Matthews touches on his sudden uptick in physical play

The message of physicality carried over into the off-season, training camp and the start of this season as the Leafs added two of the league's most frequent hitters in Nicholas Aube-Kubel and Zach Aston-Reese. Through 3 games, Aube-Kubel leads the Leafs with 16 hits, while Auston Matthews is just one behind with 15 so far. When asked about his increased physicality 3 games into the season, Matthews noted that he wants to be more physical saying, "For myself, I try to make it more consistent throughout the year to be physical and lead the way in that department."

When your best player is making a conscious effort to be more physical, it trickles down through the lineup as we saw in the playoffs last year against Tampa. By becoming more physical, Matthews will be able to create more open space for himself and his linemates in the offensive zone and be even more effective in the defensive zone where he has already improved drastically the past few seasons.