Auston Matthews wants to see and hear the Toronto Maple Leafs before making a decision about his future
First up: Chris Johnston on TSN 1050 radio said that Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews is uncertain about his future with the Maple Leafs, and not just for the long term, but for next season.
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Manager: “He described yesterday’s press conference, I was watching on SportsCenter, uncomfortable from top to bottom. And he has thoughts about the future of Auston Matthews instead, this morning on the Athletic.
Johnston: “Well, I think, you know, as we’re coming out, you know, obviously, all the talk is about the recruiting themselves. I mean, obviously, for John Chayka and Mats Sundin, you know, the work starts immediately in terms of, you know, rebuilding this roster and getting it back to a better place.
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And, you know, my understanding of where things are right now with Auston Matthews, according to my sources, is that he’s still, he’s not sure what the future holds for him. And you know, if he’s going to, you know, be in a position to come back next season. I think he feels like, he knows he needs to see something, some development in the program before he’s comfortable making that call.
So, you know, it’s, obviously there’s a lot to throw at it, it would be, no matter who it was, whether it was still Brad Treliving, the manager of the team or not. But, you know, I think we have to know that we’re in a very different time here, you know, the Leafs are talking about continuing to compete and going back and, you know, rebuilding some momentum, that was lost when they finished 28th this year.
And it will be hard. I can tell you guys that you can do it without Auston Matthews. So you know, they still have to get him back on the ship. And I’m sure that’s high on Chayka’s list as he gets to work today.
Host: “So you’re saying, coming back next season? Like, what exactly are you referring to? Like catch, trade demand. What could be in the cards here?
Johnston: “I don’t know how that’s going to play out, but I mean, you know, obviously he’s under contract next year and the year after, with the Leafs. But let’s face it, I think if you look at what happened in Edmonton last week, after the Oilers were eliminated, other places around the league.
You know, star players have a lot of say in their situations, you know, their playing situations. And you know, I don’t mean in any way to present this as a threat. I think it’s very true that, you know, with the Leafs being down near the bottom of the league last year, when Auston gets to the stage of his career, you know, he needs to feel like the organization is headed in the right direction to want to continue playing here.
And then, how that might play out, you know, I’m only going to be speculating at this point. I think it would be, you know, probably jumping too far ahead. But you know, there’s a very clear sense at this point that, you know, he’s not, he’s not willing to say for sure that he’s coming back next season.
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And you know, that makes these eight or nine weeks very important, because obviously this is the window for every team where we go into the trade season, in terms of the draft, and obviously free agency. And you know, where the new front office can start to put a stamp on the roster and maybe, you know, make the captain feel a little better about the way things are going.”
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