John Chayka Responds To Report Questioning Auston Matthews' Future With Maple Leafs
The Athletic's Chris Johnston reported on Tuesday that Matthews is unsure if he'll return to the Maple Leafs in the fall.
Video Transcript
And let's get right to it.
What did you make of this and where do the Leafs go from here?
Is McKenna the guy without a question or can you see a scenario where they maybe go a little galaxy brain and get a defenseman, a center, or even trade down and get some ma- more assets?
Honestly, like, I, I could see several different scenarios.
taking McKenna first overall is the most obvious choice, and what I've been saying to people since it happened, and, and even with, you know, having McKenna as the number one prospect in this draft is, what if he's Patrick Kane?
You know, if you look at his play-making ability, his creativity.
He, he's actually bigger than Patrick Kane 'cause he's six feet tall.
and who knows, he might still be growing.
like, you can't pass on that kind of upside.
Like, Ivar Stenberg is an incredible player.
He's a more well-rounded player.
and then you have, you know, several elite defensemen, Chase Reid, Keaton Verhoff, Carson Carls.
If, if any of those guys got picked I would be shocked, but I, I would see the logic.
But it just feels to me like you can't pass on that ceiling that McKenna has.
And the fact that he's a playmaker and you have Austin Matthews, a center and goal scorer, to me, a- and I don't think he's Marner because Marner, like, kills penalties and is, like, you know.
Like, McKenna still has to round out his game.
but I almost think, like, if you're the Leafs you're saying, like, "Do we have an old school, like Steven Stamkos, Marty St. Louis combo here?"
Where you have the goal-scoring center with the play-making winger, which they had so, so much success in Tampa with.
so yeah.
And, and it was, it's funny, it was shocking to me 'cause in my head I was like, "Oh, well, you know, Toronto better hope that they don't lose, you know, the lottery 'cause then they'll be bumped out of the top five and Boston gets their pick."
For some reason it didn't occur to me that they could win the whole thing, so I was like, "Oh, wow."
Yeah.
Well, the NHL obviously wants Toronto back in the playoffs.
