Maple Leafs HC Craig Berube makes his feelings known about Auston Matthews as a captain following playoff disappointment

Auston Matthews' first season as captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs is in the books.

After the organization decided to hand him the captaincy, taking it away from veteran John Tavares last offseason, the pressure and responsibilities rose for the superstar center.

Being one of the highest-paid players in the league in a market like Toronto comes with plenty of expectations to begin with, but wearing the C is a whole different ballgame.

Auston Matthews had to shoulder that load this year, and Craig Berube feels he handled it very well and grew as a leader.

Leafs Latest shared the full clip of the head coach's comments on X (formerly Twitter).

"Obviously, coaching a guy with that much ability, but the person is, you know, the person is even more important for me. Great character, great personality. Really enjoyed being around him. I thought his leadership got better and better as the year went along. I thought we worked well together, him and I, from that standpoint," Berube said.

"I thought, you know, towards the end of the season, he really took over in that role. And I only, you know, he's only going to grow as a leader. Now, I think understanding what it takes to be a leader and the things you've got to do, not only on the ice but off the ice, you know there's a lot that goes into it, and I thought he grew extremely well as a leader," Berube added.

In 2025-26, Auston Matthews will be entering the second season of his four-year, $53,000,000 contract extension signed with the Maple Leafs in 2023.

Craig Berube wouldn't discuss whether Auston Matthews was playing injured

The Toronto Maple Leafs fan base has long been speculating that Auston Matthews was playing through an injury.

The 27-year-old didn't look like himself for much of the 2024-25 season, and his head coach was asked about it on Tuesday morning. Craig Berube wasn't willing to use it as an excuse.

TSN shared the clip on X.

"I'm not gonna talk about injuries, you know, what was bothering them. And I talked to you guys about this earlier, you know, there's a lot of guys playing through a lot of things from that standpoint. That's every team, though, not only ours... You gotta, they battle their way through; that's all you can do," Berube said.

Auston Matthews missed 15 games during the regular season because of a nagging upper-body injury that sidelined him on two different occasions.

He will look to rest and recover this summer in order to enter the 2025-26 campaign at full health and prepared to play a full 82-game season.