Insider highlights the changing and potential new reality for Auston Matthews

What’s wrong with Auston Matthews? That was the question Toronto Maple Leafs fans – and much of the hockey world – were asking themselves for the first three months of the 2025-2026 season and, honestly, for most of 2024-2025 as well. A short stretch after the Christmas break looked like the Hart Trophy version of Matthews we were used to seeing, but even that wave started to wane heading into the Olympic break.

Now under intense pressure at the Olympics, the Maple Leafs captain will wear the ‘C’ for his country – a decision that was criticized by many before the tournament even started. That’s largely because, as good as he still is, some around the league no longer view Matthews as the dominant force he once was.

It was difficult to pinpoint exactly why that is the case. However, a recent in-depth piece by Michael Russo took a deep dive into what Matthews is now – and whether this version is simply the new reality moving forward.

Russo wrote:

“Matthews is still an excellent player, who can score in bunches unlike almost any other player in the league. He’s big, strong and slick. But he’s not the guy who scored 69 goals (an almost unfathomable total in the modern NHL) and scored 107 points just two seasons ago. Last season he battled through injury and plummeted to just 33 goals in 67 games. This year he’s at the top. He’s at a pace of 41, but he’s under in points per game for the first time since his rookie season in 2016-17, and he’s just not the dominant all-zone presence that the hockey world had become accustomed to There are rumors that he might be playing something again, but maybe we’re all looking for some explanation for his drop-off.

Russo added: “Make no mistake, Matthews is still very, very good. He can even be great. But he’s not what he used to be, and he hasn’t been for a while.”

The 28-year-old Matthews has 48 points (26 goals, 22 assists) in 51 games for Toronto this season. A very good production by most standards, but a noticeable step down from the gaudy numbers we saw him achieve when he was at the top of his game.

Can Auston Matthews return to that next gear?

Russo puts it perfectly: Matthews is still a great player, but there is a huge difference between being great and being among the top of the true top five to seven players in the world, a level he has long been considered part of, and rightly so.

Guys like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov and even David Pastrnak rarely slow down. They consistently put their teams on their backs and produce no matter who they play. Very few in the NHL can do that, and that even sets them apart from the elite, which Matthews still occupies.

There were signs that the three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner was starting to rediscover that level to start the new year. Matthews remains incredibly skilled and smart, and when he has his legs under him he is ruthless on the forecheck and backcheck – a true two-way force that only a handful can tame.

He still brings that every night, but what is noticeably missing more often than not is the explosiveness and lethal shot that once put him firmly in the class of McDavid and company. There are plenty of possible explanations for why that is, but no one really knows the answer – and we may never find out.

Ultimately, switching that next gear back on will determine whether Matthews remains an elite center who hovers around point-per-game production or reclaims his status as a bona fide superstar — someone who keeps his opponents awake at night wondering if they can slow him down at all, let alone stop him.

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