TORONTO — On the day the Toronto Maple Leafs gather to train for their 10th (!) season with draft-lottery prize Auston Matthews, the captain is presented with a premise.
The idea goes like this: all the summertime chatter over the departure of his most preferred, most frequent and most talented setup man, Mitch Marner; those nine straight disappointing post-seasons without a taste of Round 3; and an injury-plagued winter, during which Matthews managed “only” 33 goals and tied for 26th place in the Rocket race, have hockey’s sickest sniper since Alex Ovechkin entering 2025-26 with a chip on his shoulder.
Doubters to silence.
Narratives to flip.
Pucks to pepper.
Matthews considers the theory. He acknowledges, yeah, there might be something to it.
What he doesn’t do is elaborate. Bold predictions or lofty guarantees? Revealing his individual goals or publicly spilling his guts over the agony of repeated defeat? Matthews doesn’t go there.
As always, the lead-by-example type prefers his actions to speak.
Poke around the circumference of undoubtedly the most important Maple Leaf of 2026 — and, heck, likely the greatest Leaf of all-time — and you’ll find a chorus of voices piping up for their respect in the athlete’s silent grind through pain, their belief in an inevitable rebound campaign.
You’ll hear that Matthews’ on-and-off back problems, which began during 2024’s training camp, pushed him to seek a second opinion in Germany, then lingered to the final buzzer of Game 7, often left him skating at “34 per cent” health. You’ll hear that he had trouble bending over to knot his laces before some games. You’ll hear that his most dangerous weapon — that curl-and-whip, angle-altering, goalie-flummoxing wrister — was hindered, hence the career-worst 12.6 shooting percentage. You’ll be reminded of some crummy puck luck; only four NHLers pinged more posts and crossbars than Matthews (21). And you’ll also hear, from many who share the dressing room, that Matthews swallowed his discomfort whole.
Never complained as performance waned.
Matthews’ explanation for being so guarded on health matters: “Because I can. Because it’s my right to, I believe.”
New arrivals to Toronto’s room describe their leader as “a quiet guy” as well as “a great guy.” Matthews is not a rah-rah captain. He commands, usually, by his presence, a thousand-word glance, but mostly via performance and results. An internal drive that is mostly kept that way.
“It was an off year. There’s things behind the scenes that we all sort of know about. He wasn’t a fully healthy player but fought through it. I thought he played extremely well for what he was going through,” head coach Craig Berube says.
“It’s not all about goals. But I do get it. He’s a goal-scorer. Everybody looks at him to score goals, and we do need him to score goals. But at the same time, it’s a team. And it’s about winning games, and it’s about everybody contributing.”
Critics will argue that if a superstar is healthy enough to dress, he should be fit to dominate. They’ll point out that Matthews’ individual performance in clinching games mirrors that of the Leafs, routinely coming up on the bad end of good opponents. A splendid regular-season athlete still seeking his post-season statement.
They may even complain that Matthews doesn’t look as ticked off when the Leafs flutter as, say, Nathan “I haven’t won s—” MacKinnon does when the Avalanche melt.
Defenders will counter that Matthews has had some phenomenal playoff flashes — Game 2 versus Boston in 2024 and Game 6 versus Florida in 2025 pop to mind — and that a dive into the scoring data will prove that 34 doesn’t actually need 16 to reach 50.
They’ll wonder if the 28-year-old having his leadership, line-driving and long-term health questioned will only embolden to competitor inside.
“There’s always stuff you can take through the good times and the bad times, the ups and downs, the adversity,” Matthews says.
“Especially when you don’t feel like you’re at your best, it’s always putting the team first and doing whatever you can to help the team win. And I felt like I handled that to the best of my ability last year. And of course, you want to produce and do all that stuff. But we had the best regular season that we’ve had since I’ve been here. We won our division and did a lot of really good things that we just want to continue to build on.”
We’ve already seen flickers of defiance in camp.
Matthews sniped one in each of his two pre-season previews, and his ferocity in September’s battle drills was palpable. When 221-pound depth defenceman Philippe Myers leaned on his back near the boards one mid-September afternoon, Matthews bodied back, snatched possession and smacked a shot with purpose.
“I see him more engaged,” says Berube, sounding encouraged. “He’s feeling good, so he’s more engaged and heavier and harder on pucks and things like that. You can see a little bit of a difference, for sure.”
Though he appeared to honour his longtime wingman and warmup partner at Scotiabank Arena by arranging seven pucks into a smiley face on the faceoff dot (Marner was known to Sharpie smiley faces on his blue-and-white gloves), Matthews was quick to slap a moratorium on questions about his old teammate.
This is a new year.
Maybe Berube was speaking as much for his stars as himself when he broadcasted his excitement over never having to hear the phrase Core Four again.
With Marner gone — taking his 102 points and top-line all-situations minutes with him — the Maple Leafs will scramble to make up for the loss by committee, stuffing this mammoth lineup hole with grit and hope.
The hope that highest-paid defenceman and returning power-play quarterback Morgan Rielly lives up to his best-summer-ever! hype and drives 50 or 60 points from the back end. And that shifting the offensively gifted Oliver Ekman-Larsson to his natural left side can boost another veteran’s production.
The hope for a consistent campaign from Max Domi and that rugged acquisitions Nicolas Roy and Dakota Joshua can provide a little bottom-six offence in addition to penalty killing and reliable D-zone starts.
The hope that value buy Matias Maccelli, who gets first crack on Matthews’ right flank, can be even half the playmaker Marner is, and that goalie Joseph Woll (personal reasons) returns soon and in the right frame of mind.
And the hope that, with minimal trade assets to spend, a legitimate impact winger can be acquired before the March 6 trade deadline (Filip Forsberg, welcome to the rumour mill).
Modelled in the snotty vision of general manager Brad Treliving and Berube, the identity of these Maple Leafs has spun 180 degrees from the group Matthews joined.
They are big and experienced, built to drudge down low for greasy goals and prevail in low-scoring, low-event slogs on the strength of a few game-breaking moments. Formerly tagged with the dreaded “soft” descriptor by opponents, these Leafs aim to turn Scotiabank Arena into a groan on foes’ schedule.
The risk is Toronto might also be skewing a little too old, too slow. Eight men dressing for Wednesday’s opener are in their 30s.
“You have size throughout, it doesn’t matter what line,” Matthews says. “Roy and DJ (Joshua) are big bodies that can move, play heavy hockey. I’m really excited about the prospect of them filling in some big roles.”
The plan unravels, however, if Matthews himself doesn’t remain as healthy as everyone says he is. If he doesn’t more closely resemble the beast-mode, two-way centre who has captured a Hart Trophy, got nominated for a Selke and flirted with 70 goals.
Matthews’ offensive-zone starts fell to a career-low 53.9 per cent last season. Expect a jump in that department, as the coach leans more on Roy for hard matchups. Also expect Matthews to carry more pucks and drive more nets. Without Marner’s wizardry, the strategy of finding quiet ice and waiting for the perfect pass becomes less effective.
“He doesn’t just score goals; he does a lot of things for us. He’s penalty killing. He goes against top lines. He’s a great defensive player. His work ethic,” Berube says. “I mean, I don’t think we should be overly concerned. He’s healthy. He’s looking good. He’s shooting the puck really well.”
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Ekman-Larsson has been going head-to-head with Matthews regularly over these past weeks. What would the defenceman say to fans who may be concerned about the superstar’s status?
“Yeah, I don’t think they should be worried,” Ekman-Larsson grins. “When you’re in the room and on the ice with him every single day, you see it a lot more than just watching TV and stuff like that.
“That (200-foot effort) is something I really appreciate about his game. You all obviously know that he can put the puck in the net and make unbelievable plays. But he’s chipping in so much more, even if he didn’t score 70 goals. But we’ll take it.”
Over this 82-game dance, the first sans Matthews’ normal partner, we’ll discover just how desperately a deeper Maple Leafs group needs a pile of goals from its leader. Moreover, we’ll learn if the phenom from Scottsdale is capable of another season-long heater.
Because Marner’s relocation didn’t only remove a whole whack of assists; it also eliminated a sponge of fan criticism when the team underachieves.
John Tavares took a hometown discount. William Nylander remains letter-less, unflustered and under contract until 2030.
Never has Matthews borne more scrutiny or responsibility as a Maple Leaf.
While linemate and fellow Arizonan Matthew Knies now spends his summers training in more temperate Minnesota, Matthews always elects to reset, rebuild and rehab in the desert, trading harsh spotlight for harsh sunlight.
He’s accustomed to the glare.
“Arizona is just a little bit too hot for me,” Knies says, shaking his head.
“I don’t know how he does it, really.”
