Auston Matthews Should Play Alongside John Tavares

If the Toronto Maple Leafs want to get the most out of John Tavares this year, they need to pair him on Auston Matthews wing.

It's hard to believe that we're already entering the last year of John Tavares' seven-year $77M contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago that he signed with his hometown team on Canada Day, shocking the hockey world, but here we are.

Tavares might not be the player he was during Year 1 of his contract, but he's still an above-average player. With age, his speed has always been the biggest factor, and as a result, I think it's time that he moves from centre to wing.

With his speed decelerating, Tavares will have a harder time defending, which makes his move to wing a smart decision for the 2024-25 season.

By moving Tavares to wing, it makes the Leafs centre position vulnerable, as Max Domi, Pontus Holmberg and David Kampf would potentially now act as the 2C, 3C and 4C. That would seriously hurt the forward group as those four would not be a sustainable force to win games in the spring. However, by moving Tavares to wing, it should open up the door for either Mitch Marner or William Nylander to move to centre.

Tavares Should Move to Matthews Wing

The team still needs to upgrade their 3C and 4C position, but that move would really help the team within, as they'll have to trade for a bottom-six centre, or hope that Fraser Minten can do the job internally.

Anyways, back to Tavares and Matthews. When it comes to Matthews, he's a former Hart Trophy winner who scored 69 goals last year. If you can score at almost a goal-per-game rate in the NHL, it shouldn't matter who's on your wing every night. Even if Ryan Reaves and Pontus Holmberg were his wingers every night, Matthews should still be able to score 40 goals, as he's that talented.

As a result, the Leafs don't need to use the high-end skill of Nylander or Marner paired with Matthews. Instead, they should look at using a weaker player in Tavares to bring up his stats alongside Matthews. Marner and Nylander are playmakers, and although you'd look at Tavares more as a goal-scorer, he can play the role as playmaker for Matthews.

Tavares has seven seasons of 40-plus assists in the NHL and is one of the smartest players in the game, so if he needs to focus on getting Matthews the puck, he'll do so. Pair that his ability to drive the net and tap-in goals in the crease and Tavares could once again be a 30-40 goal scorer and 80-plus point player.

The dynamic duo of Marner and Nylander on the second-line would drive the opposition crazy and if you followed that up with a young line of Nick Robertson, Max Domi and Easton Cowan, this Leafs team could be a real fun bunch this year.

Who knows what newly appointed head coach Craig Berube will do, but he should seriously consider moving Tavares to the wing and pairing him alongside Matthews.