NHL Rumor Roundup: Maple Leafs Struggles Raise Concern About Auston Matthews' Future; The Latest Penguins Buzz
The clock may be ticking for the Maple Leafs to prove to Auston Matthews that they're a contender, while the Pittsburgh Penguins could go shopping this summer for a young scoring star.
Video Transcript
I'm Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News, and in today's NHL Rumor Roundup column, one of the topics I'm looking at is Auston Matthews' future with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leafs made the playoffs in each of the previous nine seasons.
However, about six weeks ago, they were sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conf.
Standings before they recently, uh, surged back into, uh, wildcard contention.
Nevertheless, there's no certainty that they'll be able to make the playoffs this season for a. Tenth consecutive year.
Now, the Leafs' improvement is, in recent weeks, coincides with that of Matthews, who had struggled through the first two months of this season before regaining his scoring touch around mid-December.
Matthews is in the second season of a four-year contract, but that has, Uh, Nick Kypreos, uh, wondering about how much longer he'll remain in Toronto.
And he suggested in his recent Toronto Star column that the clock is ticking for the Maple Leafs to prove themselves to Matthews as a contender that he would be willing to stick around with beyond 2028, when his current deal expires.
Now, uh, Kypreos also pointed out that there have been some elite NHL players forced trades in the recent past, and he referred to Matthew Tkachuk in 20 22, and Quinn Hughes last month when he was traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the Minnesota Wild.
Now, uh, Matthews is not going to be a trade, nor are the Leafs going to try to move him before the March trade deadline.
And it's doubtful that, uh, they'll be parting company this summer.
Even if the Leafs should miss the playoffs.
But, nevertheless, it's fair to raise those questions about Matthews' future with the Leafs.
Especially if what we've seen from the Leafs this season is a sign of things to come.
