Chris Johnston

The selling end...

could go a little bit more dramatically.

They do have pending UFAs, but that's going to take them likely losing a bunch of these games between now and the deadline.

And so I really believe it could go both ways and they're just going to wait and see and make a call probably over that Olympic break and enact in the 10 or 11 days before the deadline afterwards.

Well, I'm sure he would share the disappointment of others, but I will say this.

My impression of Austin Matthews is, you know, I don't think they need to do anything and be really gentle around him.

Like, I think he's still very committed to being a Leaf.

I think he loves being the captain of this team.

Obviously, he's been front and center here in a lot of conversation the last few days.

But, you know, I don't sense at all his commitment waning.

And, in fact, I think if they were making decisions –

That made sense that they were, you know, if it's properly messaged to some degree in terms of what the plans are.

Like, he wants a chance to win, too.

And I'm sure, you know, he's sitting there feeling a lot of the things everybody is.

Like, the numbers don't lie at a certain point, right?

We're more than...

50 games into this season, the Leafs have rarely, to their credit, they did have a great stretch after Christmas and into the early part of January.

But other than that, most of this year, they have not looked the part of what they expect to be, which they started this season thinking they're a contender.

I think the truth is staring them in the face.

Maybe they can save it here and change some minds with a hot finish right before the Olympic break or what have you.