Auston Matthews is knocked off Maple Leafs' top spot and fans are reacting

Gavin McKenna just knocked Auston Matthews off the Maple Leafs top asset spot, with camp a month out this weekend.

McKenna arrived as the first overall pick in the 2026 draft, and Toronto is already building the next decade of hockey around him.

He isn't in the NHL stat sheets yet, but the Maple Leafs' brass has made it clear he steps in immediately alongside Matthews and John Tavares.

Auston posted 27 goals and 53 points in 60 games last season. Two years remain on his deal, and both sides know a new contract talk is coming.

William Nylander is the other engine here. He put up 30 goals and 79 points in 65 games, and he sits at $11,500,000 on the cap.

Matthew Knies nearly left this summer. A deal involving Zach Werenski got discussed before it collapsed in July, and Knies stayed put.

Nylander's name still surfaces in trade talk

Is trading a 30-goal winger really the easiest path forward? For a team that just posted a minus-46 goal differential, that's a fair question to ask.

Toronto finished 28th overall with a 32-36-14 record and dropped its final seven games of the season on a brutal slide.

That's the environment this asset list lives in. A young core stacked with term, a captain on the clock, and a front office that still has to figure out which pieces actually fit.

Head coach Jim Hiller now inherits a group that ranked eighth in its own division and allowed 3.6 goals a game a year ago.

Cowan, at just $873,500 on the cap, quietly finished with 29 points in 66 games and profiles as a cheap, controllable piece for years.

None of that solves the Matthews question. He's the franchise's all-time leader in goals scored, and the Maple Leafs still need to convince him this build is worth staying for.