#auston-matthews

#auston-matthews

"You guys know Auston, I don't know how long he's been here [in Toronto] now, but [it feels like] he's been here literally the whole time with me," Lowry said prior to Sunday's game. "I respect the hell out of Auston, and we have a mutual relationship." "You know I had to pay the tribute to my city," Lowry said. "I'm a Maple Leafs guy, and Auston, that's a great jersey. I appreciate him and I wanted to show support for the city."

Off the ice, he is such a great teammate and locker room guy. He brings a lot of life to the team and energy. He is super human. On the ice, he gives you the effort. He is an effort guy out there; he's a worker, and he has skill, too, but he does a lot of work for us. He is one of our "dependables," I call him.

Do right by Auston Matthews. Does he need surgery, rest, a playmaking right winger who can help out in all three zones? As much as Auston Matthews also needs to step up the team isn't going to be at its best until Auston is put in a situation where he looks like he can put up 60 goals again. If that's not possible at all anymore the Leafs problems are bigger than we think.

Nylander is day-to-day still. He's doing better but still day-to-day. Matthews will be a game-time decision. Tanev is lower-body, it's not the same injury. He's getting evaluated today so we'll have a better timeline later today on him,

Prior to Tuesday night's game against Chicago, the Leafs will honour their long-time play by play voice as part of "Holy Mackinaw Night." Bowen, who's called over 3800 games for the Maple Leafs, will be retiring at the conclusion of this season. We talked about that, Joseph Woll, and Anthony Stolarz in the opening block of the Tuesday edition of Leafs Morning Take. After missing four games with a lower body injury, Woll will make his return.

"I mean, it's fine. It's been a grind lately," Matthews said. "You know, for us, it's trying to string together points and wins. And I think we've done a pretty decent job of that over the last seven, eight, nine, 10 games. You just want to continue to put yourself in a position to win games, and the team win games."

Depending on where Hughes lands, there could be serious implications for the Maple Leafs. If Hughes goes to the Detroit Red Wings, the Leafs could be seriously impacted. But beyond Hughes' potential landing spot, an interesting question comes to mind: Could the Toronto Maple Leafs use the Quinn Hughes trade as a template for a possible Auston Matthews deal? Questions regarding the Maple Leafs potentially trading Auston Matthews have not been foreign to the team.