The Toronto Maple Leafs were down in the dumps. After putting all of their chips on the table and hoping they could replace Mitch Marner in the aggregate, they became one of the worst teams in the NHL. They came in expecting to compete for the Atlantic Division, but they fell into the draft lottery, instead.
That obviously led to a lot of hurt feelings. Most of the players on the team were linked to trade rumors, including Matthew Knies to the New Jersey Devils. However, the stars weren’t expected to go anywhere midseason. Auston Matthews suffered a season-ending injury, and the Maple Leafs didn’t want to sell low on William Nylander.
After the season, the rumors swirled about Matthews. Some even went as far as to say that Matthews is not expected to be back in Canada’s biggest city at the start of next season. Matthews even said, "I can't predict the future," when asked about his future in season-ending media sessions.
Then, the Maple Leafs had some strokes of luck. First, they let general manager Brad Treliving go. That was a huge next step. Then, they hired John Chayka as their next general manager, with franchise icon Mats Sundin joining in a front office leadership role.
That will obviously give Matthews something to think about. If they truly want to keep Matthews in Toronto, we imagine they at least spoke to Matthews before making the decision, giving him some kind of ownership in the path forward.
Then, the Maple Leafs own the NHL Draft Lottery and the rights to the number-one overall pick. The Maple Leafs will now lose their 2027 and 2028 first-round picks, giving them limited assets to upgrade the roster through trade, but Matthews has to be intrigued by the possibility of playing alongside Gavin McKenna.
Despite this, the rumors continued. Just this week, The Athletic’s Chris Johnson says that Matthews “isn’t sure” if he’ll be back in Toronto.
"For Matthews, set to celebrate his 29th birthday in September, there are some understandable concerns about the direction things are headed. Athletes have finite careers and he’s never been further from the Stanley Cup. And while Chayka intends to pick the brain of the franchise’s all-time goals leader in short order, it’s safe to say the new GM might not like everything he hears when that happens."Chris Johnson, The Athletic
It’s obvious that Johnson has better sources than we could ever hope for, but history is on the side of Matthews staying in Toronto. Still, we’re seeing plenty of people tie the Devils to the American superstar. While the thought of joining Jack Hughes and Auston Matthews together for an American superstar roster, it just seems incredibly unlikely.
Auston Matthews to New Jersey Devils "rumors" don't come with a lot of merit
First, it takes Nico Hischier being the centerpiece of a trade going the other way. Hischier is considered one of the best two-way centers in the league. Sheldon Keefe uses him against every top line, sacrificing offense in the name of defense.
Matthews isn’t a bad defensive center, but Keefe wouldn’t use him in those matchups, and it would put more pressure on the bottom six.
Speaking of the bottom six, if the Devils upgraded Hischier to Matthews, it would come at a cost. Around an extra $6 million against the salary cap, to be exact. Of course, Hischier is up for a big raise, but we don’t think his salary is reaching the stratosphere of Matthews’ $13.25 million average annual salary.
The Devils only have a little under $12 million in cap space this offseason, with Arseny Gritsyuk and Simon Nemec still left to sign. Cutting that in half just to upgrade a spot where they are already in decent shape isn’t the best use of assets. Don’t get us wrong; we’d welcome Matthews to this team with open arms, but it causes a much bigger cap issue, and he’s only signed for two more years. It could be a short-term satisfaction that leads to long-term pain.
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