Matthews 'wants to win in Toronto,' Maple Leafs GM says

BUFFALO -- Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka said there have been positive talks between the organization and Auston Matthews.

The 28-year-old center has two seasons remaining on the four-year, $53 million contract ($13.25 million average annual value) he signed Aug. 23, 2023.

"We've had several conversations with him and his representatives, and what I saw was a happy captain," Chayka said Friday while attending the 2026 NHL Scouting Combine presented by Fanatics. "Someone who's got a lot of pride to be the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Someone who wants to win in Toronto, which aligns with how we're thinking about it."

Chayka was hired May 3, along with senior executive adviser, hockey operations Mats Sundin, following the firing of general manager Brad Treliving on March 30.

Matthews missed the final 16 games of the season after sustaining a grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion in his left leg March 12. He said April 16 that he expected to be ready to start next season, but the rest of his future remained unclear.

"I mean, I can't predict the future," Matthews said in April. "Obviously there's steps that kind of have to take place. They're going to hire new leadership in management and stuff like that. So, you know, I don't really know.

"I think that's kind of like I said, I can't really predict the future."

Matthews, who holds the Maple Leafs franchise record for goals (428), said at the time he wouldn't be looking to hear anything in particular from whoever eventually was hired to run the team's hockey operations.

"I don't know if there's anything specific," he said. "I mean, I think those conversations are going to be, you know, personal and private.

"We're not even at that point yet. Obviously we're still in the searching phase, I guess you can say, for them. So, I think when those conversations come, and when the time comes, those conversations will just happen organically."

That job now has fallen to Chayka, along with Sundin. Chayka said Friday that the two have spent the past few weeks learning the organization and evaluating what happened this season.

Toronto (32-36-14) finished last in the Atlantic Division and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2015-16, the season before Matthews was selected by the Maple Leafs with the first pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

"We're going to spend more time with all our players," Chayka said. "We've spent a better part of these three weeks getting to know everybody and getting some face time and connecting with them. Just listening, honestly, a lot, and hearing about how the season went and the trends and the things that we think are opportunities, and collaborate on that a bit. No different with Auston, and we continue to have those conversations."

Chayka said conversations also are ongoing in the search for a coach to replace Craig Berube, who was fired May 13.

He said the first phase of the coaching search has been completed.

"There was about 55 people we either spoke to or reached out," Chayka said. "We've had this initial, kind of call it first round, that we just finished up recently, and now we're starting to get into the next layer of this.

"No timeline, no time constraints. When it's right, we'll make that decision, but we're going to be patient and get it right."

With the Maple Leafs owning the first pick of the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft, Chayka also has been spending time getting to know some of the top prospects.

That includes traveling to Whitehorse, Yukon, to meet with Penn State forward Gavin McKenna and his family.

The 18-year-old left wing is No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters.

"Everyone's seen him play and knows the skill level and the talent, but as we think about a Toronto Maple Leaf and what that means, just really dig into that part," Chayka said.

"Really nice young man, really quality family. Spent some quality time with them, got to know him. He's a small-town kid. It's a remote area of the world, very peaceful, but beautiful. And within that, I think there's some real resolve around who he is and what his career means to him and his family, and I find it impressive."

Chayka said there have been additional home visits with other top prospects, and along with combine interviews, it's allowed the Maple Leafs to narrow the group of players under consideration for the top pick to "five or six, realistically."

"I think there's a nice mix of different players and different styles, and a few different positions," he said. "It's a good year. It's nice for it to be hard.

"I think there's a tier there that we think really highly of, and are all probably potentially worthy of being the first overall pick. But we'll have to get one."