{"id":387287,"date":"2026-01-02T22:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/387287\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T22:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:02:11","slug":"why-maple-leafs-second-half-playoff-hopes-depend-on-auston-matthews-dominance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/387287\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Maple Leafs\u2019 second-half playoff hopes depend on Auston Matthews\u2019 dominance"},"content":{"rendered":"

More of that, Auston Matthews<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Much more of that.<\/p>\n

Put the Maple Leafs on your back, like you did on Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets<\/a>, and take them on a ride that could result in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

With eight points in his past three games, including a hat trick in the Leafs\u2019 6-5 comeback win versus the Jets to kick off 2026 with a big bang, the Leafs captain has started to serve notice that his struggles to produce through his first 30 games are so last year.<\/p>\n

After the Leafs had day off on Friday to fly to New York, Matthews will look to keep that going on Saturday night against the Islanders when Toronto hits the halfway point of 2025-26. In 19 career games versus the Isles, Matthews has 12 goals and six assists.<\/p>\n

That Matthews is on the cusp of breaking Mats Sundin\u2019s record for most goals in franchise history<\/a> \u2014 Matthews needs two goals for 421 in his National Hockey League career, which will set the Leafs mark \u2014 could potentially be a side note if the Leafs are able to claw back in the second half of the regular season and play beyond mid-April.<\/p>\n

For that to happen, Matthews will have to take charge a lot more often than he has been and perform more in line with what we saw against the Jets.<\/p>\n

It was a dominant, opportunistic Matthews who scored once in each period, capping the rally with his third goal of the game and less than five minutes remaining in regulation.<\/p>\n

We know it\u2019s there. The way that Matthews played on Thursday should help put to rest questions about his health.<\/p>\n

Above-average goaltending and successful special teams \u2014 of which Matthews is crucial on an improving power play and a steely penalty kill \u2014 are must-haves, everyone knows, for any team to have realistic designs on a long playoff run.<\/p>\n

Ditto for the stars to have starring roles. That falls on Matthews and William Nylander more than anyone else.<\/p>\n

What about the trade speculation involving Matthews?<\/p>\n

Any notion that the Leafs consider trading Matthews right now is dumb.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not talking about a player who is heading toward unrestricted free agency this summer. Matthews won\u2019t have that on his doorstep until the summer of 2028, when both he and Edmonton Oilers<\/a> superstar Connor McDavid will be eligible to sign anywhere once the calendar hits July 1.<\/p>\n

Read into McDavid\u2019s potential freedom and what it could mean for the Leafs what you will.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, we\u2019re talking about a player in Matthews who will help lead the United States at the Winter Olympics<\/a> in Italy in February.<\/p>\n

And not only does Matthews have a no-move clause until his contract expires, as it stands right now, the Leafs have not fallen out of the race. In fact, the opposite is happening.<\/p>\n

Since Dec. 22, when the Leafs were in last place in the East with 35 points and fired assistant coach Marc Savard later that day, Toronto has gone 4-0-1 to move to within two points of the second wild-card spot before NHL games on Friday night. On Dec. 22, the Leafs were six points in arrears.<\/p>\n

A contributing, involved Matthews only increases the Leafs\u2019 chances of roaring back and earning a post-season berth.<\/p>\n

Should a different avenue be considered if the Leafs don\u2019t make the playoffs? By all means, but Matthews won\u2019t have the scrutiny to himself.<\/p>\n

Think of the heat that will be absorbed by general manager Brad Treliving and coach Craig Berube if the Leafs season ends with Game 82 on April 16 in Ottawa against the Senators.<\/p>\n

Frankly, if the Leafs fail to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016, it might not be Treliving who makes the decision on Matthews\u2019 future.<\/p>\n

What are others saying?<\/p>\n

Once Matthews breaks Sundin\u2019s record, he will have a unique feather in his cap.<\/p>\n

Matthews will become the only active skater to hold a record in goals, assists or points with an Original Six franchise. He\u2019s fifth on the Leafs career points list with 758 and is 11th with 339 assists.<\/p>\n

That kind of historical significance is not lost on someone like New Jersey Devils coach Sheldon Keefe, who had a deep respect for the club\u2019s past not only during his time as coach from 2019-24, but while growing up in the Greater Toronto Area.<\/p>\n

We asked him about that when the Devils were in town this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s his rightful place,\u201d Keefe said. \u201cI think Auston has certainly earned it and the evidence is there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe works extremely hard and puts in a lot of time. It\u2019s a great story, too. You have a kid from Scottsdale, Arizona, that comes in to the Toronto Maple Leafs, of all places, and (to be so close) to such an achievement, it\u2019s tremendous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leafs defenceman Troy Stecher<\/a> noted that the majority of his NHL career has been spent in the Western Conference. As such, as good as Stecher knew Matthews was from playing against him the odd time, watching Matthews at work every night since being picked up off waivers from Edmonton in mid-November has been a revelation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he gets enough credit (for) the way he defends,\u201d Stecher said. \u201cDefending is positional, with good sticks, and he strips a lot of guys from behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween his man and the net, he seems like he\u2019s always in the right place. As a defenceman, that\u2019s really comforting knowing that we can have a tighter gap because he\u2019s in the right position.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis details are incredible and he\u2019s that good of a player for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

tkoshan@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

X: @koshtorontosun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More of that, Auston Matthews. Much more of that. Put the Maple Leafs on your back, like you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[532,155,2217,146,5,122,20,5172,13233,151,4,72,66,31,5171,5928,1114,18],"class_list":["post-387287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-auston-matthews","tag-connor-mcdavid","tag-eastern-conference","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-hockey","tag-islanders","tag-maple-leafs","tag-mapleleafs","tag-marc-savard","tag-new-jersey-devils","tag-nhl","tag-ottawa","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-torontomapleleafs","tag-troy-stecher","tag-william-nylander","tag-winnipeg-jets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115827765867115163","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}