NHL insider floats massive Auston Matthews trade in potential Maple Leafs overhaul

NHL insider Frank Seravalli proposed the idea that the Toronto Maple Leafs could potentially trade star center Auston Matthews this offseason, in what would be a massive shakeup for the franchise.

Despite a strong regular season, the Maple Leafs’ playoff run came to an end in the second round. They were edged out by the Florida Panthers in a hard-fought seven-game series.

In the wake of another early playoff exit, Seravalli suggested that Toronto might need to shake things up by breaking apart its core group of forwards.

During his appearance on the Sportsnet 590 The FAN show on Wednesday, Frank Seravalli pointed out that, with Mitch Marner heading into free agency and the Leafs’ ongoing playoff disappointments, the team likely won’t make re-signing him a top priority.

He also suggested that the same approach should apply to Auston Matthews.

"My guess is there's probably a 99.9% likelihood that Auston Matthews is back with the Maple Leafs next year," he said. "But if we're going to question and talk about Marner because he's a pending UFA, and likely on his way out the door, the playoff failures also extend to Matthews as well."

He went on to note Matthews' decline in goal scoring in the playoffs compared to the regular season, as well as his recurring back issues, as reasons why Toronto could explore trading its franchise center.

"Again, I think it's very unlikely that anything like that happens. But inside that front office, inside those walls, those should be the exact type of conversations they should be having: if we're blowing this up, how deep are we planting the dynamite?" Seravalli said.

Auston Matthews had a slightly down regular season by his standards, scoring 78 points in 67 games while dealing with injury issues. He then put up 3 goals and 11 points in the 13 games in the playoffs.

Although a Matthews trade still seems unlikely, Seravalli emphasized that the Maple Leafs front office shouldn’t rule anything out as they look to perform well in the playoffs.

Auston Matthews opens up about battling injuries in 2024-25 season

Auston Matthews missed 15 games this past season because of an undisclosed injury during training camp. In November, he travelled to Germany to consult a doctor he and the Maple Leafs have worked with before.

"I don't need to get into the specifics, but I got injured in training camp and wasn't feeling great throughout the first month or so of the season," Matthews said at the exit interview.

“There were some good stretches where I felt good and some where I didn't feel very good. Definitely it was a tough year physically."

Auston Matthews expressed confidence that he will be fully healthy in time for next season after taking the offseason to rest and undergo treatment.