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Judging by what the Toronto Maple Leafs and their players agreed to when they signed their contracts, the Core Four including Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander is set to play in Toronto through June 2025.
That said, contracts are not always completed. On top of that, potential moves by Toronto such as trading Marner, stripping Tavares of his captaincy, or naming Matthews as the new captain of Toronto’s hockey club could break or disrupt that Core Four.
Leasf analyst Nick Alberga, however, believes Matthews should change his attitude ahead of next season and become a true leader in Toronto. That’s what he said while appearing on the “Leafs Morning Take” show on July 23.
“(I’d expect) More of the same, obviously, with the goal-scoring. He’s one of the best in the world at scoring goals. You want to have a nice campaign and follow up a huge season with another one and show that I’m not streaky, I’m consistent, and I am always this good,” Alberga said. “But other factors, too, like his leadership to be able to get the team on his back, to lead by example.
“Setups, too, and getting the assists as well. Being a well-rounded player, I’d like to see him get a little bit physical, get a little bit chirpy out there, get a little bit cocky, tell the whole bench to (expletive) them like, you know what I mean? And just have that little swagger like, ‘Oh, my God, this guy is controlling everything.'”
Matthews is coming off playing his best season as a pro. He scored 69 goals in 81 games during the 2024 regular season. Matthews also added 38 assists for 107 total points. Finally, he added 4 points in 5 postseason games to that tally.
Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews’ Historic 69-Goal Season
The Leafs and their analysts might want Matthews to be more “physical, chirpy, and cocky” next season, but one thing is undeniable and that’s Matthews’ goalscoring prowess.
Even though he failed to join the (very exclusive) 70-goal club in 2023-24, Matthews finished the year scoring 69 goals for the Maple Leafs while appearing in 81 of the 82 regular-season games.
Matthews, who is still just 26 years old, could have joined Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Mario Lemieux, Phil Esposito, Teemu Selanne, Alexander Mogilny, Jari Kurri, and Bernie Nicholls becoming just the ninth player to score 70-plus goals in a single season.
For context, it’s been more than 20 years since the last time someone scored 70 goals. Selanne and Mogilny are the last two players to hit that figure, scoring 76 in the 1992-93 campaign.
Matthews led the NHL by 12 goals over the second most-prolific goalscorer in 2023-24, Florida Panthers‘ Sam Reinhart (57 goals). Only Edmonton Oilers‘ Zach Hyman (54) and Colorado Avalanche‘s Nathan MacKinnon (51) broke the 50-goal barrier.
The Maple Leafs center, however, couldn’t reach the total-point tallies put up by five other players who scored at least 110 points in 2023-24: David Pastrnak (110), Artemi Panarin (120), Connor McDavid (132), MacKinnon (140), and Nikita Kucherov (144).
Matthews posted a career-high mark, however, finishing the 2024 season with 107 total points, one more than he scored two years ago (albeit he did it in just 73 games back then).
John Tavares & Mitch Marned Dubbest Top-2 2025 UFA
Even if Toronto doesn’t trade any member of its Core Four between now and next year’s trade deadline, the franchise could still lose two of them in upcoming unrestricted free agents (UFA) John Tavares and Mitch Marner.
Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet put together a list ranking the best UFA set to enter the market on July 1, 2025, and he listed Marner as the no. 1 player and Tavares as the second-best one.
“As the summer wears on and we get further removed from the white-hot anger over Toronto’s latest playoff stumble, the reality of the Marner situation continues to take hold, and the idea he’ll be with the Leafs on Day 1 of training camp — perhaps for the last time — becomes more and more likely,” Dixon wrote about Marner. “And, at that point, why wouldn’t the right winger play out the year ahead of becoming a UFA?”
Marner is under contract for one more season and carries a cap hit of $10.9 million.
Tavares is entering the final season of his seven-year $77 million deal. Toronto named Tavares the captain of the team in October 2019, right before the start of the 2019-20 season.
“This is an interesting situation because Tavares’ $11-million cap hit causes much consternation. But what if you could have him at, say, half that figure? The top pick in the 2009 draft is still a very effective player and clearly has no desire to leave the team he grew up rooting for and inked a huge UFA deal with in 2018,” Dixon wrote.
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