Auston Matthews and William Nylander want some reinforcements.

According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, both Toronto Maple Leafs’ superstars had very honest conversations during their exit interviews, as both Nylander and Matthews feel this team isn’t good enough, and it requires a slight overhaul heading into the summer.

“What I was told by people I trust there, is that both of those guys, Nylander and Matthews, told both management and coaching that look, we believe in this team, but we think we have to add some players,” explained Dreger as a recent guest on FN Barn Burner. We need a couple of dogs up front with some bite, who can eliminate the softness we have in certain areas up front, and we need two mobile defencemen.”

The transparency from both Matthews and Nylander was a great sign, and they certainly have a point on where the roster needs to be addressed, but the hard part now will be securing the talent. The Maple Leafs consistently struggled to break out of their own end all season long, and it had everything to do with a lack of talent on their blueline. Morgan Rielly and Brandon Carlo had very down years, Troy Stecher fizzled out after a strong start with the club, Simon Benoit struggles to advance the puck up ice on a regular basis, and then there’s the trio of Chris Tanev, Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who feel like the only three Leaf defencemen who are safe this offseason.

Toronto was among the worst teams in the league when it comes to points by defencemen this season. Brad Treliving failed this group by not acquiring a blueliner who can run the power play, and play top-four meaningful minutes. It’s almost a breath of fresh air that both Matthews and Nylander aired out their grievances, as it should put some pressure on the new general manager right away to improve this roster.

As far as the lack of bite up front, injuries and unmet expectations certainly had something to do with this, but also, once again, worth pointing out the fact Treliving fumbled the bag after Mitch Marner departed for Vegas. Dakota Joshua was inconsistent when healthy this season, but came on strong to end the year, and could bounce back next season. Matias Maccelli doesn’t have any bite in his game, Nic Roy and Scott Laughton were both dealt, and while Nick Robertson certainly exudes effort, his game doesn’t scream bite either. Robertson and Maccelli are two pending restricted free agents, who are both in tough to be in the Maple Leafs’ plans next season. Especially after Matthews and Nylander’s comments.

For now, the recruitment process for a new management regime continues, as Matthews and Nylander wait patiently for their new leadership team. If Mats Sundin is indeed heading the operation, he’ll understand exactly what Matthews and Nylander are talking about, as he knows how impactful Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe were over the years, and the same can be said about Gary Roberts and Darcy Tucker up front.

While those Maple Leafs’ greats can’t do anything to help for next season, the new regime need to find the next wave of talent to complement this roster, or else Matthews and Nylander may not be sticking around much longer.