Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Some new stats that have come to light show that Auston Matthews’ shot isn’t the only thing slipping for the captain, as his speed has dipped considerably this year.
There’s a lot of debate and discussion over whether or not Auston Matthews has regressed and if we have seen the last of the dominant 60+ goal scorer and more of a conservative, well-rounded forward capable of hitting 30-35 goals.
The team isn’t paying him to do that however, and it looks like over the past couple of seasons that something is wrong with his shot. The lightning-quick release we have seen previously has all but vanished this year and though he has 13 goals, three of them are empty netters.
But it’s seemingly not just his shot that’s causing him trouble this season.
Auston Matthews slower than ever in 2025-26
Some new stats courtesy of NHL EDGE and Hockeystats.com suggests that Matthews’ speed has declined, and that he isn’t able to weave through the zone as much as he used to.
He went from having respectable speed and bursts of agility back in 2021-22 and 2022-23 but we see a decline that has dipped sharply in 2025-26. He’s skating like Yegor Sharangovich and Zach Whitecloud out there as opposed to Auston Matthews.
Sure he was never the fastest skater on the ice, but he’s lost over half a mile per hour in his skating speed since 2021-22 and in the modern game where inches make a difference; that lack of speed matters.
He’s being used in high leverage moments on both offense and defense, and while he is still one of the best players on the ice on any given night, he’s giving the team more of a Ryan O’Reilly level of offense.
Toronto is paying Matthews to be elite, not be a 2C
Is that necessarily a bad thing? No, but when you’re paying him over $13-million a year to score 50+ goals consistently, he can’t be just a supplemental player.
Toronto’s offense has tended to come with a sacrifice on defense both now and previously. Their top scorers of Nylander, Knies, Tavares, and Rielly are a combined plus-3 while Matthews has a plus-11. He’s been great on defense, and leads the team in goals, sure, but he needs to be doing it every night which he hasn’t been.
For all the discussion about whether or not Auston Matthews has lost his shot, it looks like even more troubling is he’s losing his legs, leaving Toronto not a lot to stand on if he keeps it up.
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New NHL tracking data suggests Auston Matthews isn’t moving the same this season
Is Auston Matthews starting to regress?