Through 15 games, the Maple Leafs have found their strength where it matters most: up front. Toronto’s offense is humming at 3.73 goals per game, a number that puts it among the NHL’s top three and tied with the Carolina Hurricanes.
That surge has been especially important for a forward group that looked uncertain heading into the season after so much turnover. Instead, several players have stepped in and driven the attack, with captain Auston Matthews setting the tone.
Matthews has looked every bit like the elite center Toronto needs him to be, and then some. After posting his first season below a point per game since his rookie year, he has responded with 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points in 15 games.
Only one point separates him from Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov and Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl in the scoring race, while Edmonton captain Connor McDavid sits well ahead with 36 points in 13 games. Matthews might not reel McDavid in, but his current pace points to the best season of his career: nearly 130 points and a third 55-goal campaign.
The assist production is jumping too. Matthews is on pace for 73 helpers, which would smash his previous career high of 46 from the 2021-22 season.
He has meshed with every winger next to him, and Toronto’s revamped attack is giving him more chances to skate with top-end talent than he’s had in recent years. William Nylander, Jack Roslovic, Kirill Marchenko and Easton Cowan have all been near a point-per-game pace, and rookie Gavin McKenna has made an immediate mark as well with 11 points in his first 15 NHL games.
Even with injuries hitting that group, including Marchenko, Matthews has kept rolling. He has stayed on pace and looked like the sharpest version of himself in a long time.
Toronto’s power play has been just as dangerous. The Leafs are converting at 31.3 percent, good for fourth in the NHL, and Matthews has led the way on the man advantage with nine points.
His impact isn’t limited to the box score, either. Matthews ranks in the 92nd percentile with 117 speed bursts between 29 and 32 kilometres per hour, nearly 48 more than the league average. He has also logged 23 bursts between 32 and 35 kilometres per hour, seven above the league average and enough for the 75th percentile.
The skating numbers back up the eye test. Matthews has covered 81.37 kilometres this season, which ranks in the 99th percentile and is nearly double the league average. On October 6, he logged 6.51 kilometres in Toronto’s 5-4 overtime win over the Nashville Predators, a mark that sits in the 98th percentile.
Last season was a grind for him, with injuries - including a lingering back issue and other problems - limiting him to 37 missed games and dragging down his year. This season, he looks like himself again, and maybe even more dangerous.
If Toronto is going to make a push back into the playoffs, Matthews gives them a real chance to make it happen. The rest of the roster still has issues, especially on the back end, but right now the Leafs captain is giving them their best shot at a serious run.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Getting Closer To Help As One Problem Still Lingers
The Maple Leafs are getting closer to some welcome reinforcement, and Jim Hiller sounded encouraged about whats coming back into the lineup. Chris Tanev has been trending in the right direction after looking good in practice, while Dakota Joshua should eventually give Toronto more size, wall play and a stronger net-front option, the kind of support that can matter when a team is trying to tighten things up and survive the grind of the schedule.
Hiller also pointed to the smaller details that still need sharpening, from cleaner line changes to the everyday habits that show up in practice. He praised Morgan Riellys ability to chip in at both ends while handling a leadership role, and he noted the added meaning of coaching in his home province as well as the familiarity some former Canucks players will have when facing their old club. The Leafs may be nearing help, but the timing of those returns still leaves one question hanging over the group. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs May Have A Real Way To Keep This Core Together
A rising cap picture is starting to look like the kind of break the Maple Leafs have spent years hoping for. Reports suggest the NHL ceiling could keep climbing over the next several seasons, which would give Toronto far more breathing room than it has had in the recent past and could change the way the front office approaches long-term planning around its core.
For a team that always seems to be balancing present contention against future flexibility, that matters a lot. Auston Matthews is part of the conversation, and so are younger names like Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna, with all of them expected to be in line for new contracts around the same stretch of time. If the leagues financial landscape keeps moving in Torontos favor, the Leafs may finally have a realistic path to keeping that group together without having to gut the roster around them. [Read more 🡒]
Auston Matthews Is Becoming The Leafs Captain Fans Wanted
Auston Matthews has looked like a different sort of captain this season, and not just because the production has followed. His play has been sharper, his presence more noticeable, and the Maple Leafs have leaned on him as the face of a team trying to reset its identity after a stretch of change in the front office and on the roster. For a player who has always been defined by his scoring, the added layer has been how well he seems to fit into a new culture that asks more of its best player.
The shift around him has been just as important as the shift in his game. Matthews has appeared more comfortable in a leadership role that goes beyond the box score, and that has resonated with observers who have been waiting to see him take a firmer hold of the room. The Leafs still have plenty to prove, of course, but the early signs suggest their captain is becoming the kind of steadying force fans hoped he would be when the responsibility was put on his shoulders. [Read more 🡒]