Matthews thrilled to be committed to Maple Leafs, embraces fans’ ‘big passion’

Instead of taking the Canadian Hockey League or U.S. college route, you spend the season leading up to your draft year with Zurich-SC of the Swiss-A League. Your visits to road cities don’t create the type of frenzy that Bedard’s did in his junior hockey days.

Then you are selected No. 1 by the Maple Leafs in the 2016 draft, and suddenly you are in the limelight no matter what you do, as is the case in Toronto. Whether you’re going to the grocery store or dining at a local restaurant, you’re in the public eye, like it or not.

It’s a lot to digest for an 18-year-old who’d never been exposed to this. His agent and friend, Judd Moldaver, did what he could to prepare Matthews, but the young phenom wouldn’t really fully understand until he got to Toronto and had to deal with the reality of being peered at by strangers.

“I mean, you never really know what to expect or what you’re going to go through until you actually experience it,” Matthews said. “So, ya, it was kind of interesting, people kind of staring at you and noticing you and coming up to you and stuff like that.

“It was something I was never really used to.”

He quickly learned that it was part of being a Maple Leafs player in Toronto. Just like he quickly learned that the positives outweighed the negatives, especially the way people loved the team and, beyond that, the game itself.

“He’s always been mentally strong going back to when he was a kid,” Moldaver said Wednesday. “He adapted. He was a teenager when he got there. It’s been awesome to watch him morph into a man after dealing with so much at a young age.”

Rielly agrees. The Maple Leafs defenseman has been Matthews’ teammate for the past seven-plus seasons and had a front row view of his friend’s journey.

“He came in and immediately became part of the team,” Rielly said. “And as he got older, his role, his leadership within the community, his brand, all that stuff has grown, I’m sure. But he’s always been the same guy we met when he came in. I think that’s a testament to his character.

“People make a big deal about his re-signing and whatnot. He’s an amazing player. And they should. And he’s told me he loves it here. So we’re happy to have him. Within the dressing room, he’s just one of the guys, the guy we met when he first got here.”

Outside the dressing room, however, it didn’t take long for him to garner attention.

On Oct. 12, 2016, he set a modern-day NHL record by scoring four goals in his NHL debut against the Ottawa Senators. The sea of cameras and microphones waiting for him afterward was a foreshadow of what would transpire in the coming years.

“The thing about Auston, in my time here, is that I’ve always found him to be a confident guy who can tune out the noise around him when need be,” Sheldon Keefe, named coach of the Maple Leafs on Nov. 20, 2019, said. “I think he very much enjoys being in this market as shown by the fact he re-signed here.

“He embraces everything about being a Maple Leaf.”

It has, Matthews said, been an acquired taste.

“As you kind of get accustomed to (the notoriety), it kind of just becomes normal,” Matthews said. “And for the most part, people are extremely respectful of your privacy and your time.

“But you also understand there’s a big passion for the Leafs and for hockey here in the city. Sure, there’s some days obviously where you’d love not to talk to anybody and just cruise through and just mind your own business. But it happens.

“And you know what? I think the special part about playing here is that they care a lot and how it means so much to the team and the city.”

So much so that he doesn’t want to leave. At least for the next five years anyway.

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You can sense the excitement in Treliving’s voice when he discusses what lies ahead for Matthews and, in a broader view, the Maple Leafs as a whole.

In Matthews he sees more than just an uber-skilled 6-foot-3, 205 lb. power forward who won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie-of-the-year in 2016; who won the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer in 2021 (41 goals) and 2022 (60); and was voted the recipient of the Hart Trophy as League MVP in 2022.

What he sees is an elite talent whose hunger for a championship continues to grow despite the shortcomings of postseasons past.

“The work he does away from what you guys see, before practice, in the summer, in the gym, staying late, he’s as driven as guy as there is to be great,” Treliving said Tuesday. “From the time I got here and first got to spend some time with him, it’s just been impressive to watch.”

On the day he was introduced as Maple Leafs general manager, Treliving told the room of reporters that re-signing Matthews was his No. 1 priority. Not long afterward, he went to Arizona to deliver his pitch.

Keep this in mind: Matthews admittedly had a good relationship with Treliving’s predecessor, Kyle Dubas. It was Dubas who had signed him to his previous contract, a five-year, $58.17 million contract on Feb. 5, 2019, that runs through the 2023-24 season.

“It’s tough,” Matthews said. “When Kyle was let go and all that stuff was unfolding, well, with the relationship a lot of us had with Kyle, it’s kind of hard to imagine another person stepping in and having to restart that process over with.”

Even with that, it didn’t take long for him to get comfortable with the new guy, who previously had been the GM of the Calgary Flames.

“It was pretty evident right away that he was a very down-to-earth guy, easy to talk to.” Matthews said. “There wasn’t any theatrics or anything like that. He’s just who he is. And he’s really solid and thorough with that.

“It’s been really great getting to know him. He’s doing a great job since he took over. It’s not easy to get the keys at that point and go through the draft, free agency, things like that. But I think he understands what it takes and what it means to be a general manager in a Canadian market. Obviously, he’s handled it really well.”