Johnston on the takeaways from Leafs Media Day, Auston Matthews status in Toronto, and Connor Hellebuyck's trade market
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What were the biggest takeaways from the Maple Leafs media day?
Here's Chris Johnston, our TSN hockey insider. How are we doing? CJ?
I'm doing well. I guess these guys wouldn't have jobs if there weren't some mistakes before them, right?
That's the reality. Exactly. Um, what did you make of uh day one? Kumbaya with the leaves. What uh what stood out to you?
Yeah, it was not a very s you know, there wasn't a lot of sizzle there, uh, which is probably a good thing. I mean, sizzle for the media often means something's not going great for the team, but you know, I think th this is a bit of a wait and see year for the Leaks. I mean, we all know the the sheer amount of change that they've brought on, but I don't think any of us can say with certainty Is it gonna work? Is it gonna be amazing? I mean, I just think it's har it's a hard one to kinda gauge when when you're just looking at everything on paper. And so, you know, I I'm sure this the camp will pick up a little bit. I love that it's shorter this year. I'm sure the players like that, but but you know, we gotta get them on the ice and get in a couple of games and see where the team's at.
So, you know, maybe it's a case of just you know, th there was no real reason to reflect on last year. All the people at the podium more or less had very little uh impact on it and uh You know, I there's not there's not any controversy as we start now, but you know, we'll see where things go here in the next few days.
Well, uh the captain has come into focus and Matthews is in town and he's doing interviews um you know, with Brian Leslie of MLSE and Maple Leafs you know, sports and entertainment. He was up at the podium today and said, um You know, Toronto's home and he's very comfortable here and this is where he always wanted to be. That was not always the belief or the reporting. If we go back four or five months ago, like what do you think take us through the timeline of Matthews and how much you believe in the sincerity of what he's saying in terms of Toronto being home for him and and the timeline on that?
Yeah. I do think he's sincere that he likes living here.
How sincere is Auston Matthews about staying in Toronto?
He spent, you know, his entire adult life here. If if you listen to his quote today, I don't think it actually counters the reporting at all. He said, you know, his intention was to hope to stay, but he said when the season ended we didn't have a general manager. You knew a lot of change was coming. You didn't know what it was gonna look like. I had to take time to step back and survey things. I mean he didn't outright say he had stuff to think about, but it he didn't leave To me much the lineation between what we were were talking about in April and May about his situation and and what's happened since. I mean the the truth of the matter is this. He wanted to see the team make some real steps. And you know, he was at a point I think coming off the the Olympic gold medal win.
you know, he he he knows his birth certificate. I'm not saying he's he's old, but you know, he's he's at a point in part of his career where he wants to have a chance to to be on a good team and and the Leafs last year were not a good team. Obviously he's a part of that. He's a captain. Uh you know, didn't uh ended the year injured but didn't didn't perform terms of production the way he has in the past. And that and that sort of separating him from team. All I'm hammering the point on is I think he needed some Some assurance that the the the ownership was committed to trying to win still, that the new management was, you know, on you know, in alignment with the way he saw things. And, you know, from what I understand he really likes what he's seen and heard from you know, getting to know John Tchaika better and and you know, spending time about Matt Sandine.
And I think he likes that they were aggressive this off season and trying to to at least get the kind of pieces a winning team might need.
So if his plan was to survey things and see what the organization was going to do as far as a reset I was just talking to these two NHL experts. And they believe that this Toronto Maple Leafs team will kinda scratch and claw and
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What were the biggest takeaways from the Maple Leafs media day?
0:00–1:53
2
How sincere is Auston Matthews about staying in Toronto?
1:53–4:10
3
What does Auston Matthews expect from the new front‑office leadership?
4:10–6:34
4
Is Morgan Rielly still a trade‑block candidate after the offseason moves?
6:34–9:14
5
How will the Leafs’ aggressive off‑season moves affect their playoff chances?
9:14–11:23
6
What is the current status of Connor Hellebuyck’s holdout with the Jets?
11:23–13:08
7
What would need to happen for a trade involving Hellebuyck to materialize?
13:08–13:54
8
What are the key predictions for the Leafs and Jets heading into the season?
13:54–14:08
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