{"id":84443,"date":"2025-08-21T07:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T07:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/84443\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T07:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T07:47:07","slug":"matthews-addresses-marner-trade-maple-leafs-trajectory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/84443\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthews Addresses Marner Trade, Maple Leafs Trajectory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking publicly for the first time since long-time teammate Mitch Marner<\/a> was traded<\/a>, Toronto Maple Leafs all-star forward Auston Matthews<\/a> shared his thoughts on the departure of his now former teammate. Matthews said the team will \u201cobviously miss\u201d Marner\u2019s presence and referred to him as a great friend and teammate, per a video by TSN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of the business side of it that is tough. Obviously, I wish him nothing but the best. But we\u2019ll just keep it moving,\u201d Matthews said.<\/p>\n

Marner was acquired by the Vegas Golden Knights in a sign-and-trade deal, resulting in an eight-year, $96MM deal. And while Marner\u2019s time in Toronto ended on a sour note, there\u2019s no denying that his departure leaves a significant void in the Leafs\u2019 lineup from an offensive production standpoint. Just last season, Marner produced a career-high 102 points. While Matthews alluded to an abundance of changes being made to the lineup, he noted his excitement for the team\u2019s chances heading into the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, a lot of changes, but I\u2019m excited about the guys we\u2019ve brought in. I know we have a great team and a great group of guys in the locker room. So, I\u2019m looking forward to getting started. Guys are going to have to take some steps, but it\u2019s a good problem to have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Leafs added a series of depth players this offseason. They added forward Nicholas Roy<\/a> in the Marner deal. In separate trades, they acquired forwards Dakota Joshua<\/a> and Matias Maccelli<\/a> for draft picks, as well as defenseman Henry Thrun<\/a> from the Sharks in exchange for forward Ryan Reaves<\/a>. In free agency, the team signed forwards Travis Boyd<\/a>, Benoit-Olivier Groulx<\/a>, Vinni Lettieri<\/a>, and Michael Pezzetta<\/a>, as well as\u00a0defenseman Dakota Mermis<\/a>. The team also signed forward\u00a0Matthew Knies<\/a> to a six-year, $46.5MM extension. Matthews said his mindset is the same heading into this season as in seasons past, noting that despite new faces on the roster, the goal of the franchise will remain the same.<\/p>\n

Matthews also gave a brief but reassuring update on his health heading into training camp, responding simply, \u2019Good,\u2019 when asked how he was feeling. He missed 15 games last season and revealed in May<\/a> that he had been dealing with a \u201cmystery\u201d ailment that affected him throughout both the regular season and playoffs. His quick response now appears to put to rest any lingering concerns about the issue carrying over into the new season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking publicly for the first time since long-time teammate Mitch Marner was traded, Toronto Maple Leafs all-star forward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,2368,63,6505,575,85,2370],"class_list":["post-84443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-auston-matthews","tag-australia","tag-mitch-marner","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84443","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=84443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}