Auston Matthews isn’t sure if he’ll return, and another story about John Chayka has surfaced

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Auston Matthews isn’t sure if he’ll return, and another story about John Chayka has surfaced
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Has Auston Matthews played his last game with the Maple Leafs? That's the question on everyone's mind.

Ever since he got injured, doubt has set in. And now, amid the management shakeup in Toronto, Chris Johnston has added fuel to the fire in an article for The Athletic on the subject.

Basically, he says that according to sources, the Maple Leafs captain doesn't know if he'll be back in the fall.

John Chayka, the team's new GM, will have to sit down with the team's #34. And above all, he'll have to sell his pitch, since the star player is two years away from free agency.

If he doesn't want to stay long-term, a decision will have to be made.

A crazy story about John Chayka

Speaking of the Maple Leafs: you probably know that yesterday, during the press conference to introduce John Chayka and Mats Sundin to the Toronto media, things got a little awkward?

When Steve Simmons asked Keith Pelley if he knew that people in the NHL thought his new GM was a bad choice and the boss had nothing good to say, it put a damper on things.

Could the question have been asked directly to Chayka, since he was there? Maybe. But it was a good question because it reflected the widespread dissatisfaction currently prevailing in Toronto.

And Simmons piled on, in a podcast.

Basically, he said this: when Bill Armstrong arrived to replace Chayka in Arizona, he couldn't open five of the six computer screens the former GM had on his desk.

The reason is simple: the five screens weren't working. They were just there to make it look like Chayka was working hard on multiple projects at the same time.

Fake data was being displayed on the screen.

Simmons, who found out about this while chatting with people to get info on the Maple Leafs' new GM, said that if he were Pelley, upon learning this, he would never have hired Chayka. Simmons is really keeping his cards close to his chest; and here I was thinking he was Pelley's best buddy…


In a nutshell

– Here's a player who's making progress in Toronto.

– Lindy Ruff praises Cole Caufield. [JdeM]

– Rasmus Dahlin praises Lane Hutson.

– Shane Doan wants to bring hockey back to Arizona.

– Yes.

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