Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews hasn’t been the same this year – will he perform during the playoffs?
One of the best scorers in the NHL has taken a little bit of a dip this season, but can his touch return when it matters most?
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has been having a down year, by his standards, in finding the back of the net. While he has battled injuries, leading to him missing 15 games, his production has dipped after posting a franchise-record 69 goals during the 2023-24 campaign.
In his 66 appearances, the Arizona native has scored 32 goals, the first time he’s scored less than 40 goals in a season since the 2018-19 campaign. Matthews scored enough to pot the 400th goal of his NHL career on Tuesday night against the Buffalo Sabres. He also notched 45 assists for 77 points.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, former Leaf Jay Rosehill joined the show to discuss the level Matthews needs to hit if Toronto wants to be successful this postseason.
Jay Rosehill: We saw what he did last year, and he’s scoring at will…he was scoring from the half-wall, he was scoring from everywhere. Even you look at their their last game here this week, he got three grade-A chances where you’re used to seeing him finish that. His shot just doesn’t seem to be there like it has been in the past. I’m not sure if he’s nursing it a little bit in preparation for the playoffs, but with all the positives going on with this team right now, one of the caveats is, how healthy is Austin Matthews and how much can he contribute?
At the end of the day, I don’t think there is a team that’s going into the playoffs right now that is 100% healthy. He’s going to have to try and overcome that. You got a lot of firepower elsewhere in Mitch Marner and William Nylander, the way John Tavares has been scoring this year, Matthew Knies has come on so strong, I think he’s going to be to be a big factor in this series. So, he’s got help and support, but we’re going to wait and see. It definitely is a concern that people are going to be watching.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here..