The Toronto Maple Leafs are now 5-3 without Auston Matthews (including the game he was injured in and played only seven minutes). Of course, if we apply the logic that many Leafs fans have used on Nylander, that means they don’t need him.
So, to take it further, Nazem Kadri has five goals since Matthews went down. Clearly he’s better with Matthews injured, so that’s reason number two why the Leafs should refuse to pay Matthews when his contract is up.
And, of course, these same people think that Mitch Marner deserves four million dollars per year more than Nylander, despite Nylander putting up better 5v5 stats (where about 90% of all games take place) so maybe the Leafs should keep Auston Matthews – at least for a little while.