Team USA will play the Team Sweden in the quarterfinals of the men's hockey tournament at the 2026 Olympics, meaning Auston Matthews or William Nylander will go home without a medal.
That's tough news for Matthews and Nylander as one of them are going to go home a loser, which is unfortunately how their Leafs career has gone. For both players, they haven't had any issues reaching the final eight of the NHL bracket, but that's as far as they've gone.
In a positive manner, at least one of Matthews or Nylander will be playing for a medal, but knowing both of them, it'll probably be for bronze instead of gold. That may be a little harsh but that's just how both of their careers have seemingly gone thus far.
Through the first few games, Matthews has been the better player, leading his team in goals and points, while Nylander looks like he may still be injured. He hasn't dominated any play, but that may change in the quarterfinals.
From a Leafs perspective, this game means a ton for both players and the narrative for them can change forever depending on who wins.
Let's start with Matthews. As previously mentioned, he's had a great tournament thus far, but that's expected. As the captain of Team USA, he should be leading the team in goals and their team overall was always going to win their first three preliminary games. With games against Germany, Latvia and Denmark, their group was very easy and it would have been a huge upset to lose.
Matthews faces off against Nylander in the quarterfinals
However, things are about to get serious for Matthews. We've all seen the former Hart Trophy winner dominate the regular season then falter in the playoffs, so is the same thing going to happen in the Olympics? There are plenty of other factors to why the Leafs have lost in the playoffs before, but leaving Milan without a medal as the captain of this incredible american team might be the most devastating footnote to his legacy, yet.
Although it would be devastating for Nylander to come back to Toronto without a medal too, he does not have the same pressure on him that Matthews has. Team Sweden is a worse team, Nylander is not the captain and he's also not someone you expect to will his team to victory. He's a really good winger, but he's nothing more than that and everybody knows it.
However, if Sweden does win and Nylander is a big reason why, he can change that narrative in a heartbeat. Nobody will be picking Sweden to beat USA so if Nylander somehow scores two goals and is the reason why they win, that will change how Leafs fans view him for the rest of time. If Nylander beats Matthews, I could see 100 blogs written about how Matthews should gift the captaincy to Nylander or that the team should trade Matthews and build the entire team around Nylander.
Matthews has way more to lose than Nylander, so even if Nylander plays poorly, it won't change much.
Although I should write that I want to see Matthews dominate and keep his tournament alive, my red-and-white canadian blood won't let me write that I hope they win. I'd much rather see the USA lose in a horrible fashion than watch Matthews dominate, although that may benefit the Leafs this year.