{"id":569336,"date":"2026-04-07T07:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/569336\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T07:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:07:11","slug":"auston-matthews-linked-to-surprising-nhl-team-amid-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/569336\/","title":{"rendered":"Auston Matthews Linked to Surprising NHL Team Amid Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/auston-matthews\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"47085\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Auston Matthews<\/a>\u2018 future with the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/toronto-maple-leafs\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"4833\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> has been in the headlines. The Maple Leafs missed the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the direction of the franchise will ultimately decide if Matthews requests a trade or stays. If it goes in the wrong direction, the Toronto star has been linked to a surprising NHL organization.<\/p>\n<p>Sportsnet\u2019s Darren Dreger believes the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/utah-mammoth\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"75002\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Utah Mammoth<\/a> will be a big player with Matthews moving forward, the <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/leafs-nightmare-ft-tsns-darren-dreger-fn-barn-burner\/id1766862221?i=1000758711424\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">insider said on Barn Burner<\/a>. Dreger also said the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/san-jose-sharks\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"422\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">San Jose Sharks<\/a> would make some sense, but he wouldn\u2019t call the organization a frontrunner to acquire Matthews in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Since moving from Arizona to Utah, the organization has progressed yearly. In fact, the Mammoth made a big move at the deadline, acquiring defenseman <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/mackenzie-weegar\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"75927\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">MacKenzie Weegar<\/a> from the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/calgary-flames\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"5234\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Calgary Flames<\/a>. Now, Utah is very likely to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the first Wild Card team in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n<p>The Mammoth were linked to several big-name players during the NHL trade deadline, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/st-louis-blues\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1636\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">St. Louis Blues<\/a> forward <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/robert-thomas\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"75923\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Robert Thomas<\/a>. Utah has the assets to pull off a big trade this offseason, making it one of many organizations that could be in the market for Matthews.<\/p>\n<p>However, this will require Matthews to make a decision and request a trade from Toronto. For now, the Maple Leafs will likely attempt to bring the organization back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs next season. After all, it is hard to waste talent like Matthews, <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/william-nylander\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"78193\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">William Nylander<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/matthew-knies\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"76457\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Matthew Knies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Utah is looking to make a big run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and don\u2019t expect them to fall apart anytime soon. In fact, the Mammoth could end up with Matthews, if everything falls in the right direction for them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/nhl\/maple-leafs-captain-auston-matthews-undergoes-surgery\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Read More: Maple Leafs Captain Auston Matthews Undergoes Surgery<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img alt=\"avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/890c5868b73e0b3eb0ba5d30aab6dd9b9c27bf6d7cbaaede74bc35673fba816a.png\"  class=\"avatar avatar-70 photo\" height=\"70\" width=\"70\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"low\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\tAustin  Konenski  is  a  sports  writer  at  Sportsnaut,  covering  the  NHL,  MLB,  NFL,  NBA,  and  College  Football.  His  work  &#8230; More about <a class=\"more-bio\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/author\/austink2020heat\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Austin Konenski<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Auston Matthews\u2018 future with the Toronto Maple Leafs has been in the headlines. The Maple Leafs missed the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4269,385,99,1788,4829],"class_list":{"0":"post-569336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-auston-matthews","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","12":"tag-utah-mammoth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}