Right now, the entire Toronto Maple Leafs season feels like wading through fog. Fans are frustrated, the team is wobbly and the same arguments keep going around in circles. And despite all this, Auston Matthews is getting more heat than usual.
Here’s a Maple Leafs. What if I wonder?
Which brings me to a “what if” that I can’t shake. We all know Matthews isn’t a talker. In public he is private, quiet and extremely cautious. He doesn’t make big speeches and he doesn’t chase the spotlight off the ice. Fans can only guess what he’s thinking and feeling because he just doesn’t share it.
Yet that doesn’t mean that insiders like Elliotte Friedman don’t gamble. Friedman even “bets” that Matthews wants to stay in Toronto. I think he’s right. If so, what now?
This whole question started when I read someone asking what Matthews would do if the Maple Leafs became sellers at the deadline. It got me thinking about his legacy here. If you’re even remotely a hockey fan, you know the magnitude of becoming “the man” on an Original Six team. You should think that’s important to him – maybe more than he ever says out loud.
Imagine Matthews addressing the Maple Leafs fans and saying
But imagine, just for a moment, that he stepped forward and said something simple and real, something like:
“There are a lot of questions about our team right now. I know this hasn’t been the kind of season our fans deserve, and I’m a part of that. I’m sorry for my part in that. You want a strong team, and it’s up to us to give you one.”
And then he added:
“If the Maple Leafs become sellers at the deadline, it doesn’t change anything for me. I’m committed to Toronto. As long as the organization wants me, I plan to stay here. I’m proud to wear the Blue and White jersey.”
Should Matthews speak to the fans so honestly, what then?
If Matthews came out and said this, would it magically fix the season? Of course not. But the temperature in the city would drop ten degrees overnight. I don’t know what he feels and what he doesn’t.
What I do know is that fans would say: “He would never say something like that.” And honestly, they’re probably right, because he never did that. More than anything, my post wonders if he thinks that.
Legacy in Toronto is more important than in most other NHL cities
Because here’s the truth: heritage is more important in this city than in most other cities. Toronto is one of the original six. If Matthews stays long enough – if he keeps scoring 50 goals and putting in monster seasons – that’s what he will be the greatest Maple Leafs player of all time. Not ‘one of’. The.
For a true hockey fan, such a legacy is no small thing. That’s franchise history. That’s statue territory. So when people say: ‘He will never say something like that’ I think the correct answer is quite simple:
Maybe not. But it’s worth talking about what it would mean if he did.
Maple Leafs fans would love to see their captain plant a flag
Funny how the things we never hear can say more than the quotes we do. The team is shaky, the fans are frustrated and a quick, honest word from their best player could probably change the entire atmosphere.
Deep down, everyone is waiting for the same thing: a sign that he’s all-in for Toronto. Maybe. Maybe he just doesn’t talk like that. But if that’s how he feels, I wish he would just say it.
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