"He should never have been captain": Auston Matthews faces brutal fan backlash after making a controversial comment on Leafs' teammates
Auston Matthews
, the captain of the
Toronto Maple Leafs
, has found himself in a huge debate ever since his team lost to the Florida Panthers in the second round of the 2025
Stanley Cup playoffs
. After the loss, Auston Matthews made a controversial remark, which fans feel he indirectly blamed his team for the defeat. Now,
NHL
insider
Josh Yohe
has sparked a debate on Auston Matthews with his recent post.
Auston Matthews gets brutally trolled by fans as many feel he should not be the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
NHL insider Josh Yohe recently made a post on X that read as, 'I understand the criticism of Marner and it's largely justified. But what about Matthews? He's literally never risen to the occasion in the playoffs and he's Toronto's superstar, the guy the Leafs stripped Tavares of the captaincy for. Always plays small in playoffs. Always' and fans are here for it.
A fan commented, 'Nobody fears Matthews in the playoffs. McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov, Mackinnon, Crosby, Rantanen, Pastrnak, Eichel, Makar all above him.
Playoffs are the only thing that matters and in the playoffs he's just a 20 goal scorer.'
Another fan wrote, 'No clue how he ended up the captain of USA at 4 Nations. Better leadership choices needed for Olympics', while a third fan joked, 'And he physically towers over Marner, yet shrinks every playoff year.'
Another user commented, 'Matthews' passengers comment should earn him a one way trip out of Toronto. If I was the Leafs GM and my captain, the 3x rocket winner, started blaming his teammates after he scored a single goal all series, I'd do everything in my power to get his useless ass off my team ASAP.'
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A fifth fan noted, 'Matthew's should have never been captain. Pretty simple. I would trade him but Ik that's too extreme for reality.'
For the unversed, Auston Matthews spoke to media after the loss against the Florida Panthers and said, 'I thought we were ready to play. It felt like we were in a good mindset…But I just thought we had too many passengers throughout the rest of the game. We weren't on the same page.'
While Auston Matthews has received a lot of criticism on his comment, the Toronto Maple Leafs' captain has not reacted to it yet.
Also Read:
2025 Stanley Cup playoffs: Who has lifted the Stanley Cup the most and which teams are still at the bottom?
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