Leafs Captain Auston Matthews Quietly Making Some Gear Changes, Fuelling Some Speculation

Auston Matthews burst on to the NHL scene with a remarkable four-goal performance against the Ottawa Senators in 2016 and has since won three Rocket Richard trophies, becoming one of the faces of the NHL and the new captain of the Maple Leafs.

When he made his NHL debut, Matthews was decked out in Bauer gear and wore it until he signed an endorsement deal with CCM four years ago. Matthews continues to wear CCM, but appears to have ditched the custom gear since returning from injury, and has done away with his former CCM skates and has been wearing a new pair.

According to gear nerds at Hockey Stick Man, Matthews has been wearing blacked out Bauer Hyperlite skates instead of his customized CCM skates. That, matched with the fact that the former first-overall pick is wearing default CCM gloves instead of ones that have 'Papi' and his number 34 embroidered on them point to something significant brewing.

Those subtle changes have fueled speculation that Matthews is quietly leaving CCM and re-signing with Bauer. Of course, the simple reasoning is that his deal with CCM is ending after this season and there is a clause in his contract that allows him to test out other brands, as long as they aren't labelled.

Matthews has enjoyed significant success with CCM products, including his 69-goal campaign last year, so it would be surprising to see him switch.

With his struggles so far this season even with his injury, and with how superstitious NHL players are, Matthews could simply be trying to find something that helps him get on a roll. Whatever he has been doing since returning from injury has certainly helped as he has 4 goals and 8 points in his last 6 games.