After an extremely busy offseason that has rejuvenated the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fanbase, it’s easy to forget that just months ago, the future of Auston Matthews was in serious question.
The captain was said to be taking his time to decide whether he wanted to remain in Toronto as he approaches the back half of his current contract with the team. New GM John Chayka’s aggressive summer of reshaping the roster around Matthews persuaded him to stay, and when speaking to the media about it for the first time on Wednesday, he reaffirmed that commitment, saying it was always his intent to stick around.
“Yeah, I think my intent was always to be here. I think with the way things finished last year, you know, the general manager gets fired before the season’s over. There was obviously a lot of incoming change, and you never really know who’s coming in, what their plan is or what they think. I think for myself, it was just to take a step back, see what happens and have an open-minded communication with whoever was hired.
Obviously, with John here now, I really like what he’s done this summer. I think he’s made some great changes, brought in some great people and some great players. Like I said, for myself, I think it was more so just taking a step back and seeing who comes in. So I thought it was appropriate to take a step back, see what happens and go from there,”
The 28-year-old Matthews is about to enter the third year of the four-year, $53 million contract extension he signed with the Maple Leafs in 2023. He’s coming off a career-worst 53-point (27 goals, 26 assists) season, albeit having played in just 60 games.
From Gavin McKenna to Darren Raddysh to Sergei Bobrovsky to good friend Jack Roslovic, Chayka did about as much as he could to make Matthews happy this offseason. It’s now on him and the rest of the core in Toronto to prove that they were worthy of being given another chance to stay together and compete for a Stanley Cup.
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