The Leafs lose in round 1, game 7, but Marner, Nylander, Matthews, and Rielly all have 14 points. What would u do in the off season? (remember that JT ain't included)

Watch baseball.

Considering that Matthews is one year closer to UFA, I'm guessing that big changes are coming with another first round loss.

We can talk all about trading Nylander but let's face it, the big change comes when a big salary is shipped out in favour of spreading it around to a couple of players. Nylander does not make a big enough salary for that.

This is why Marner is probably the one to trade. Am I fond of that? No... but JT cannot be traded without him wanting out and trading Matthews and/or Nylander would just be foolish.

You tell me what you would do as the big shake up?

Auston Matthews: "I really, really enjoy playing in Toronto. I really believe in this team. I love the passion that the city brings, Leafs Nation & all that comes along with it."

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) January 13, 2022

Honestly why make a comment like this if you plan to leave. He didnt have to say this and could have just said some generic stuff about how well hes plaing. But he went out of his way to compliment the fans, the city, and the team. And the only time I have seen players do this is when they genuinely enjoy playing for a team

Changes could be coming but from this it makes it less likely he is moved

After all Toronto can give him 50+mill in bonus money

If you trade Marner to pay Matthews, will Matthews really, really enjoy playing in this city. If you don't trade Marner can you afford to sign Matthews. You could trade all three because they are not getting you past the first round. If you don't get past the first round will Matthews stay.

That is public speaking101 and generally I don't read too much into comments like this.

I guess I should have made my point very clear about Matthews, he is hands down the best player in this organization and yeah trading him is really not the move.

As far him staying or leaving? I think a big part of whether he stays beyond his current contract has to do with how much playoffs success the team has between now and the time Matthews becomes a UFA.

That can't be lost on any intelligent Leafs fan.

Why do people on here seem to entirely forget that star player movement doesn't happen in the NHL without exceptional circumstances? Like jesus look at how bad the Isles were for JT to leave, both on and off the ice. Moreover look at how enticing his hometown team was at the time to pull him out. The Leafs aren't even remotely close to the point where we need to fear losing Matthews and anyone pushing the narrative that he might leave is either stupid or wishful

Well, since you brought up the JT point.. might as well go there. Why didn't he with the NYI? No consistency in making the playoffs and then just not having enough success when getting in...aside from playing in the hometown, are these good/fair reasons for moving on?

My point about whether Matthews has success here is going to be a big part of whether he stays.

The failures of the Isles org were an order of magnitude worse than the failures of the Leafs org and to compare the two unironically shows that you are just wishful. They didn't even have an arena!
Leafs are overwhelming favourites to keep Matthews and it will cost between 110-120 million depending on the cap and how the league recovers. The odds of them not extending him (while not impossible) are small enough to not be worth worrying about or making narratives on.

I'm not worried about money. The concern here is that other teams may be more attractive from purely a success standpoint.

The money will be relatively the same whether Matthews stays or goes but success... well that's a different matter.

I agree with what you are saying. The leafs are the favourites at the moment but if they don't do anything in the next few years he probably looks to go elsewhere.

When an NHL Legend says this you know how special those 4 guys are lul