{"id":540335,"date":"2026-04-04T14:15:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T14:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540335\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T14:15:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T14:15:27","slug":"hall-of-famer-chris-pronger-believes-captain-auston-matthews-is-the-linchpin-of-the-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/540335\/","title":{"rendered":"Hall of Famer Chris Pronger believes captain Auston Matthews is the \u2018linchpin\u2019 of the offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hall of Famer Chris Pronger believes captain Auston Matthews is the \u2018linchpin\u2019 of the offseason<\/p>\n

The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> are about to enter an off-season full of many questions. After Thursday night\u2019s 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Maple Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season, setting the stage for a busy summer to get this club back on track.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Friday, National Hockey League Hall of Fame member Chris Pronger joined The Sheet with Jeff Marek to discuss the Maple Leafs off-season, additions the Maple Leafs need to consider and what should unfold with captain Auston Matthews.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at Toronto, are they retooling? Are they rebuilding? I think somebody has to go in and just have a plan, but they don\u2019t need to tell the fans, they need to tell ownership this is what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d Pronger said.<\/p>\n

As many Maple Leafs fans know, the club has been dealing with limited draft capital over the past few seasons as they\u2019ve been buyers with the hope of moving draft picks for players who can push the Maple Leafs over the hump in the post-season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the lack of prospects and draft selections in next year\u2019s draft, the Maple Leafs have been turning towards the NCAA free agent route, adding former Northeastern defenceman Vincent Borgesi<\/a> and former Union College forward Brandon Buhr<\/a>. These are moves that Pronger feels a club must make when trying to win in today\u2019s game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants the same players, but it\u2019s about finding diamonds in the rough,\u201d Pronger said. \u201cEspecially if you\u2019re Toronto and you\u2019re a team that doesn\u2019t have a lot of draft capital, you\u2019re going to have to go find college free agents or other free agents in the marketplace, whether they are unrestricted or restricted. Then you need to make some smart trades to find guys that fit how you want to build your team.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the first steps in the new Maple Leafs general manager\u2019s tenure will be to figure out the direction of the franchise. One of those decisions will be to see where Matthews\u2019 head is at in regards to being a long-term Maple Leaf. The 28-year-old remains under contract for the next two seasons at $13.25 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to find out what Matthews wants to do. He\u2019s the linchpin in all of this. He\u2019s got two years left, and you can\u2019t get stuck in the same position you were with Mitch Marner,\u201d Pronger said. \u201cYou have to find out what he wants to do and then go and execute around that.\u201d<\/p>\n

PRESENTED BY TABLE FARE + SOCIAL\"\"TABLE Fare + Social is a vibrant food hall in the heart of Toronto\u2019s financial district, offering a unique dining and social experience just steps from transit and the arena\u2014perfect for pregame meals before tip-off. Open weekdays from 11am to 10pm, TABLE serves up morning treats, creative eats, and lively after-work events. With a private terrace overlooking Toronto\u2019s elevated park, guests enjoy stunning views alongside year-round programming that includes food tastings, cooking classes, live music, and pop-up events designed to spark connection and creativity.
\nFollow along @Tablefood hall or\u00a0tablefoodhall.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hall of Famer Chris Pronger believes captain Auston Matthews is the \u2018linchpin\u2019 of the offseason The Toronto Maple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[5,20,5172,4,66,31,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-540335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-maple-leafs","10":"tag-mapleleafs","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","14":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116346862846507686","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540335","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=540335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}