby McMann and John Tavares — along with the goalie, starting for the first time in more than two months — Anthony Stolarz — were requested by the group. All four spoke.
Matthews was told that morning that he might be needed afterward, and was willing and even expecting to do so. The request never came, and the Leafs, mindful of the volume of requests on their captain, didn’t ask.
Which, in hindsight, was a failing of the media (myself included).
It’s possible that Matthews’ snippy response to TSN’s Mark Masters regarding Marner during a pregame broadcast interview scared the group off. Why bother, in other words, asking questions that have to include Marner to someone who clearly wasn’t interested in doing so.
Whether Matthews, as the captain, should speak after every loss, or every game for that matter, is another question. The team tries to be mindful of how much media it asks Matthews to do, given the demands of the market (heavier than almost anywhere) and the fact that Matthews, as the team’s captain and best player, draws by far the most requests.
Not having Marner around, coupled with William Nylander’s absence due to injuries, has meant that Matthews is more in demand than usual this season.
During his first 46 games this season, Matthews did media 43 times, according to the team, plus another dozen in-game broadcast interviews.
It’s not perfect.
After the Leafs unraveled against the Edmonton Oilers on home ice in mid-December, Matthews didn’t speak despite a request from the media. That doesn’t happen much, but it will happen the odd time over the long 82-game season.
Matthews, furthermore, isn’t available to speak outside of scrums, in a one-on-one setting that is, nearly as much as I’d like.
Unlike his predecessor as captain, John Tavares, Matthews isn’t often seated at his dressing room stall when media enter, making more formal or informal conversations difficult. And if he has spoken to the group the day before a game, for instance, Matthews sometimes isn’t made available to speak again the following morning.
But if he’s requested afterward, he will almost always appear.
The truth about Matthews and the media is a little more complicated than it seems.
28 comments
I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for you tho, or sorry that happened.
Nice to see this clarified. Kind of embarrassing how many people are blaming Matthews for something he didn’t do.
I would like our media to just shut the hell up for 2 seconds
This is why I don’t pay attention to any talking head on TSN or sportsnet other than Friedman.
Truth is if it’s crunch time in the bronze medal game, the Finns will be glad Auston is American.
It’s embarrassing how eager people are to run the best player in franchise history out of town. Looking at you TSN
It would be interesting to see how often every team’s captain speaks. I always assumed that if any player were to speak every game it would be the captain of the team.
This is just a general statement and isnt meant to be a dig at Matthews, but I feel like the media shouldnt have to request the Captain to take questions. The Captain should just always be available, at least after games, under normal circumstances. Wearing the C means there are certain responsibilities you have, and as the face and leader of the team you gotta face the media, especially after bad losses or through adversity.
Suck it Twitter Uncles
Good article. Shows how much media chatter is about totally invented issues.
Matthews, and anyone else on the team, should be judged based first and foremost by their performance on the ice. You’ll learn more about them from that than from any cliches you hear and pregame and postgame media scrums.
Wow Leafs fans and media wrong about something behind the scenes again? Shocked I tell you
“It’s possible that Matthews’ snippy response to TSN’s Mark Masters regarding Marner during a pregame broadcast interview scared the group off.”
This is rather funny.
Hayes isn’t a fraud. He’s a genuine tick. Eat shit, buddy.
So fuck the atoronto media then eh? Who’da thunk it?
American news defending an American star. Unsurprising
Glad this info was put out there. All the negative assumptions being made constantly are disappointing.
Leave it to the plugs on TSN to try to drive negativity. Then media acts confused when fans get upset with specific players. The media is the bad person in most stories like this. Always driving for negativity because, well it sells better.
Brian Hayes is a fraud!
Can we just move on from this please?
I understand it comes with the territory, but remember folks, the media wants to stir things up. It makes people talk and they seek attention.
It’s practically TMZ for sports. Don’t buy into tons of stuff you hear from the media
Follow Friedman and Chris Johnston. Those are basically the only two guys I believe try to not stir things and just share their honest thoughts and what they have been hearing.
I love Biz, I love Kyper, Hayes and their crews, but they are more for entertainment.
I mean he isn’t a perfect player but who is? The fact is he is still the best goal scorer in hockey since he stepped foot on NHL ice. This guy is far from “done” if the Leafs were smart they’d lock this guy up for another 5 years
I dont think anyone cared unless it was Simmons at the Sun. He seems to have an issue with the Leaf players.
Did any Leaf fan think Matthews didnt speak to the media. I presume this is a media driven response to a media driven problem that did not exist?
Jonas Siegel is also kinda annoying. He seems to not really understand hockey, I dont think he has ever played so he doesnt get how hockey players think. O-Dog calls him out all the time on Overdrive.
But the worse by far is Mark Masters. I mean this guy travels with the team. I am almost embarrassed for him. He seems more about “stories” then actual hockey. Im sure he knows that players hate having him around but he still does the job. How awful is that for him?
Anyways, I think the issue is Leafs sell in the media so they write 1000 stories about them and 99% of the garbage but Leaf fans read them all. Some of it is accurate some of it is blatant lies and most of it is in between.
But all that the REAL Leaf fans care about is a team that bleeds Blue.. we dont have that completely right now.
This is fucking embarrassing
I worked in sports media in another lifetime, and while times have changed, the idea that a captain just isn’t asked to talk is embarrassing.
First off, the captain should be available every single game. That shouldn’t even be up for debate
Clearly that ain’t the case with the Maple Leafs. Thats enabling a problem
An article explaining why he didn’t speak is embarrassing
Admitting media might have been scared off by an intermission interview is embarrassing
Counting how many times a captain has done media is embarrassing
Curiously, I don’t blame Matthews all that much as he’s been allowed to not always be available (which, obviously, I disagree with).
But the Toronto media – which claims to be so tough and difficult – look like bitches in this
I’m calling BS on this attempt to save this group from accountability yet again.
No one should have to ask the captain to speak before or after the biggest game of the season. For extremely obvious reasons.
Embarrassing behaviour for the C, but entirely on brand.
The GM is a nepo baby failure, entirely results based, and he was given the keys to the most valuable franchise in the league. Couple that with giving 34 the C absent of any indication he is a leader of men, and you get … this.
>Whether Matthews, as the captain, should speak after every loss, or every game for that matter, is another question. The team tries to be mindful of how much media it asks Matthews to do, given the demands of the market (heavier than almost anywhere) and the fact that Matthews, as the team’s captain and best player, draws by far the most requests.
No, but the Vegas game was kind of a big deal, right? Is the team, or Matthews, that oblivious? I’d argue no, they’re not. But they sure make it seem that way.
And this is why guys don’t want to stay or play in Toronto lol what the fuck is this. Hockey media is really weird man.
So people need to lay off him and not drag him into the dirt. He tries most times and before masters he was asked about mitch about a half dozen times the same questions over and over so I don’t blame him. Enough is enough
People need to understand that most of the guys you hear on the radio and see on TV talking about the team (or any of the teams in Toronto) aren’t armed with any special knowledge above what a fan would have. They’re never around the team. They show up to the studio and spout hot takes (some of which are manufactured for them).
Hayes has zero idea how things actually work with the team. He’s been on Toronto radio for 10+ (?) years and has spent no time around the players/coaches and doesn’t have any sources of consequence.
His opinion should be disregarded. It’s a fun show, but this dude has no idea what he’s talking about, and has really, really bad/uniformed opinions.