What’s Going On With Maple Leafs Auston Matthews?
Here’s a question that Toronto Maple Leafs fans are starting to ask out loud now:
What’s wrong with Auston Matthews?
The fact is that nobody really wants to say it at all. But when the best goal scorer on the team suddenly stops scoring, people notice. And right now, Matthews has gone ice cold.
Over the last 16 games, he has scored just two goals. For most NHL players, that’s not unusual. It happens. But Matthews isn’t like most players. He’s one of the best pure shooters in the league. This is the guy who normally fills the net the way other players fill out stat sheets.
Maple Leafs fans are seeing just how important Matthews is to this team. When Matthews scores, the Maple Leafs look dangerous. Even now, he still looks like he’s playing hard. He’s creating chances. The puck just isn’t going in.
When Matthews is rolling, the whole team is rolling with him.
And what a difference it makes when he’s rolling. When Matthews is scoring in bunches, the entire team feels different. He has that ability. After all, this is the guy who scored four goals in his first NHL game. When he’s on, he dictates what the defence does.
Defences collapse toward him. Passing lanes open up. The power play suddenly clicks. Everything flows from the threat that he might shoot. But when Matthews stops scoring, the whole team goes cold with him. And that’s exactly what seems to be happening right now.
The Maple Leafs’ season didn’t collapse in one dramatic moment. It’s been more like death by a thousand cuts. Early on, the team never really found a rhythm. One week, they looked decent; the next week, they looked slow and out of sync. By the midpoint of the season, they were playing about .500 hockey—winning some, losing some, never really taking control.
There was a refreshing Maple Leafs 10-game point streak, but that ended in a fizzle.
There was a brief moment when things looked better. Remember that 10-game point streak (8-0-2)? Suddenly, everyone who was a Maple Leafs fan came to believe the worst was over. They had reached the end of the tunnel and had rolled into the light. didn’t look so bad. Fans started thinking maybe the Leafs had finally figured it out.
But now that stretch looks like fool’s gold. Underneath, the problems were still there. The defence had holes. Odd-man rushes showed up far too often. Some nights, it looked like players were chasing the puck instead of controlling it.
And then, when Matthews’ scoring dried up, the entire team fell off the cliff. Right now, the team has lost eight games in a row.
An elite score like Matthews hasn't forgotten how to put the puck in the net.
Matthews didn’t suddenly forget how to score. Elite shooters don’t lose their skill overnight. Something else is going on—maybe fatigue, maybe nagging injuries, maybe just one of those strange stretches hockey sometimes produces.
But when the Maple Leafs’ most important player goes quiet at the same time the team is already wobbling? That’s when it’s clear the season has totally slipped away. And right now, the biggest question in Toronto isn’t about trades, coaching, or the defence.
If the season continues without a chance, the big question haunting the Maple Leafs into the offseason will be: Where did Auston Matthews’ goals go?