After initiallty not knowing what the future holds, Auston Matthews arrives at camp healthy and with a positive sentiment regarding his present and future with the Maple Leafs.
Maple Leafs Media Day Takeaways: Auston Matthews Closes The Spring Loop, Gavin McKenna Expectations And John Chayka Draws A Line on Matthew Knies
Perhaps the biggest question wasn’t answered, but we already have an idea of what to expect when the Toronto Maple Leafs hit the ice on Thursday for the first day of training camp.
But before it all got started, the management group met the media on Wednesday, followed by all three No. 1 overall draft picks, John Tavares (2009), Auston Matthews (2016) and the newest Leaf, Gavin McKenna (2026).
The injury list was the opening business. The rest of the day was about whether last spring’s uncertainty had actually been closed. On locker cleanout day in April, Matthews was asked about his future in Toronto and said he could not predict it. Five months later, with a new general manager, a new coach and a heavily turned-over roster, his answer was different.
1. Auston Matthews’ offseason mindset and health, and the spring answer he would not give
In April, with Brad Treliving already gone and the organization in flux, Matthews was asked how he saw his future here.
“I can’t predict the future,” he said. He would not close the door. He would not lock it either. That vacuum filled itself.
On Wednesday he was asked whether any doubt seeped in over the summer.
“I think my intent was always to be here,” Matthews said. “With the way things finished last year, general manager gets fired before the season’s over. There’s obviously a lot of incoming change that you never really know who’s coming in, what their plan is, what they think. I think for myself, it was just to take a step back and see what happens and have the open lines of communication with whoever was hired.”
It’s evident the sentiment Matthews was feeling has shifted.
“I really like what he’s done this summer,” Matthews said of Chayka. “I think he’s made some great changes, brought in some great people, some great players, great outside hires as well… super positive, great energy at the rink.”
Chayka said Matthews is “full go, 100 percent” after working with elite rehab specialists. More than the medical clearance, Chayka acknowledge the hot topic of Matthews’s future.
“There be a day he will not be a Maple Leaf. Hopefully that ends with retirement,” Chayka said.
A return to the postseason largely hinges on Matthews’ ability to contend the goal-scoring lead. His numers have been down over the past couple of years.
Hiller, who coached Matthews as an assistant, would not put a goal total on him. He said the relationship has grown and that Matthews is giving him confidence. After 27 goals in 60 games and a March knee injury, that is the version Toronto needs.
2. Significant medical updates and camp absences
Max Domi failed his physical and is out indefinitely. Chayka said Domi will address the injury himself in the near future. Morgan Rielly arrived with a viral condition. The organization is not worried about it, but Rielly will be ramped slower than planned and could miss the first preseason game. The expectation is still opening night.
Domi had off-season surgery that resulted in complications. That’s all the Leafs have revealed at this point.
The prospect pipeline on the blue line took a hit too. William Villeneuve underwent ACL reconstruction in the offseason and is out long-term, with a full recovery expected. Cade Webber is working through an elbow reconstruction and remains month-to-month.
The one clear positive: Chris Tanev is cleared. Chayka called the recovery “amazing” after a large offseason surgery and said Tanev is “as healthy as anybody.” Toronto missed him last year. That is not a throwaway line.
Tanev had season-ending core/groin surgery in March.
3. Gavin McKenna welcomed into the core, and into Tavares’ house
Most No. 1 overall picks walk into a rebuild. McKenna is walking into a room that still has Matthews, Tavares, William Nylander and Matthew Knies.
Tavares has taken that a step further. The 18-year-old is living with him. Although this wasn’t new it’s the first time both were sitting side by side in a news conference where both shared their perspective of how it’s going.
Tavares talked about family, maturity and how McKenna carries himself. McKenna talked about the little things: Tavares played 82 games last season, and that does not happen without off-ice habits.
“I’ve already noticed little habits that I can try to implement into my everyday life,” McKenna said.
4. No lineup previews, and no ceiling on McKenna
Hiller was asked the question everyone wanted answered: does McKenna start with Matthews?
He declined.
“Let’s have the suspense build and let’s watch to learn more,” Hiller said. “You guys might not come. If I told you that, everybody might stay home tomorrow.”
The more important part was what he would not do. There is no ceiling being placed on McKenna and no demand that he produce like a finished product on Day 1.
“We’re going to let him dictate where he falls,” Hiller said.
The organization is thinking about unintended consequences, not just where McKenna starts, but what that does to everyone else.
Hiller said McKenna has improved in the informal skates. Teammates have noticed the skill in scrimmages. That is as far as anyone was willing to go.
5. Mats Sundin’s impact about ‘brotherhood’
“The best teams, they’re close teams. They create a brotherhood. They become as close as family as they can be,” Sundin said. The camp is short. The preseason is shorter. The regular season starts earlier. Sundin said players have already been in for weeks, skating on their own and going out for dinners.
Asked how it feels to have his hands on the wheel again for the first time since 2007, Sundin said he is proud and fortunate. Former Leaf and Hockey Hall of Famer Borje Salming told him this was the best place to be as a player. He still carries that. He also said the view from the outside is easy. The view from inside, after a full summer of decisions, is different.
6. Shutting down the Matthew Knies rumors
Knies wants to be here. His name keeps showing up in trade talks anyway.
He attributed the noise to “previous discussions or previous work that was done in the previous management group” bleeding into the current cycle. From this front office, the message to Knies has been consistent: he is an important part of the team.
It makes sense. If a team comes calling on Knies to follow up on trade talk that occurred at the deadline last year, Chayka’s not going to hang up on the phone. He has to listen.
7. Chemistry rekindled: Jack Roslovic
Matthews and Roslovic go back to the U.S. National Team Development Program. Did Matthews make it know that he’d welcome a player like Roslovic to the team?
Matthews said it happened more organically. They have stayed close. Roslovic is funny, chatty, good in a room. They have been skating together for a couple of weeks.
“I’m excited to kind of rekindle that chemistry with him,” Matthews said. “Hopefully it’s as seamless as possible.”
8. A revamped staff, and accountability on the power play
Matthews and Tavares both circled Daniel Alfredsson and John Gruden.
Matthews called Alfredsson’s playing career incredible and noted the familiarity with Gruden from his junior days. Tavares went further. He put last season on the leadership group.
“Auston and I, I think some of the, obviously some of our other leaders and key guys, I think take a lot of responsibility and ownership for the way things went last season,” Tavares said.
He named the power play specifically. Continuity and talent were not the problem. Execution was. New coaches bring new ideas. The leaders have to set the standard.
9. Jim Hiller’s first camp as head coach: talk to the players, then ask for a little more
Hiller has been in this building as an assistant. He said the head-coach version is different. He gets recognized more. The interactions have been positive. Leafs Nation, he said, is starting to swell.
Asked to describe his style, he declined to label it. Ask the players, he said. What he will own is communication. The game requires more focus, more fitness, more nutrition than it used to. His job is to make sure that when players think they have hit their level, they understand there is still something left.
The challenge is the same for McKenna as it is for Tanev and Sergei Bobrovsky: “Just a little more.”
Hiller also talked about what he has liked since July 1 — veteran role players who kill penalties and shut things down, but who also bring character into a new room. Mix that with the holdovers and with McKenna and Cowan, and he likes the balance.
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