Toronto Maple Leafs fans have plenty of reasons to feel frustrated with the state of the team as of late, but the leading reason is Auston Matthews’ decline throughout the year.

While Matthews assessed his play lately as ‘fine’ and considered himself healthy going into the season, something appears to be off with his form. Matthews isn’t playing like the dominant player many have come to expect from the two-time 60-goal scorer. There have certainly been flashes but never anything sustainable for a long stretch, much like the Leafs’ play as a whole this campaign.

At the time of filing, Matthews is on pace for a career-worst 62 points, which is one point shy of the 63 he had in his injury-riddled sophomore season back in 2017-18. There is certainly still a chance for him to turn things around and get his production back near the level many anticipate every year, but it remains to be seen if that will indeed be the case.

That is why we received hundreds of responses when we asked you on social media how concerned you were about Matthews’ offensive output to this point, and here are some of the best ones:

Off The Roster’s Dan Riccio nails the overall sentiment of Leafs Nation’s worries about the captain’s play. It’s not like he is playing badly, but he is supposed to be one of the top centres in the NHL and Matthews isn’t at that level right now. Seeing how lacklustre he stacked up to Connor McDavid on Saturday is proof of that.

The topic of Matthews’ health has been a hot-button issue for Leafs fans the past two seasons, as something has appeared off with his overall play. It was understandable last year given all of the ailments he had to deal with, but he usually bounces back the following year and that hasn’t been the case so far.

There was a time during Alex Ovechkin’s career when his goal-scoring took a hit as he was in systems that emphasized a more defensive style. He was eventually able to regain his footing, but it took a few years for that to transpire. It’s an interesting comparison to where things are with Matthews and Craig Berube, but we’ll see how things unfold.

On the flip side, some Leafs fans see his dip in offence as a byproduct of his commitment to improving his 200-foot game. It’s an argument that would make sense if the team were winning games, and that was the case last year even with all of his setbacks. But they aren’t winning games and the offence hasn’t followed suit for Matthews, so the noise of the concerns grows louder.

There has certainly been an adjustment to life without Mitch Marner, and it’s no wonder some have been quick to point to his departure as the reason behind Matthews’ struggles this year.

There has been a growing number of fans clamouring for the Leafs to move on from Matthews in the wake of the Vancouver Canucks dealing Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild. While you can understand the rationale, these situations are not the same because the Leafs believe they are in the middle of their contention window and having Matthews around ensures that stays open. Unless something drastic happens, the captain isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Who knows, maybe Matthews has a few hot weeks and the noise goes away. It’s up to him if he wants that to be the case, starting on Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks.