Auston Matthews showing that his head is in the right place before the playoffs
Looking back on the last 6 playoff series for the Leafs, it may seem like just one disappointment after another, but the reality is that when we look all the way back to 2017, the Leafs were a freshly rebuilt team who surprised a lot of people by even qualifying for the playoffs. As we've seen with a number of rebuilding teams, sometimes it takes quite awhile to begin to ascend in the standings. In a lot of ways, the Leafs' immediate success in the Auston Matthews era probably gave a lot of people a false impression of just how ready this team was to compete. Signing John Tavares the following year may have further perpetuated those false impressions.
It's arguable that last season was the first season that the Leafs were finally ready to truly compete and their results against Tampa in round 1 last year were largely positive, even if the result wasn't the desired one. For players like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly, they carried a lot of the weight of previous disappointments from a time where the Leafs were more pretender than contender - even if goaltending and defense were two major areas of weakness. It's easy to see that the weight of all of that disappointment hasn't been easy to carry for these guys, but they finally seem ready to put that all behind them, armed with the bevy of reinforcements that Kyle Dubas has provided, in the form of last summer's roster additions, plus this year's deadline additions.
Matthews, arguably more than any other player on the team, has a lot riding on this season. You know that he feels pressure to get it done when it matters in this, the 7th season of his NHL career. He's not a rookie anymore. He has become a premier player in the National Hockey League and he's very likely on the cusp of being the highest paid player in NHL history. There are certain expectations that come along with that, such as having the ability to elevate your game and elevate the players around you when the games begin to matter in the spring.
Well, as the team's first pre-playoffs practice got underway on Saturday, can you guess who the first guy on the ice was? You guessed it - Auston Matthews.
Matthews knows the importance of postseason success this year. He knows the situation is a dire one and that the clock is ticking on his GM's career. Matthews has a great relationship with Kyle Dubas and with Dubas being on an expiring contract, many believe that his job is in jeopardy and that if the Leafs lose in round 1 for a 7th consecutive year, MLSE may not extend their GM, regardless of his relationship with the team, his affinity for finding value outside of the first round on the draft floor and his famous line "we can and we will", when it came to retaining all of Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares over the last number of years.
Matthews also knows that failure again this season could mean sweeping, wholesale changes in Toronto, which could not only see Dubas go, but some of his best friends in the locker room as well. Such is the business side of the game. Sweeping changes may also result in Matthews himself landing in a new city on July 1st of 2024. If wholesale changes occur in Toronto, who's to say that it wouldn't alter Matthews' long-term plans? Maybe he'll simply choose to walk as a UFA, like some are speculating.
Personally, I don't think failure is even in the minds of the players at this point. I think that what we're seeing now and what we've seen all year is a team preparing for war - a team who is done accepting an early exit as an option. Matthews being the first player on the ice at the first practice before the playoffs says a lot about where his mind is at. He's ready to jettison the narrative that has surrounded this team for the better part of the last 2 decades. Simply put, he's in beast mode and I wouldn't want to be the Tampa Bay Lightning this year.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 15 | 731 ANSWERS Auston Matthews showing that his head is in the right place before the playoffs Will Auston Matthews lead the Leafs in scoring in the playoffs? | ||
| Yes | 449 | 61.4 % |
| No | 282 | 38.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
