The Maple Leafs have spent the offseason trying to make life easier for Auston Matthews, and the new bottom-six looks built for exactly that.
Nick Paul, Colton Sissons and Teddy Blueger were brought in to do more than just fill out the lineup. The idea is to toughen up Toronto’s depth, add more physical play and defensive bite, and take some of the burden off the stars. Just as important, they’re expected to help on the penalty kill and give Matthews a little more breathing room.
That matters because Matthews has been asked to shoulder too much of the wrong kind of work. Under Craig Berube, the offensive centerpiece was pushed into heavier defensive usage, and the results weren’t pretty. The source points to two of Matthews’ weakest offensive seasons coming in that stretch, with the added wear and tear possibly playing a role in the injuries he’s dealt with over the past two years.
The zone-start numbers tell the story. In 2024-25, Matthews began 46.1% of his shifts in the defensive zone.
In 2025-26, that number was 42.2%. Before that, his career high was 43.3% in 2017-18, while the rest of his career sat closer to 33%.
That’s a very different setup from the one that helped unlock his best scoring years. From 2021-22 through 2023-24, Matthews piled up 169 goals and didn’t score a single shorthanded goal. Over that same span, he produced two 60-goal seasons in three years.
The new arrivals are all wired for the dirty work. Sissons has started nearly 70% of his shifts in the defensive zone, while Paul sits at 62.2% and Blueger at 74.4% for their careers. On the penalty kill, the usage gets even more extreme: Sissons checks in at 97.3% defensive-zone starts, Paul at 96.2% and Blueger at 95.9%.
That’s the kind of group that can absorb the heavy defensive assignments and let Matthews do what he does best.
And when it comes to offense, the best version of Matthews has always come with space and opportunity. He has 109 power-play goals, which account for 25% of his career total. But the bigger key is getting him into favorable situations at five-on-five, especially in close games.
In those “close” situations - one-goal games in the first and second periods, or tied games in the third period or overtime - Matthews has been at his most dangerous. During that three-year run with 169 goals, he started 62.03% of his shifts in the offensive zone and scored 58 of those goals in close-game situations.
If he’s healthy and the knee issue doesn’t get in the way, the path is clear. Put Matthews back in the spots where he can attack instead of survive, and the goals should follow.
He was drafted to score, and that’s been true from the start. The source’s argument is simple: Berube tried to pull him away from that identity, and the Leafs’ new additions have now given Toronto a chance to put him back where he belongs.
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The catch, as always for Toronto, is roster math. The Maple Leafs do not have the cap room to add him right now, so any serious pursuit would have to wait until they clear salary, and that is where the real intrigue begins. For a team that knows how quickly a reunion can go from appealing to complicated, Bunting is exactly the sort of player who forces those uncomfortable summer calculations. [Read more 🡒]
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The Leafs have a crowded center pipeline and not much flexibility to work with, which makes Millers situation more complicated than a simple formality. If Toronto cannot fit him into its plans, the organization could be left trying to hold onto a drafted prospect it has followed for years, and the clock on that choice is already running. [Read more 🡒]