Don Cherry speculates Auston Matthews' eye-opening "passengers" comment was aimed at $92,000,000 Maple Leafs star

The Toronto Maple Leafs were handed a humiliating Game 7 loss at the hands of the Florida Panthers. After the game, it was captain Auston Matthews' comments that made headlines as he called out some of his teammates for being 'passengers' in the blowout 6-1 loss. Now NHL veteran coach and broadcaster Don Cherry has made his assumptions about one of the names that was indicated by Matthews.

The Leafs had taken a 2-0 lead in the series and were on course to script reach their first Conference Finals in the Core Four era consisting of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares. However, the party was spoiled as Panthers won three straight games. The Leafs rebounded with a Game 6 2-0 shutout but were blown away in the final matchup.

“I thought we were ready to play. It felt like we were in a good mindset,” Matthews had said after the game. “But I just thought we had too many passengers throughout the rest of the game. We weren’t on the same page.”

On The Grapevine podcast, hosted by Don Cherry and his son Tim, the pair discussed the possibility of which players were indirectly termed as passengers by Matthews. As per the former Bruins coach, he speculated that it was aimed towards William Nylander, signed to an 8-year $92,000,000 contract.

"I have no idea who the passenger is. Only one I can think of is Nylander... I think it was Nylander. I really do," Cherry said.

Indeed Nylander was virtually absent from the game, gaining a -1 rating with just 2 shots and none on goal and 0 points. Overall he has never impacted Game 7s as much as he would have liked, with just 4 points in the 6 games he has played in since 2018.

Maple Leafs make changes to setup to try and make amends for playoff humiliation

The Maple Leafs dismissed President of Baseball Operations Brendan Shanahan after their recent loss. Their CEO Keith Pelley in a press conference on Saturday stated that the organization was dissolving the Presidential position of power. It would give more autonomy to the General Manager and the coach to call the shots.

“I’m confident in Brad. I’m confident in Craig. I am confident in the resources that we have,” Pelley said. “But I do believe that we as the custodians of the biggest hockey brand in the world have a responsibility to our fans — and that responsibility is winning championships. And we will do everything we possibly can and will not stop until we reach that goal.”

It remains to be seen if the team is able to find success under Brad Treliving's autonomous leadership. His biggest challenge would be working on the possible extensions of Mitch Marner and John Tavares, two of the Core Four, entering unresitrcted free agency this season.