{"id":544094,"date":"2026-04-06T17:38:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544094\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T17:38:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:38:33","slug":"elliotte-friedman-hints-at-maple-leafs-big-offseason-decision-on-auston-matthews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544094\/","title":{"rendered":"Elliotte Friedman hints at Maple Leafs\u2019 big offseason decision on Auston Matthews"},"content":{"rendered":"

With five games left in the 2025-26 NHL<\/a> season, the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> are heading towards a defining offseason.<\/p>\n

NHL analyst Elliotte Friedman believes the future of Auston Matthews<\/a> may hinge on how next season begins. Speaking on his April 3 episode of 32 Thoughts<\/a>, Friedman outlined a cautious approach from management after a disappointing year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is my theory, it\u2019s purely my theory based on what I heard this week, is they\u2019re gonna tell him, \u2018We\u2019re back on track next year or trying to be, and come back at the start of the year, and let\u2019s see how it goes.’\u201d Friedman said.<\/p>\n

MORE: Toronto Maple Leafs face harsh reality with playoff exit confirmed<\/a><\/p>\n

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Friedman pointed to the Vancouver Canucks handling of Quinn Hughes as a model. In that case, the team waited before making a major move in the middle of the season, in which they traded Hughes to the Minnesota Wild. This deal was done in early December, and thus, they started a reported rebuild as their season went off track.<\/p>\n

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Friedman mentioned that he could be wrong, but believes Toronto may follow a similar path.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, I think the Quinn Hughes thing, every player in that league, every team in that league saw how the Quinn Hughes thing played out this year,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cAnd that is that you start the year, you see how it goes, and then if it goes off the rails, you adjust as necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see. I could be wrong about that. But that\u2019s my theory right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs\u2019 first playoff miss in Auston Matthews era<\/p>\n

The backdrop to this situation is a shocking collapse in 2025\u201326. The Maple Leafs were eliminated from playoff contention on April 2 after a loss to the San Jose Sharks. It marked the end of a nine-year playoff streak and the first miss of the postseason in the Matthews era.<\/p>\n

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MORE: Maple Leafs\u2019 $92M star gives honest take on his future in Toronto<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto is set to finish near the bottom of the Atlantic Division, and currently has a 32\u201331\u201314 record. Defensive struggles played a major role, with the team ranking among the league\u2019s worst in goals against. The offseason departure of Mitch Marner<\/a> also hurt, leaving a gap in production that the roster failed to replace.<\/p>\n

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Matthews\u2019 own season ended early due to a torn MCL, further derailing the campaign. Despite that setback, he remains the centerpiece of the franchise. He is signed through 2027\u201328 on a deal that pays him $13.25 million on average each season and includes a full no-move clause.<\/p>\n

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With management changes already underway and pressure building, the Leafs now face a delicate balance. They must decide whether to double down on Matthews or consider a bold shift.<\/p>\n

As Friedman suggested, the first months of next season could determine everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With five games left in the 2025-26 NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are heading towards a defining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[532,2300,5,11289,20,5172,38,533,4,1496,168,66,31,5171,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-544094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-auston-matthews","9":"tag-elliotte-friedman","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-mandatory-credit","12":"tag-maple-leafs","13":"tag-mapleleafs","14":"tag-minnesota-wild","15":"tag-mitch-marner","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-quinn-hughes","18":"tag-san-jose-sharks","19":"tag-toronto","20":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","21":"tag-torontomapleleafs","22":"tag-vancouver-canucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116358986769772326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544094","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=544094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}