You couldn’t have found a better way for the Toronto Maple Leafs to close out their schedule before the holidays than the way things went against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday afternoon.
Two points guaranteed in the regulations, William Nylander ends his crisis with a four-point outburst (two goals, two assists), a crucial game-winning goal from an unlikely source in Max Domiand the return of Chris Tanev to top it off. It was about as perfect a game as Leafs Nation could ask for – with one notable exception: Auston Matthews I still haven’t found the match sheet.
Unfortunately, that’s the story of his 2025-2026 season, especially lately, now over. useless in four consecutive games for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign. No one wants to focus on the one negative after such a positive win heading into Christmas, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore what the eye test and the numbers say about the Leafs captain.
Analyst Dave Feschuk addressed the issue on TSN’s OverDrive and didn’t mince his words, accusing Matthews of being carried by others when he’s supposed to be the one doing the heavy lifting as the team’s superstar.
“You have to trust that your guy, your number one, has other equipment. That your number one can carry the team if necessary…And for the Maple Leafs, I think that’s the number one problem of the season. The number one doesn’t take them anywhere; in fact, he’s carried by teammates who are having better years than him. He’s carried by the fact that they’ve had very good goaltenders when things have been good. He’s carried by the fact that there’s other issues with this team that are being highlighted, including the increase in injuries, including the fact that many people blame the coach and general manager, “
The 28-year-old is currently producing the lowest per game rate of his NHL career, with just 23 points (14 goals, nine assists) in 31 games played.
Finding Auston Matthews’ Wingers was a struggle
While there are a multitude of factors that have impacted Matthews’ play and production — a potential injury, Craig Berubethe system and the loss of Mitch Marner – the revolving door of wingers certainly didn’t help either.
Matthew Knies, William NylanderMax Domi, Bobby McMannNick Robertson, Easton Cowan, Mattias Maccelliand even Calle Jarnkrök all spent time accompanying the captain on the front line. Knies is the only one stuck around for any significant amount of time, and even that duo was recently broken up as the duo had dried up considerably.
Nylander is the closest Matthews comes to replacing Marner, but charging them together leaves John Tavares stuck on the second line – something we’ve seen he can no longer carry on his own.
This reality leaves the Maple Leafs without a clear internal solution to help Matthews, which could force them to explore the trade market for a talented winger and top-six playmaker. While a two-time 60-goal scorer should be able to get results on his own, it’s clear the current setup isn’t doing him or the team any favors.
Following: Insider touts Auston Matthews as Western Conference contender
