Auston Matthews reportedly seeks a resilient blueprint for the Toronto Maple Leafs' overall future
Photo credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
Auston Matthews is going to take this summer to reassess things and looks to give the Maple Leafs a list of demands if they want to make sure they keep him around long-term.
What Auston Matthews wants right now more than anything is a chance to win the Stanley Cup. Currently that seems like something steeped much more in fantasy than reality, and with him on the shelf plus a non-response from his teammates has to have him feeling pretty low.
The captain needs a better supporting crew and the Maple Leafs have a real chance of changing the culture and bringing in players who won't mind taking a lick for their leader.
Auston Matthews reportedly demands a firm commitment to an organizational identity shift
It's something that Matthews is focusing heavily on this offseason too. According to James Mirtle on the JD Bunkis Podcast, Toronto's captain is going to be taking a lot of time this offseason and discuss with management (whoever it may be) about what he needs going forward:
I think he really wants to see in the off season, what's going on here and how they think they're gonna turn this around. So I think that that's where it's at. It doesn't help, let's put it that way.
I haven't talked to him directly, but it doesn't help the situation that not only was everything else going wrong, where the team's not competitive and the style that you're playing is not working.
You're losing a ton of games and you're not able, you're not scoring and things just aren't going your way in a lot of different ways. But to feel like the team on the ice doesn't have your back and people don't care, that's really tough. It's really, really tough.
I haven't talked to him directly, but it doesn't help the situation that not only was everything else going wrong, where the team's not competitive and the style that you're playing is not working.
You're losing a ton of games and you're not able, you're not scoring and things just aren't going your way in a lot of different ways. But to feel like the team on the ice doesn't have your back and people don't care, that's really tough. It's really, really tough.
He doesn't want to see one or two small changes but a complete teardown. That means that Brad Treliving is likely gone in order to bring someone who has a better winning pedigree.
Craig Berube is also headed out of town especially considering how he ruined Matthews' offensive game and took him from a 60-goal scorer to someone who can barely hit 30 and is stuck in the defensive zone 50% of the time.
The search for a resilient roadmap instructs MLSE that a mandatory cleanup is required
With Mirtle's assessment that the team just kind of gave up and stopped caring about Matthews, that shows that MLSE can't end up repeating the same mistakes.
There's no way that the same players can stay on the roster. Morgan Rielly spent a decade with Matthews and hung him out to dry - no chance he stays. William Nylander is at least a star, but he needs to be read the riot act.
It's time to bring in new faces, and it's about bringing the type of players who will take a bullet for Matthews. The Tkachuk Brothers are a perfect example of the types of guys you need. They don't have to be superstars, but they need to show a spine and get angry.
There needs to be a game plan and the Maple Leafs have to prove to their captain that it's going to work. Don't make promises you can't keep; be proactive.
If that requires firing Brad Treliving and Craig Berube, hiring a new Team President like Chris Pronger, a complete roster overhaul or some combination of the three then so be it.
But now is the time for action, and if MLSE doesn't do enough then they can say goodbye to their captain.
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Previously on Hockey Patrol
| POLL | ||
MARS 18|967 ANSWERS Auston Matthews reportedly seeks a resilient blueprint for the Toronto Maple Leafs' overall future Will the Auston Matthews era end without a Stanley Cup for the Maple Leafs? | ||
| Yes | 756 | 78.2 % |
| No | 211 | 21.8 % |
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