The Toronto Maple Leafs announced their new pair who will be in charge of hockey operations this week, as John Chayka and Mats Sundin take over the center of the hockey universe. And right away, they commented on the elephant in the room.
Auston Matthews' future with the Maple Leafs is already in question and the star centerman is not very certain if he will be committing long-term to this team. He needs to see something -- some sort of direction this team is taking with these two new guys at the top.
In the very first day they were available for the media, they commented on Matthews and what he means to this team.
Mats Sundin and John Chayka comment on the future of Auston Matthews
Sundin decided to go with more praise than actual information on whether or not he stays. But, that doesn't really surprise anyone since we know that the now senior executive advisor of hockey operations, loved his time in Toronto and notoriously did not want to leave.
“Listen, I think Auston is the best goal-scorer in the league the last 10 years,” Sundin said via The Athletic's Chris Johnston. “He’s a superstar in his own right. Won Olympic gold. I think he’s a good leader, a great leader, and he captained the U.S. to the gold (in Milan). The Toronto Maple Leafs and the fanbase, I think, (are) very fortunate to have a player of that caliber.
“Let’s hope that he’s committed to lead this team through the next period as well.”
Yeah, let's hope for that.
Matthews is signed for two more years on his current deal and is eligible to sign a contract extension with Toronto as soon as next summer. And with one year of this current regime, that will be a good point for him personally, to know what direction this team is going in.
Meanwhile, Chayka spoke more specifically about his plans to speak with Matthews as soon as possible and, more or less, sell him on their plans.
“Auston’s the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, this is his team,” Chayka said via The Athletic's Chris Johnston. “He obviously lived it all year, so I want to get together with him and hear his thoughts on things, and that will kind of help sculpt our vision a bit as well. But certainly, as we think about communicating to him, you know, letting him know that there’s still a window here where we feel like he’s one of the best players in the world for a reason and we’ve got some good pieces, and we’ve got a lot of work to do. And kind of walk him through how we want to go about doing that.”
We're sure that Matthews has been sold a lot of plans over the years, whether it was from Brandon Shanahan, Kyle Dubas, Mike Babcock, Sheldon Keefe, Brad Treliving, or Craig Berube; a whole lot of people have told him what they have in mind for him and to help him in his career. But now with the giant risk of him wanting out of Toronto, some action is needed and most certainly some action is going to have to happen this summer.
No one knows for sure what the Leafs are going to do to try and retain Matthews, but we know that there are holes on this roster and some people (the head coach) need to be removed from the organization to fit what Matthews wants.
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