Dave Litman
Coming off the high of winning the Gold Medal at the Olympics for Team USA, it’s not too surprising that returning to the last-place Toronto Maple Leafs hasn’t exactly been a thrill for Auston Matthews. But these last three games? Not even he could have imagined this.
After their third straight uninspired effort coming out of the break, a 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators, captain Matthews blasted his teammates, calling his team “embarrassing.”
“Really disconnected throughout all three zones. Just bad. Just fairly embarrassing to be honest with you,” Matthews said. “We need to have more pride in our play no matter where we’re at, no matter what the situation is…
“Everybody’s just got to look in the mirror and be better.”
But Matthews wasn’t the only one disgusted with the team’s effort. Jake McCabe didn’t hold back either.
“It was a good first five minutes, I thought… then we sh*t the bed after that.”
Leafs’ playoff hopes now are slim and none, & they will be sellers
Following this three-game losing streak, and a stretch of eight losses in 11 games, the Leafs now have a mere 1.2% chance of making the playoffs. And that, frankly, seems a bit high. It sounds like, from all accounts, they’ll be throwing the doors wide open for a fire sale of sorts as we approach Friday’s trade deadline.
No, Matthews won’t be going anywhere, but we wonder at this point if he wouldn’t rather be. Could that be a conversation that’s had this summer, depending on how much of a tear-down ensues?
For what it’s worth, Matthews told the Leafs before the Olympics that he wouldn’t have a problem with the team “taking a step back” this summer with a retool, according to Elliotte Friedman.
The Arizona-born center still has another two more years to go on his four-year, $53 million contract ($13.25 million AAV). He’s having a down season in his first year without Mitch Marner at his side, with 26 goals and 51 points in 54 games. With 778 points in 683 career games, Matthews had been averaging 1.14 points per game throughout his first nine seasons. That’s dropped to 0.94 in this lost Leafs season.
The Gold Medal glow has worn off pretty quickly for Matthews. Since returning, he’s also had to deal with some ridiculous media and fan backlash after knocking off Canada at the Olympics. A rude awakening, indeed.
Welcome back to Toronto, Auston.
