{"id":159421,"date":"2025-09-21T19:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T19:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/159421\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T19:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T19:12:10","slug":"nhl-news-auston-matthews-sets-record-straight-on-maple-leafs-distractions-with-candid-mitch-marner-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/159421\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL News: Auston Matthews sets record straight on Maple Leafs’ distractions with candid Mitch Marner statement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Auston Matthews<\/a> is determined to guide the Toronto Maple Leafs to calmer waters in the upcoming NHL season. That includes rallying the troops after the dramatic departure of Mitch Marner, who left the team after a decade in the Six.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a turbulent summer, but the worst is over. Or so the Maple Leafs<\/a> hope. Captain Matthews knows his teammates are counting on him to lead the way. And he wouldn\u2019t want it any other way.<\/p>\n

On that note, Matthews made his thoughts clear on the noise surrounding Marner<\/a>\u2018s exit and whether it affected the players during the past NHL<\/a> season. With a pointed comment, the captain in Hogtown put an end to the conversation\u2014at least from his standpoint.<\/p>\n

Matthews\u2019 statement<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it was really that much of a distraction last year to be honest,\u201d Auston Matthews told reporters about Marner\u2019s contract year. \u201cFrom the start of camp everybody is working for one goal and coming together as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

\"Mitch<\/p>\n

Mitch Marner during a game with the Toronto Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think any of the outside stuffwas a distraction. Maybe you guys will ask a couple more [Marner] questions for the next couple of weeks but hopefully that\u2019ll die down shortly.\u201c<\/p>\n

\"NHL<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

NHL News: Connor McDavid\u2019s Oilers reportedly come up short in attempt to snatch Auston Matthews\u2019 Maple Leafs target<\/p>\n

<\/a>Practice lines<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs know the work is cut out for them in the NHL. The task at hand is crystal-clear, but the road to it is one with its fair share of roadblocks and hurdles. Determined to finally end the Stanley Cup drought, the Buds are leaving no stone unturned. On that note, head coach Craig Berube is addressing every option on Toronto\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n

According to Leafs Latest on X, the Buds rolled out the following lines in their last practice. Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews were joined by Matias Maccelli on the top line, while Bobby McMann, John Tavares, and William Nylander rounded out the top six. In the bottom six, Dakota Joshua skated alongside Nicholas Roy and Max Domi on the third line, with the fourth line featuring Steven Lorentz, Scott Laughton, and Borya Valis.<\/p>\n

SurveyHow far will Toronto go in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?<\/p>\n

How far will Toronto go in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the defensive corps was led by Morgan Rielly and Brandon Carlo on the first pairing. The second duo featured Jake McCabe and Brandon Tanev, while the last blueliner combo was made up of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Matt Benning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Auston Matthews is determined to guide the Toronto Maple Leafs to calmer waters in the upcoming NHL season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,2368,63,6505,575,85,2370],"class_list":{"0":"post-159421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-auston-matthews","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-mitch-marner","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}