Nobody thought an Auston Matthews trade was possible until now
The Auston Matthews trade noise got louder this weekend, and Bill Guerin's Minnesota Wild are sitting at the front of the line if Toronto ever picks up the phone.
Daily Faceoff floated five landing spots for the Maple Leafs captain Friday. Minnesota came in at number one. That's not a small detail.
Toronto just closed the year 32-36-14, good for 28th overall and 78 points. Craig Berube inherited a leaky room that gave up 299 goals at a 3.6 clip per game.
Matthews finished with 27 goals and 53 points across 60 games. He went minus-4 and chipped in 5 power play goals. For a $13.25 million center, that line raises eyebrows.
The close was rougher. Over his last 10, the 28-year-old scored once, posted 6 points, and went minus-8. Toronto rode a 7-game losing streak into the offseason.
Flip the script in Minnesota. The Wild banked 104 points and 7th overall, with 23 wins at home and 23 wins on the road. Their goals against sat at 2.9 per game.
Kirill Kaprizov makes the Wild math impossible to ignore
Kaprizov dropped 45 goals and 89 points in 78 games at plus-10, including 19 power play markers. Slot Matthews behind him on a top six and the Central Division gets very uncomfortable, very fast.
Guerin has draft capital, prospect depth, and zero appetite for small moves. He's the kind of GM who picks up on the first ring when a generational name surfaces.
Toronto's split with Minnesota this season tells its own story. The Wild rolled in 6-3 at Scotiabank Arena back in January. The Leafs returned the favor 4-2 in St. Paul in March.
The structural issue in Toronto isn't going away. Two years left on Matthews' deal, a captaincy that's stopped feeling like an asset, and a roster that scored 253 and surrendered nearly fifty more than that.
Would Matthews actually waive? Nobody at MLSE wants the question asked out loud. But the answer, if it ever comes, has a Minnesota area code attached.
The pitch from Saint Paul writes itself. Better goaltending, a running mate at Hart Trophy levels, and a division path that doesn't run through the Atlantic meat grinder.
John Hynes and Guerin won't push. They don't have to. If July arrives with Toronto still circling the same drain, Minnesota becomes the call Brad Treliving cannot avoid making.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 22, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Ivan Barbashev | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ross Colton | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brent Burns | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nazem Kadri | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nick Blankenburg | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| Nic Dowd | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | - | - | |
| Carter Hart | - | - | - | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | - | - | |
| Brett Howden | - | - | - | |
| William Karlsson | - | - | - | |
| Parker Kelly | - | - | - | |
| Keegan Kolesar | - | - | - | |
| Kaedan Korczak | - | - | - | |
| Brett Kulak | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||