PUBLICATION

TJ Tucker
December 24, 2025  (9:08)

After another loss, fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs have made captain Auston Matthews the number one traded player on Puckpedia’s armchair GM feature.

It’s not likely to be a very happy holidays for many within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, especially if they can’t enter the break on a winning note.

If you ask fans of the team what they would like to see happen, they’ll tell you that Treliving and Berube need to go, but it seems as though an Auston Matthews trade is near the top of the list as well.

Maple Leafs fans dream of trading Auston Matthews

It’s become such a theme that Matthews’ name was trending in the number one spot for trades on the popular hockey website Puckpedia.

Maple Leafs’ Matthews number one traded player on Puckpedia

It’s hard to fault fans for wanting change. Matthews, a former first overall pick, was the key piece in a complete overhaul of the team that finished dead last in 2015-16, and the guy the rest of the roster would be built around.

Currently at 23 points in 30 games, Matthews is on pace for what would be his worst season without injury since entering the NHL. That includes his rookie season, when he put up 69 points in 82 games.

The big question is what the Maple Leafs would get in return if they did indeed trade their captain and franchise player.

Matthews may be sliding of late, but he’s still an elite goal scorer and a top-5 NHL player when he’s on his game. I’d have to think that the offer would need to be better than that to pry him out of Toronto.

Previously on Toronto Hockey Daily