{"id":556115,"date":"2026-04-19T16:15:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556115\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:15:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:15:26","slug":"latest-on-auston-matthews-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556115\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest On Auston Matthews \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto Maple Leafs captain and franchise face Auston Matthews<\/a> was non-committal when asked about his future in Toronto at the team\u2019s exit day, relays The Athletic\u2019s Joshua Kloke<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matthews, responding to questions about his willingness to remain in Toronto for the long haul, told the media \u201cI can\u2019t predict the future, obviously there are steps that have to take place. [team ownership] have to hire new leadership and management. So I don\u2019t really know.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news comes at the end of a nightmarish season for the Maple Leafs, one that raised questions<\/a> about Matthews\u2019 willingness to play out the final two years of his $13.25MM AAV contract in Toronto. Matthews\u2019 season was cut short after a hit from Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas<\/a> left him with an MCL injury. Gudas was eventually suspended for the hit.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The 28-year-old has long been considered one of the league\u2019s best players, and he is arguably the NHL\u2019s most talented goal scorer.<\/p>\n

Matthews set a career-high of 69 goals in 2023-24 and also scored 60 goals in 2021-22, the year he won the Hart Trophy.<\/p>\n

But while individual accolades have not been difficult for Matthews to come by \u2013 he is a three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner as well \u2013 team success has been more scarce.<\/p>\n

While Matthews has made the playoffs every year except 2025-26, he has made it past the first round of the postseason just twice, and never past the second round. With just two years remaining on his contract, it\u2019s likely Matthews has, or will, ask himself the question of whether he believes he can still win a Stanley Cup with the Maple Leafs. As he mentioned, that\u2019s a difficult question to answer without knowing who will be in charge of the Maple Leafs\u2019 hockey operations department.<\/p>\n

But regardless of which individual takes control of hockey ops in Toronto, there are still, unfortunately, ample reasons for Matthews to take a more pessimistic view of Toronto\u2019s short-term competitive hopes. While last season\u2019s trade for Brandon Carlo<\/a> added a capable veteran defenseman to the Maple Leafs\u2019 lineup, it deprived the club of two of its more valuable future assets: young center Fraser Minten<\/a>, as well as the team\u2019s 2026 first-round pick. Toronto only retains its first-rounder this year if it lands in the top-five, and Toronto sits No. 5 in the draft lottery order.<\/p>\n

With a top-five pick at their disposal, the Maple Leafs would have an immensely valuable trade chip they could use to significantly bolster their roster for next season. Conversely, if the Maple Leafs drop one spot in the order, they will hand a division rival a hugely valuable No. 6 overall selection. It\u2019s not unreasonable to believe that the lottery could have a big impact on Matthews\u2019 thinking regarding his own future.<\/p>\n

In any case, there is a sentimental factor to consider when assessing Matthews\u2019 future with the Maple Leafs. While this is not something that matters to every player, it\u2019s worth noting that Matthews is 207 points behind Mats Sundin as Toronto\u2019s all-time leading scorer. For someone that has already built a considerable legacy in one of the game\u2019s biggest markets, the pull of passing Sundin could be a factor in keeping Matthews in Toronto through the end of his current deal.<\/p>\n

From the Maple Leafs\u2019 perspective, Matthews\u2019 decision on his future is likely to singularly shape the team\u2019s competitive direction. Matthews\u2019 deal contains a full no-move clause, meaning he controls his future to an absolute degree. NHL history is littered with examples of teams being forced into sub-optimal trade returns for star players simply because those stars decide they only want to be traded to one team. That\u2019s exactly what happened with the New York Rangers\u2019 trade of star Artemi Panarin<\/a> earlier this year, or the 2021 trade of Taylor Hall<\/a> to the Bruins from the Buffalo Sabres.<\/p>\n

These are interesting times in Toronto, first and foremost because the team\u2019s next GM is in the process of being selected. But beyond just management changes, there could be significant on-ice changes on the horizon as well, and it all starts with a decision \u2013 either to stay, or to consider paths to exit \u2013 from the team\u2019s captain.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs captain and franchise face Auston Matthews was non-committal when asked about his future in Toronto…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[532,5,4,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-556115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-auston-matthews","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116432269103127597","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556115","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=556115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}