TORONTO — Craig Berube sees what many others have seen through this season: Auston Matthews has not consistently hit the highs of past seasons, when he scored 60 goals and was a defensive rock night after night.

The Maple Leafs coach is doing something about it in the wake of Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, during which Matthews’ game paled in comparison to Connor McDavid, a player he was once considered in the same echelon as.

Berube said Monday that Matthews’ game is “not at the level that he wants it to be, or us.”

Matthews has 13 goals and 21 points through 26 games, but has not taken over games the way he has in past seasons.

“It’s not just about scoring goals, it’s just the whole game in general, I think. But I do believe, and I know he believes, it’s going to get better here,” Berube said.

To help get Matthews to where he wants to be as part of a busy and newsworthy Leafs practice on Monday, Berube pushed William Nylander — also recently snake-bitten in terms of production — up to Matthews’ wing alongside Matthews and Matthew Knies. Nylander replaced Max Domi on the Leafs’ top line.

Maple Leafs lines at practice:

Knies-Matthews-Nylander
McMann-Tavares-Robertson
Joshua-Roy-Domi
Lorentz-Laughton-Cowan
Jarnkrok
Maccelli (Out with illness)

Ekman-Larsson-Tanev
McCabe-Stecher
Rielly-Benoit
Thrun-Myers

Woll
Hildeby

— Joshua Kloke (@joshuakloke) December 15, 2025

Matthews and Nylander have only spent 105:57 of 5-on-5 time together this season with less-than-stellar results than might be expected for two elite offensive players together: eight goals for, six against, only 45 percent on-ice expected goals and 49 percent of the scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick. Berube has been in favour of spreading his scorers out for a more balanced look up front.

At this point, however, it’s become clear Berube needs more from his stars to help push the Leafs back into the playoff picture. After Saturday’s loss, Berube went as far as to suggest his leaders aren’t doing enough to take control of games, especially in the third period, than they have to this point in the season.

And so, placing Nylander beside Matthews feels like an attempt from the coach to put the onus on their shoulders.

“I’m not seeing enough from that line in general, offensively or defensively,” Berube said.

The hope appears to be that by adding some high-end firepower in the form of Nylander, Matthews could rediscover some of his own electric best. Neither Domi nor Matias Maccelli has activated Matthews offensively to date.

“We’re good at finding each other and kind of understand each other’s games,” Matthews said of him and Nylander. “And he obviously (Nylander) is as skilled as it comes and makes plays and sees the ice really well and plays with some good pace. So definitely a guy that I’m pretty comfortable playing with.”

The pair moved well and looked to find quick chemistry during a spirited 45-minute practice, one of the Leafs’ lengthier skates as of late. Special teams were a focus before Berube put the Leafs through the paces with some intense skating drills to finish practice.

Asked to assess his own game, Matthews said, “We can all be better,” before agreeing with Berube’s sentiment that “rightfully so, it’s got to fall on the leaders and that’s fine. We’ve got to be better in (third periods) and make sure that when we’re in these tight games that we just keep grinding and doing what was making us successful the first two periods.”

On Monday, Matthews got as close as he has all season to admitting that he’s falling short of his own expectations.

“Every year presents different challenges, different circumstances. Obviously, it’s hard to pinpoint one certain thing. We’ve got a tough division. There’s a lot of different factors that go throughout the season, injuries, stuff like that,” Matthews said. “But for myself personally, it’s just next game, doing whatever I can to help the team. That’s the most important thing for us in this room. You’ve got to put your individual stuff to the side and that kind of pride aside and do whatever is necessary to obviously help the team win. Of course, you want to produce, you want to score and do all that stuff. But I think the little things leak through the locker room just as much as the big things do.”

And so the hope is that Matthews and Nylander together can build some momentum early on and wear down the opposition’s best defenders, whom they will surely see. For this line to be successful, Berube won’t just need to see results early, but often. Berube wants to see his top line be more responsible defensively and protect the puck more than they have.

For the experiment to work, however, Berube himself will have to give it some serious runway. The head coach has had a heavy trigger finger this season when it comes to juggling lines.

The Leafs still sit closer to the Eastern Conference basement than the penthouse. But only five points separate them from a playoff spot in a jammed-up Atlantic Division.

For Berube, a little urgency and some accountability for his stars seem to be the recipe to get his stars and his team where he wants them to be.

“It could be a real good line. They’ve got to work together and do things right,” Berube said, again placing the emphasis back on two of his best offensive players to try and drag the Leafs out of another losing streak.

A welcome face for Berube took part in his first full Leafs practice since leaving a Nov. 1 game against the Philadelphia Flyers with injury: No. 1 defender Chris Tanev.

The Leafs’ anchor on the blue line was out after being hospitalized following a collision with Flyers forward Matvei Michkov, in which Tanev’s head snapped back. It was Tanev’s first game back after previously suffering a concussion.

Tanev skated alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson in practice. Despite taking part in a full practice and looking ready to return, Berube poured water on an imminent return.

“It’s his first practice with contact. We’re going to need more and see where he’s at,” Berube said ahead of the Leafs’ game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. “He’s not playing tomorrow.”

It sounds like the Leafs want to see how Tanev continually responds to playing in contact before putting him back in the lineup.

“Our medical team has done a great job with him. Taking it day-by-day, it’s tough for a guy like that who’s been around, wants to be involved, wants to help the team,” Berube said.

Tanev himself declined to say whether surgery was ever a serious option for him. Yet he admitted he had spoken to multiple doctors and that he had concerns over the long-term repercussions of two serious injuries happening so close to each other.

“You always think about things and yeah, initially, when that happened, you talk to doctors, and you have to determine the next steps, and obviously, what’s best for yourself and the game and hockey and your team and your family. But as I said, really happy to be here and skate today, and it was great to be around the guys,” Tanev said.

Berube also suggested it was possible that Joseph Woll could make his return after missing the last four games with what the Leafs are calling a lower-body injury.

“There’s a chance he could be ready. He had a good practice, he feels good,” Berube said.

Yet Woll stayed out on the ice for practice longer than Dennis Hildeby, which back-up goaltenders often do. So much can change in 24 hours, but a more likely return could come as part of the Leafs’ upcoming three-game road trip in Washington, Nashville and Dallas.

Woll has played only eight games this season after missing most of training camp and the start of the season to attend to a personal family matter.

Through those eight games, he showed multiple glimpses of being able to return to his best form, sporting a .928 save percentage.

“The biggest thing was disappointment in not being able to be out there with the guys and compete,” Woll said of how he’s felt being off the ice.