The Toronto Maple Leafs made a lot of changes this summer that could impact their competitive hopes, but Auston Matthews remains the biggest factor in the team's road back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He's confident he can lead the way.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a new No. 1 goalie, a new No. 1 defenseman and a new first-overall pick. But heading into a season where there are so many new faces — including a new head coach and GM — the most important piece to the team's overall success is a player who is looking to get back to his old self.
It's been two years since Auston Matthews won his third Rocket Richard Trophy after leading the NHL with 69 goals in 81 games in 2023-24. Since then, he's combined for 60 goals in 127 games, causing some to wonder if the 28-year-old captain's scoring touch has permanently dried up.
After all, goal-scoring tends to be a young man's game.
Of the past 23 Rocket Richard Trophy winners, nine did so at an age that is older than Matthews is today. And Alex Ovechkin was accounted for six of those titles. The last time someone who was 28 or older scored 60 goals in a season was Mike Bossy in 1985-86.
In other words, it might not be realistic to expect another 69-goal season out of Matthews — even with the league's schedule expanding to 84 games this year.
At the same time, if the Maple Leafs are going to go from finishing fifth-worst in the overall standings to a Stanley Cup contender, you'd have to believe that Matthews will have to at least be challenging for the goal-scoring title.
He knows it. And so does his coach.
"Really important for our team," Maple Leafs coach Jim Hiller said when The Hockey News asked him how important it is for Matthews to get back to being a Rocket Richard Trophy contender.
"I don’t put a number at all on where he should be. The league changes all the time. I would just say this: I have a pretty good relationship over the years. This is for me kind of as excited as he’s been in my time talking to him."
The excitement for Matthews stems from an off-season where the Maple Leafs may have improved more than any other team.
It started at the draft, where Toronto won the No. 1 pick and selected winger Gavin McKenna. It continued into the summer months, where the team signed defenseman Darren Raddysh, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and brought back Hiller, who had been an associate coach during Matthews' first three seasons in the NHL.
Add in the fact that Matthews is healthy again after suffering a season-ending MCL tear on a knee-on-knee hit from Radko Gudas, and there is a lot of optimism following what was a "frustrating year" for the Maple Leafs captain.
"He looks great. Obviously, not the end anyone wanted at the end of the season, specifically his end," said GM John Chayka. "But give him credit, he put in the work. He worked with some world-class specialists and trainers, as he always does, to get an extra edge."
Last season wasn't all bad. While Matthews wasn't able to lead the Maple Leafs into a playoff spot, the Team USA captain did lead his country to a gold medal win at the 2026 Olympics in Milan.
Still, his 27 goals and 53 points in 60 games was his lowest output of his career.
Part of the reason for his struggles was that he missed 22 games. But the bigger hit was losing longtime teammate — and frequent linemate — Mitch Marner in an off-season sign-and-trade to the Vegas Golden Knights.
"The expectations for myself are always high," said Matthews. "I try to hold myself to extremely high standards. It was a frustrating year, of course. It’s a new system. I’ve had a lot of time to think about it and going into this year I’m feeling as good as possible.
"Like I said, a new group of guys, a lot of new people, new change which is inevitable, but I think it’s also exciting too to get to the rink and have that energy, have that excitement again."
Without Marner feeding him passes, Matthews struggled to find the back of the net. While the hope is that McKenna can eventually replace Marner and form chemistry with Matthews, it could take some time before the rookie gets acclimated to the NHL and earns that opportunity.
As a backup plan, the team signed Jack Roslovic, who spent time playing alongside Matthews on the U.S. National Development Team.
Either way, it's going to be up to Matthews — and the offensive system that Hiller implements — to get the three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner back to his old scoring ways. And so far, everyone seems confident that it will happen.
"He gives me confidence when I speak to him," said Hiller. "I don’t know what that looks like or what number that translates into, but when you talk to your captain and your captain instills confidence in you, then I would say you’re in a pretty good place."
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