Auston Matthews Has a Bigger Decision Than His Next Contract

I've been thinking about some of the comments readers have left about Auston Matthews and his future in Toronto. A couple of them got me thinking because they weren't really about goals, points or even money. They were about whether Auston Matthews still wants to be in Toronto. That's a different question.

What if Matthews having a great season actually makes it easier for him to leave? I can see the logic. If he gets his game back, feels good about himself again and reminds everybody just how good he can be, he'll have plenty of choices when his contract situation comes up. But that doesn't mean he'll leave. It means he'll have options. And I think that's an important distinction.

Maybe Matthews’ Question Isn't About Hockey.

There is another part of this that I find even more interesting. What if the biggest issue for Matthews isn't whether he can score 50 goals again? What if it's whether he wants to spend the rest of his career as the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs?

That's a pretty heavy job. Every slump becomes a story. Every playoff loss becomes a referendum. Every quiet night gets analyzed. And when you're the captain, you're not just responsible for what happens on the ice. You're expected to answer for the whole thing.

Maybe Matthews loves that challenge. Maybe he doesn't. None of us really knows. But there is one thing Toronto can offer that another team can't: a chance for Matthews to finish what he started. That's the legacy argument.

Is Matthews Interested in Becoming the Best Maple Leafs Player in Franchise History?

He's already accomplished an awful lot here. He's chasing franchise records. He's got a chance to become one of the greatest players ever to wear the Maple Leafs sweater. And if Toronto's young players develop the way the organization hopes, Matthews could eventually find himself playing on a team that looks very different from the one that surrounded him during so many frustrating playoff exits. That matters.

So when I think about Matthews' future, I don't think it's simply about whether he wants more money or whether another team can offer him something better. I think it's about what he wants the rest of his career to feel like. Does he want to escape the fishbowl? Or does he want to stay long enough to see how the story ends?

My guess is Matthews doesn't know the answer yet either.

And maybe that's why this coming season could be about much more than wins and losses. If Matthews doesn’t yet know the answer, that's why this coming season could be about much more than wins and losses. Toronto isn't just trying to build a team Matthews can win with. It's trying to build one that makes him want to stay.