Canadian NHL Insider shuts down any rumours about Auston Matthews leaving the Maple Leafs

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Ryan
July 21, 2022 (12:43)

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Over the last couple days we've seen the horrible situation happening in Calgary. The Flames not only lost their best player in Johnny Gaudreau to a far lesser team in Columbus, but they've not received a trade request from Matthew Tkachuk and he also told them he will not sign an extension. In a matter of less than a week they have lost 2 100 point scorers and probably the two most important players to their franchise last year.

So since this happened, the rumours have been swirling around that Auston Matthews is going to do the same thing at the end of his contract next year. The Maple Leafs have failed to win a single playoff series during the Matthews era, and failed to even make the playoffs on multiple occasions. People believe that Matthews will leave in free agency because the Leafs made a not-so-smart decision only giving him a 5 year deal which walked him right into free agency as a UFA.

Now we are seeing some media members trying to toss fuel on the fire.

Tough off-season for Cgy but Toronto is gonna be a very interesting place 1 year from now when Auston Matthews is scheduled to sign an ext. Hate to think about what happens if 😬� Carlo Colaiacovo (@CarloColaiacovo) July 20, 2022

This sparked a huge uproar on social media with Maple Leafs fans beginning to panic, so on Sportsnet's Tim and Friends, Hockey Insider Frank Seravalli tried his best to calm down Leafs fans.

I believe Auston Matthews is going to be a Toronto Maple Leaf for life. I think he's absolutely loved his time in Toronto - Frank Seravalli

Matthews is currently on a 5 year deal which pays him $11,640,000 and after winning the Rocket Richard, Hart and Ted Lindsay award this year, he will definitely be looking for a raise on this current contract.

As per Seravalli though, he believes that Matthews will be in the Blue and White for life.