Here are 10 takeaways from Matthews' 1-on-1 sitdown with Maple Leafs host Ryan Leslie.
Auston Matthews sat down with Maple Leafs host Ryan Leslie for a 1-on-1 that dropped Tuesday, and the captain did not dance around the questions that have followed him since last March.
He talked about the Grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion that ended his 2025-26 season after a knee-on-knee collision with then-Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas. He talked about missing the playoffs for the first time in years. He talked about a front office and roster that turned over at every level. And he talked about Toronto as home, after a spring in which he said he could not predict the future and reports circulated that he was unsure about remaining a Maple Leaf.
Matthews has two years remaining on the four-year, $53 million contract he signed in August 2023. That context hung over every answer. Here are the 10 takeaways.
1. He says he feels the best he has in a long time
“Yeah, I’m feeling really good,” Matthews said. “I think it’s obviously a tough way to end the season last year, but I think there’s always, you know, positive that you can take out of, you know, adversity, negative moments, and I feel like coming back here now, probably the best I’ve felt in a long time, which is great.”
That is the line the organization needed heading into camp. Last season he finished with 27 goals and 53 points in 60 games before surgery in March and a roughly 12-week recovery.
2. The first weeks of rehab were the hardest
There weren’t a lot of details shared but a timeline was presented.
The first couple of weeks were the worst, limited movement, a lot of pain, and still processing how the season ended. After that, he said the work “flew by.” He was happy with how he felt at the two-and-a-half to three-month mark, when he was cleared to get back on the ice.
That timeline lines up with the March surgery and a late-summer return to informal skates.
3. Missing the playoffs took a toll, and he is using it
“Last year was a really tough year,” Matthews said. “It was kind of the first year that, you know, we haven’t made the playoffs in a while. You know, a lot of injuries, kind of a lot of things that don’t really go your way.”
He pointed to the weight of losing in a market that lives for spring hockey. That, he said, took a toll on a lot of guys. The takeaway he is carrying into 2026-27 is the list of things that can be applied going forward.
4. He is motivated to get back to the player he knows he can be
Leslie asked about conversations with John Chayka, Mats Sundin and Jim Hiller, and about their vision.
Matthews used the question to talk about himself as much as the new brain trust.
“I know for myself, the last couple of years have been tough. You know, it’s been, you know, I haven’t really felt super healthy, obviously, you know, last two years and especially how last year ended. So for myself, I’m extremely motivated going into this year to get back to the level that I know I can be at.”
That is as direct as Matthews gets on durability and production. The last two seasons have not been the version of No. 34 that won Rocket Richard trophies.
5. The roster turnover is bigger than usual, and he is fine with it
Change happened at every level: new GM in Chayka, Sundin in a senior hockey-ops role, Hiller behind the bench, and a wave of new players after a playoff miss.
“I think change is kind of inevitable in professional sports every year. No matter how successful you are, there’s going to be new players. And obviously there’s a lot more change over this year than past from players and staff. But I think it’s exciting.”
He said the group already shares a common goal and a common vision, and that unity showed up in the weeks before camp.
6. Paul and Raddysh have changed the room
Leslie asked what the assembled group looks and feels like.
Matthews went straight to personality. Nick Paul and Darren Raddysh have made themselves at home. Gavin McKenna is fitting in. Teddy Blueger is quieter. The mix, he said, is the point.
“We’ve got some pretty big personalities, which is great. … Guys like Nick Paul have made themselves right at home. Some characters. … You got to come to the rink every day and you want to be excited about that.”
Paul came over in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Raddysh departed that same club in a sign-and-trade and signed long-term. Those are two of the new faces that also included Bobrovsky, Roslovic, Sissons and others.
7. Ten years after his own draft Buffalo, he is trying to take some of the noise off McKenna
“Yeah I mean this still feels like yesterday honestly,” Matthews said of his draft day. He’s a special player, he’s a special person. … There’s no how-to-do-it book that we can just pass to him.”
Matthews and John Tavares, he said, are there to support, communicate and help. The hockey, he added, McKenna can take care of himself.
On whether the rookie is settling in after a hectic draft summer: yes. Being around the guys and the staff these last couple of weeks has let him get acquainted before the real lights come on.
It’s already been confirmed that McKenna will be staying at Tavares’ home this season.
8. He likes what he is hearing from Chayka, Sundin and Hiller
“The great thing about those three guys is I feel like they communicate a lot with one another, and I think all of them obviously share a common goal and a common vision, which is to just live day by day. … Everybody seems to be on the same page, which is great.”
That is the organizational sell after last winter’s firings and the spring uncertainty around Matthews’ own next step.
9. He calls Toronto home, after a spring when that was an open question
Matthews said he has matured. He knows his role. He knows who he is. Then he went further.
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s going into year 11. I moved away from when I was like 14, 15. … This is home. … The passion, the city, the connection that you get with the fans and just how passionate they are, it’s definitely something that I don’t take for granted.”
That answer lands differently because of what came before it. After the season, with ownership and management in flux, Matthews told reporters he could not predict the future. League reporting at the time framed him as unsure about Toronto. He is under contract through 2027-28. An extension is can’t be signed until July 1, 2027 at the earliest. Chayka said this week there is time — but the captain used this sit-down to put “home” on the record.
10. The hunger is to prove people wrong and prove themselves right
“I feel like once August kind of came around, I was just really itching to get back here, get back with the guys and just kind of start this long journey. … Obviously there’s a lot of excitement to go in this year. And, I think prove a lot of people wrong, but also prove ourselves right and have the confidence that, you know, we’re a good team and that we can come together and do something special, but it’s just one day at a time.”
The Leafs missed the postseason for the first time in Matthews’ tenure. There is certainly a drive to get back to where they were. Matthews is expected to meet the media on Wednesday, when some of these same topics, the knee, the missed playoffs, the new room, the two years left on hi
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