Should the Leafs dial back Auston Matthews?

With the Leafs in the thick of the most meaningful stretch of hockey they’ve had on their plate in nearly four years, it’s hard to imagine them doing anything but leaving it all out there over the next month to make the playoffs. That likely means a few nights with shortened benches and relying more heavily on the talent.

But for their most talented young star, in the immediate term, Babcock might be well-served to wind things down for a few games.

While the blue-and-white have reeled off some important wins over the last week, I think anyone can see that Auston Matthews has not looked himself over this recent stretch of games. To this point in the season he’s been the most leaned-on forward despite being only nineteen-years-old, and you have to wonder if it’s burned him out a little given this is his first 82-game grind.

The main thing that’s stood out about Matthews over the last handful of games is that, well…he hasn’t stood out. In contrast to the earlier stretch in the season where plenty of “analysts” believed he hit a wall, this time he really does seem to have slowed a little. In the early part of the season he was simply going through a goal drought, but still managed to get away plenty of shots and scoring chances, and tilted the ice.

It seems he hasn’t been doing any of that with the same gumption over the past couple weeks.

Now, I don’t automatically subscribe to the idea of rookies hitting the wall due to the increase in games from junior or minor leagues to the NHL. These are elite athletes that have conditioning coaches, doctors, and nutritionists on hand. They should be well aware of limits and the proper ways to recover.

But with all that said, Matthews is perceived a little differently than other rookies even on his own team, because he’s had a different path. Marner, for example, played a full OHL season, playoffs, and Memorial Cup last year, while players like Hyman and Nylander had their tastes of professional hockey with both the Marlies and Leafs. Playing in Switzerland, Matthews is commonly believed to have had a lighter load in terms of league play. But I’m still not convinced this is what’s contributing most to his slowdown. He still played plenty of hockey last year, with trips to the World Juniors and World Championship, both of which he also dominated.

No, I think that, regardless of how much he played in 2015-16, it was inevitable Matthews would hit a stretch where he looked flat. Every player has to go through it here and there. Since the draft he’s attended the World Cup, playing on the top line there for North America, and missing his first NHL training camp in the process. Then he blew out of the gate as the best scorer Toronto has had since Mats Sundin. His pace has been incredible all season, and now that its apparently slowed, perhaps Babcock should dial back his minutes for the next few games and see if it can bring back some pep to his step.

A while back, I wrote here that, while Matthews is the team’s most leaned-upon forward, he still hasn’t been playing as much as the old JVR-Bozak-Kessel line that Randy Carlyle used so frequently. But in that same article I pointed out that some players, like Van Riemsdyk, have been used far less than usual this season. And that’s still the case.

For that reason, maybe it’s time to bump that line of 25-42-16 – which has been scorching anyway – up a few notches in terms of all-situations minutes. Between that trio, Kadri’s unit, and even the addition of Brian Boyle, the Leafs have enough options that they can take some minutes away from Matthews, if only for a week or so, and give him a chance to re-calibrate.