Auston Matthews will have more time to think about his future with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the no reaction by teammates will have what they do this offseason
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman said on Saturday Headlines that with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews being done for the season, it allows him to start thinking about next and his future a little earlier. What impact will the no reaction from teammates have on Matthews and the rest of the organization.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Friedman: “What this also allows Matthew to do is kind of start the clock on how he feels about things. Like, a lot has happened in a very short time in Toronto, from the from the time they last, kind of touched base with him about how he felt about things at the beginning of February.
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Since he’s not going to play now, he has some time to think about it. They’ll have time to talk to him about it. And I think sometime over the next couple of months, Ron, we’re going to get a better idea of how everybody feels about the overall future of Matthews and the Maple Leafs.
Ron MacLean: “Is his reaction to the no reaction a big thing?
Friedman: “Well, I think it is, but he hasn’t said anything yet. So I don’t want to assume he hasn’t said anything at this point in time, but I think it would be.
And there’s no question in my mind, Ron that internally, it will have ramifications on the future and the construction of the team. I mean, I tried to speak to as many people as I could, and there were words like embarrassed and apoplectic thrown around about how everybody felt about what happened.
And it was a, it was a pretty emotional scene in the second intermission. Craig Berube said he talked to the players about it, and you saw the way they came out for the third against Anaheim and tonight.
And you know, I heard the players on the ice said that they obviously realized Matthews had been tripped, but they didn’t realize the severity of it. Morgan Rielly, who’s a very good human came out publicly and said he felt terrible about it. I heard privately, he was also extremely apologetic.
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Like, you know, there’s no question that the way that happened, and we heard what Kevin and Chris and Kelly had to say in the pregame, it definitely will have ramifications on the future direction of the team and the roster.
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