Matthews Unwilling to Commit to Maple Leafs Return [Report]

“According to my sources, Auston Matthews is not yet sure what the future holds for him and if he is going to be in a position to return next season. I think he feels he needs to see some meaningful improvements to the roster before he’s comfortable making that call.” These were follow-up comments by The Athletic’s Chris Johnston on Tuesday, who earlier wrote an article suggesting Matthews wasn’t ready to commit to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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He added that the Leafs are in a difficult time trying to remain competitive, but get Matthews back on board.

Johnston mentioned that this could mean Matthews might not return next season and while he’s under contract next season and the year after, Johnston noted, “Let’s face it, if you look at what happened in Edmonton last week after the Oilers were eliminated, and some other places around the league, star players are having more of a say in their circumstances and their playing conditions. I don’t mean to present this in any way as a threat, I just think it’s a reality that with the Leafs crashing down near the bottom of the league this year, and Auston getting to a stage of his career, he needs to feel like the organization’s heading in the right direction to want to continue playing here.”

“He’s not willing to say definitively that he’s going to come back next season and that makes these next eight or nine weeks pretty crucial.”

Johnston wrote in his column that new general manager John Chayka equated his first few weeks on the job as “trying to catch a moving train.” Johnston added, “This looks a lot more like “Mission: Impossible.”

If ultimately, Matthews doesn’t like what he sees and hears, that could mean a trade over the summer. It puts Chayka and Mats Sundin in the difficult spot of having to trade a player who has total control over where he goes. Johnston writes, “Leafs management wouldn’t be able to drive up the price like they might if free market conditions were present, and the hand-picked acquiring team wouldn’t be shedding useful present-day assets that would make them less appealing as a destination.” He adds that at best, the Maple Leafs would try to get what the Vancouver Canucks got back when they traded Quinn Hughes. Essentially, it would be a “handful of magic beans for a proven game-breaking commodity.”

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