Auston Matthews didn’t just put goals on the board for the Maple Leafs. He helped drag the franchise out of one of the bleakest stretches in its history and into something that actually looked, for a long while, sustainable.
That matters in Toronto, where the shadow of the Harold Ballard era still hangs around. Ballard became majority owner in 1972, and while he brought intensity to the job, his hands-on style and constant meddling left him with a reputation that remains rough around Leafs Nation.
The team did have some playoff moments under him - two trips to the Division Finals and 13 postseason appearances - but the Cup drought kept rolling. Their last championship still came in 1967.
The bigger picture from that span is even harsher. From the 1972-73 season through 2015-16, the Maple Leafs went 1,426-1,541-323-128 in 3,418 regular-season games.
That works out to a 41.7% winning percentage. In the playoffs, they were 105-127 over 232 games, a 45.2% winning percentage.
For a franchise with Toronto’s profile, that’s a long, stubborn run of underachievement.
Then Matthews arrived in 2016-17, and the numbers shifted fast. Since then, the Maple Leafs have gone 440-250-92 in 782 games, a 56.3% regular-season winning percentage.
They’ve finished no lower than third place except for last season, and they put together nine straight playoff appearances. That run passed the eight straight seasons from 1974 to 1981, even if it never translated into real postseason breakthrough.
The Cup problem never disappeared, of course. Matthews didn’t solve everything, and the Leafs are still waiting for Lord Stanley.
But he did change the temperature around the franchise. For the first time in years, there was actual stability to point to - not perfection, but a team that usually expected to be in the mix.
That was a major change from what came before. Older fans in the 1970s and 1980s could count on the playoffs but not much more.
Fans who lived through the 2005-06 to 2016 stretch got something far uglier. Matthews gave the team a different standard.
Suddenly, missing the playoffs or falling short in the second round felt like failure. Before that, just getting into the tournament had often felt like a win.
He also became the franchise’s centerpiece almost immediately, and the records followed. Matthews passed Mats Sundin for the all-time goal record with 421. Around him, Toronto could build the kind of expectation that hadn’t really existed in decades, with John Tavares and Mitch Marner helping make the conversation less about survival and more about ceiling.
It changed the mood around the team. Instead of “maybe they’ll make it,” the question became “maybe this is the year.” Last season may have made the Maple Leafs look worse than they have been, but Matthews’ impact is still clear: he helped turn them into a contender and delivered their best stretch of success in more than 50 years.
In Other News...
Matthew Knies Deal Already Looks Better For The Leafs
Matthew Knies long-term deal with the Maple Leafs was signed with the usual mix of hope and risk that comes with paying for upside before it has fully matured. Toronto committed six years at a $7.75 million average annual value in 2025, betting that Knies would keep trending into a key top-six piece and that the price would look sensible as the salary cap and comparable contracts kept moving. At the time, it was a notable investment in a player still building his full resume.
Now the market around other young forwards is starting to make that number look even more reasonable. Cutter Gauthier, a restricted free agent with the Anaheim Ducks, is reportedly in negotiations that could land in the $15-17 million AAV range, with Leo Carlssons recent $18 million AAV extension hanging over those talks as a reference point. Knies and Gauthier are different players in different situations, but the broader takeaway for Toronto is hard to miss: a contract that once looked ambitious can start to feel sharp if the next wave of comparables keeps climbing. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Projected Lineup Puts Familiar Faces In A Tough Spot
The Maple Leafs projected 2026-27 lineup offers a snapshot of how much the roster could change after a round of organizational adjustments, with new acquisitions and coaching tweaks reshaping the teams balance up front and on the back end. The exercise is less about where Toronto is today and more about how the club might try to blend scoring punch with more reliable two-way play if the right pieces settle into place.
What makes the projection interesting for Leafs followers is the way it creates pressure points for familiar faces while opening the door for newcomers to carve out meaningful roles. Health and consistency remain part of the conversation, especially in goal, where the team is still trying to sort out how much trust to place in Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz as the position gets redefined around them. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Camp Could Get Complicated Thanks To Two Overlooked Names
Training camp usually starts with the obvious names, the players everyone assumes are already locked in or fighting for the last few spots, but Bo Groulx and Marshall Rifai are the kinds of depth pieces who can quietly make things interesting for the Maple Leafs. Groulx brought good energy and solid play with the Marlies, and he even got a brief look with Toronto last season, which at least puts him on the radar when camp opens.
Rifai is the other name worth tracking because his game is built around physicality and defense, the sort of profile that can stand out if the new coaching staff wants a different look from its bottom-end options. Neither player is a favorite to break through, and neither comes with any guarantee, but both have enough going for them to keep this camp from being as straightforward as it first appears. [Read more 🡒]