The Toronto Maple Leafs have crushed five out of six opponents in recent games, but it’s not enough to hide their Captain, Auston Matthews’ poor performance. Fans saw his tired and pummeled body language in the Sharks game. But before we move on to his body language and what fans are calling out about it, let’s talk about his poor performance. 

In a recent podcast on Sportsnet, Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne took a deep dive into the Auston Matthews question . At the start of his answer to Bourne’s question on the same issue, Kypreos said, “Auston Matthews fans or still ones that are a little bit more critical and nitpicky like me. But we all agree that we’re not seeing what we’ve been accustomed to the majority of his career.” And before we look at what Justine Bourne said about Matthews, let’s look at the Toronto Maple Leafs Captain’s stats this season.

Auston Matthews has scored 22 goals this season with 30 assists, which makes his points tally 52. But if we look at the ranking, Auston is 44th in scoring goals in the entire league, 62nd in assists, and 52nd in points. This clearly justifies what Justin Bourne said following Kypreos’s response. 

Bourne said, “It’s like, if Auston Matthews and the big guys don’t score, if they’re not the best versions of them, it doesn’t matter. This whole thing doesn’t work. So, I would say that it’s getting concerning that the playoffs start in five weeks, and he’s on pace for a 33-goal season in 68 games. That’s like a piece of this that has to come together. He just looks lethargic.” The situation may look better for the team, but it’s like a frog in boiling water! The team may look in a better position, but the captain has to pull up! 

And to talk about his body language part, in Sportsnet’s Leafs Talk, JD Bunkis and Sam McKee were discussing the same. JD Bunkis said, “The big thing for me in this game…A big takeaway. There is just something about Matthews’ body language that’s not there for me this year.” Shoulder down, nervous face, and poor performance signifies that Matthews is not killing it right now. But, you know, he has more responsibilities, not as a superstar but as a captain who plays well. 

Auston Matthews could make the Maple Leafs fly in the trade deadline but…  

Auston Matthews’ lack of sharpness can be pinned on several reasons—not the least of which is fatigue. The forward has missed 15 games this season through an upper-body injury and seems to have overworked himself by playing in games that he should have sat out. At the moment, he is on pace to 39 goals over 82 games which, though not bad, is a far cry from the 69 goals he scored last season.

So as the NHL trade deadline is drawing near, Matthews’s team is closely looking at the trade to find a player who can assist Auston Matthews. The Maple Leafs management must be under a lot of pressure to sign for the center or wing position in the final stretch of the season. Maybe they could go for Brayden Schenn, Scott Laughton, Yanni Gourde, or someone else for that matter. But they desperately need someone and have to be creative about it considering don’t have as much wiggle room in terms of cap space ($101,562) as the Florida Panthers do.

That being said the main point of debate remains the same. A trade won’t mean much unless Auston Matthews starts acting like himself. In his eight-year career with the Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews has scored at a 54-goal pace on a per-season basis. That’s higher than Alex Ovechkin!