The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley Cup since the NHL expanded beyond six teams. They haven't even made it to the Finals in all that time.
Take a minute to think about how pathetic that is. The Toronto Maple Leafs should be humiliated by their failure, and as such, they should do everything they can to win.
And that includes not allowing Auston Matthews to play in the upcoming 4 Nations Tournament.
Of course, the one thing the NHL owners had to sign off on to get this naked flag-wrapped cash-grab off the ground in the first place, so there is no way the owners with the loudest voice in the league are going to ban the league's biggest star from playing.
So Matthews himself has to step up.
Auston Matthews Should Put the Toronto Maple Leafs First
First, I'm not sure why anyone would agree to play for Team USA at the moment, but that aside, Matthews needs to put the Leafs first.
Specifically, Leafs fans.
Matthews has already missed a ton of games this season during two separate injuries, and while no one knows for sure, he's likely going to need surgery in the offseason to fix whatever it is that rest alone doesn't seem capable of fixing.
The Leafs are paper thin down the middle and struggle to find offense outside of what Auston Matthes produces - which is scarily close to a goal per game.
With Matthews, the Leafs are a well-timed hotstreak from the Stanley Cup. Without him, they're not even a playoff team. The fact that he wants to risk his entire season - arguably the last chance at the Leafs original cup window - on a dumb tournament that means nothing, then at the very least he has no business being captain of this team.
Alex Pietrangelo recently bailed on the tournament even though he's not too injured to keep playing NHL games. This is what leadership looks like: properly assessing your priorities and putting the most important one first.
Auston Matthews must do the same.
A week off in the middle of the season would do wonders for him and his health. Risking the Leafs entire season to play for a gross team everyone in the world will be cheering again is just a dumb decision on his part. He needs to put the Leafs first and pull out of this meaningless nonsense before it costs the Leafs another year of losing.