Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews is excited about the new additions to the team as well as the upcoming campaign.
It was a busy offseason for general manager Brad Treliving, who shook up the nucleus of the roster through trades and extensions. John Tavares and Matthew Knies were re-signed at reasonable numbers, Matias Maccelli and Dakota Joshua were acquired to shore up the depth, and the main signing in free agency was Michael Pezzetta who brings toughness and sandpaper.
Matthews was in Brampton to participate in the Hockey Night In Brampton event at the CAA Centre on Wednesday, where he was asked by reporters about the state of the Leafs going into the 2025-26 campaign.
“ Feeling good. Obviously a lot of changes, but excited about the guys we brought in, excited about the guys that we have,” Matthews said. “I know we got a great team and great group of guys in the locker room, so looking forward to kind of getting started. Guys are gonna have to take some steps, but I think that’s a good problem to have. So, really looking forward to it.”
One of the most consequential changes to the Leafs this summer has been the departure of Mitch Marner via a sign and trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. They were able to bring back Nicolas Roy as part of the deal on top of the aforementioned adds, but there is no doubt some growing pains with losing a recent 100-point player.
While Matthews will miss his long-time teammate, he is more focused on moving forward with the Leafs as currently constructed.
“We’ll obviously miss him. He’s a great friend, great teammate,” he said. “It’s kind of the business side of it, that’s tough. But obviously I wish him the best and we’ve just got to keep it moving.”
In the wake of Marner’s exit, there is still plenty of talent left of the Leafs roster that will work to pick up the slack. Knies is expected to take another step, as evidenced by him being invited to the U.S. Men’s Olympic Orientation Camp alongside Matthews. The captain is excited for his fellow American teammate and described the invite as ‘well deserved.’
As far as his health is concerned, Matthews says he is feeling good and is eager to get back into the swing of things. That means maintaining the mindset of competing for the Stanley Cup.
“ I think every year going into it, we wanna be focused, wanna be ready to compete from the get-go with camp and everything,” he said. “We got a lot of changes, but I don’t think the mindset really changes. Gotta be focused, gotta be willing to do whatever it takes to win. It’s obviously a hard league to win in. For us it’s not getting too hard, too far ahead of ourselves. Staying in the moment, making sure that we just take care of the day.”