Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews reached high speeds in his first pre-season game against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Could this be an indication that he is back to full speed?
In his performance against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, the eye test says that Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews looks different. He looks different in terms of his mobility, specifically his speed.
Going into this short 2026 pre-season ahead of the 2026-27 NHL season, Matthews said, "I feel like coming back here now, probably the best I’ve felt in a long time, which is great.”
His words were put to the test on the ice, and indeed, the three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner seems to be his old self, at least in the sense of his ability to skate. That's because, during his end-to-end rush in the first period, he was clocked skating at 35.1 kilometers per hour.
This is significant because, in the past three years, Matthews has never reached more than three 35-plus kph speed bursts in a single season, and only did so twice in 2025-26. But in his first pre-season game, he's already reached that level.
"As we continue to skate and practice and play one more game, I think just the conditioning of the legs kind of get going a little bit more and transition into game shape a little bit," Matthews said after the Leafs' 4-1 loss to the Canadiens in Toronto. "But all in all, I mean, it was a good first game. I thought I had some good moments, good opportunities, and take that and go from there and keep building."
Matthews was always a pretty strong skater for his size. However, he hasn't skated quite like he did on Saturday in a while. The 2022-23 season was the last time No. 34 had more than three speed bursts over 35 kph.
A lot of that drop in his speed has to do with the injuries he has played through, especially the back issue he's dealt with roughly over the course of the last two years.
Even head coach Jim Hiller, who hasn't been coaching Matthews in the years leading up to this coming season, noticed a big difference on Saturday.
"I thought he was really skating," the Leafs coach said of Matthews. "I thought he had the puck, and he looked dangerous. He had a lot of looks. So I liked his game.
"I think of one moment in the game was when he rounded the net, came through, kind of sliced through a couple guys end-to-end. You know, I hadn't seen that a lot out of him last year, and so that was a really positive thing to see. He was moving, carrying the puck."
See more of The Hockey News on Google — Save us as Preferred Source
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
