Throughout this summer, many eyes have been stuck on Connor McDavid and his potential contract situation with the Edmonton Oilers. The more bumps in the road the talks have resulted in, the more Toronto Maple Leafs fans have higher hopes that potentially one day, McDavid will be a Maple Leaf.
But with Auston Matthews currently a staple in the Leafs roster, is it even possible to have both elite superstars exist on the same team? So the question will be, can McDavid and Matthews actually co-exist in the same Maple Leafs universe?
For those that recall all the way back to the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, fans in the hockey world caught a glimpse of what it could be like when both superstars played on the same North America team in the tournament that was made up of players all aged 23 and under. Especially when the duo hooked up for a beautiful goal on a 2-on-1 against Russia, with McDavid providing the lovely apple to Matthews.
So how realistic could it be for the Leafs to get McDavid to join Matthews in Toronto in the long run? Well, let’s go out on a limb and assume that McDavid eventually fails to re-sign in Edmonton. That would make him the most sought after free agent during the 2026 offseason. As a result, as currently the best hockey player on the planet, McDavid would likely be able to land whatever salary and term that he wants. His annual AAV has been predicted to be at least north of $16 million.
With Matthews already earning an average AAV of $13.25 million per season with the Leafs currently, the two together would likely use up at least $30 million in salary cap space. And when Matthews’ contract expires in 2028, his salary numbers should increase drastically once again as well. Recall the Leafs’ core four of Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander collectively made over $40 million and took up close to 40-50% of the team cap space, and we all know now how far that took the team during the past few seasons.
So then to have another 30-40% in cap space again tied to just two players this time going forward could be a recipe for disaster, as there wouldn’t be much resources left to fill the rest of the roster with quality players. Unlike basketball where you could have Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, or Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal carry the whole team to a championship, hockey is still a team game and needs an adequate supporting cast to go along with the star players in order to have any success. So just the salary issue in itself could create problems for the Leafs in being able to sustain winning success.
Let’s just take it one step further and say McDavid does re-sign with Edmonton, whether it be a short or long-term deal. That now means that the Leafs must trade for the Oilers generational talent if they want him any time soon. However, expect the potential package going the other way could be huge. It will likely start with a star roster player like William Nylander and/or Morgan Rielly, to go along with younger top prospects like Easton Cowan and/or Ben Danford, together with a multitude of high draft picks. In doing so, it would likely deplete the Leafs with all of their effective present and future supporting cast, putting all the weight on both McDavid and Matthews’ shoulders once again to carry the team. As a result, the same dilemma of sustainable winning comes into question once again.
In summary, yes, it is quite plausible that both McDavid and Matthews could somehow find themselves together on the same Leafs team in the near future. However, it just might not produce the results and success that many would envision due to the roster compositions and financial restrictions that would ultimately result from it. Nevertheless, Leafs fans can continue to dream about it until it finally does or does not happen.