{"id":579969,"date":"2026-04-03T17:17:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579969\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T17:17:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:17:56","slug":"nhl-rumor-mill-april-3-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579969\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumor Mill \u2013 April 3, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Could the Penguins pursue Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews<\/a>? What moves could the Leafs make to bounce back next season? Find out in today\u2019s NHL Rumor Mill.<\/p>\n

THE ATHLETIC<\/a>: In a recent mailbag segment, Josh Yohe was asked if he thought the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> would pursue Auston Matthews<\/a> if the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> captain became available this summer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews (NHL Images).<\/p>\n

Given the previous relationship between Matthews and Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas, Yohe would be surprised if the latter didn\u2019t look into it. He noted that the Penguins have the salary-cap space and trade pieces to make a deal.<\/p>\n

Yohe believes the Maple Leafs would want promising Penguins forward Ben Kindel as part of the return, and he doesn\u2019t know if Dubas would want to trade him. He also doesn\u2019t know how keen the Maple Leafs would be to trade Matthews to the Penguins.<\/p>\n

SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: The Maple Leafs downturn this season has fueled speculation over Matthews\u2019 future in Toronto. He has two years remaining on his contract with an average annual value of $13.25 million and a full no-movement clause.<\/p>\n

Yohe pointed out that he doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with the Maple Leafs, or what Matthews might be thinking. That\u2019s currently the consensus among most NHL pundits. For all we know, Matthews will be patient and see how things shake out next season under new management.<\/p>\n

If so, the earliest Matthews would hit the trade block is next summer if he informs Maple Leafs management that he intends to go to market in July 2028. The last thing they\u2019ll want is a repeat of the Mitch Marner<\/a> saga, where uncertainty over his future hung over the club throughout last season.<\/p>\n

Matthews would have complete control over the situation. If he becomes available, Dubas will likely look into it, but there\u2019s no guarantee he\u2019d want to go to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

SPORTSNET:<\/a> Justin Bourne proposed several ways for the Maple Leafs to improve next season.<\/p>\n

One way would be to add a reliable right wing alongside Auston Matthews<\/a> and Matthew Knies<\/a> on the Maple Leafs\u2019 first line. Bourne believes they don\u2019t need to pursue a superstar to fill that role, suggesting they find a playmaker who is good defensively. He proposed going the free-agent route this summer by signing Viktor Arvidsson<\/a> of the Boston Bruins or Jaden Schwartz of the Seattle Kraken<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bourne also believes the Maple Leafs must add another meaningful defenseman. A possible UFA option could be Darren Raddysh<\/a> of the Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>. He also thinks they should bring in a capable middle-six center such as Charlie Coyle<\/a> of the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: The Maple Leafs lack tradeable assets this summer. However, they possess over $23 million in projected salary-cap space next season with 19 active roster players under contract, including all their core players. They can afford to add this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This summer\u2019s UFA market is thin on talent, which could send more teams into the trade market. That could leave the market open for the Maple Leafs to bring in some decent short-term options to help them stage a turnaround next season.<\/p>\n

The downside is that players like Arvidsson, Schwartz, Coyle, and Raddysh might not be available. If they are, the Maple Leafs could end up overpaying to bring them to Toronto. There\u2019s also no certainty that they\u2019ll fit in with the roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Could the Penguins pursue Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews? What moves could the Leafs make to bounce back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-579969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}