“One of the things I’ve been told by other teams with the Leafs, is that the message that’s come out from their front office is that they’re willing to discuss any players on their roster, except Auston Matthews,” stated Johnston.
This is quite the turn of events on Matthews’ future as it’s been widely speculated that Matthews was ‘unsure’ about returning to Toronto.
“They’re open to hearing what you have to say on any player but Matthews. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the Matthews’ situation. I don’t think there’s anything new to update there. I find it kind of interesting, the word around the league is they’re willing to listen on a lot of players, that in the past, they haven’t been,” continued Johnston. “Keep in mind, guys like Morgan Rielly, William Nylander have no-movement clauses…John Chayka is considering basically anything outside of his captain.”
Nylander would be an absolute shock to see traded. Yes, Chayka could fetch a boatload in return, but at this point, it at least feels like if Nylander was indeed traded, Matthews would immediately request a trade out of Toronto. There’s no doubt Chayka’s going to have to convince his captain to buy in to his vision at some point this offseason, and if the new Maple Leafs’ GM mentions he has Nylander on the trade market, that’s quite likely going to leave a very sour taste in Matthews’ mouth.
Johnston went on to mention he’d be ‘stunned’ to see Max Domi traded. He mentioned his connection to the new management regime as the driving force, as Mats Sundin is essentially an uncle to Domi, while Chayka and him go way back to their days together with the London Knights.
As far as the rest of the Maple Leafs roster goes, don’t be surprised to see some major changes over the course of the next six weeks, as the trade-happy Chayka is heavily involved in conversations.
Sponsored by bet365