Auston Matthews addressed the media during the Toronto Maple Leafs’ locker room cleanout day. The 2025-26 NHL season was far from a memorable one in Hogtown, and fans expect changes. However, head coach Craig Berube believes his job is safe.
Matthews is under contract through the 2027-28 campaign, but he still shied away from voicing a convincing answer on his future. This past season took its toll on Matthews—figuratively and literally, as he underwent surgery for a Grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion in his left leg. As the Maple Leafs stare down at a long offseason, Matthews kept his answer short and vague when asked if he’d stay in town in the event of a rebuild.
“I can’t really predict the future,” Matthews admitted, as reported by Sportsnet’s Anna Dua. The captain’s answer was much more cryptic than Berube’s. According to Dua, Berube stated he believes he’ll be Toronto’s head coach in 2026–27 and hasn’t heard anything from the front office to make him think otherwise.
Maple Leafs must hire a GM
Before the 2025–26 NHL season came to an end, the Maple Leafs fired general manager Brad Treliving—who will manage Team Canada at the upcoming IIHF World Championships. Thus, that job is now vacant in Toronto. For Berube, it only adds to the suspense. His future as head coach of the Maple Leafs lies in the hands of whoever is named the next GM.
Auston Matthews at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Until then, Berube can speculate about the future, but it may all be in vain. Moreover, the new general manager will have to get to work with Matthews. In the past, Matthews has been very welcoming to new executives in The Six. He signed a five-year extension in February 2019—less than a year after Kyle Dubas took over as GM—and another four-year deal in August 2023—only months after Treliving was hired.
This time around, Matthews isn’t eligible for an extension until the summer of 2027, but he could still choose to cooperate with the new GM and commit long term to the Maple Leafs. Or perhaps the third time will be different, and Matthews has learned his lesson.
Matthews wants the Cup
After all, Matthews wants to win. He’d love to snap the Maple Leafs’ Stanley Cup drought, but if the organization trends in a different direction, he might lose his patience and ask out. If that day comes, the phone won’t stop ringing inside Scotiabank Arena, and whoever is the GM at that time may be left with no choice but to trade the franchise’s all-time leading goal scorer. It’d be a dark day in Toronto, and a move that not many executives in the NHL may ever be able to live down.
The fact that Matthews isn’t trying to predict the future nor commit long term to the Maple Leafs may signal the Buds’ captain is thinking about it. It may not be today, tomorrow, or next month, but the prospect of Matthews requesting a trade is always looming over the building.
For the first time in his career, Matthews missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the 2025–26 NHL season. He had grown accustomed to long offseasons filled with drama after early playoff exits, but this is an entirely new feeling—one he didn’t sign up for, and one he may not stand much longer.
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Should Auston Matthews ask for a trade out of Toronto?
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