It’s just one more series before the 2024-25 NHL season officially comes to an end. Starting Wednesday, the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers will collide in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in a bid to lift the ultimate hockey prize. However, while these two giants wait to lock horns on the biggest stage, Auston Matthews isn’t having the best time of his life right now.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, despite finishing the regular season at the top of the Atlantic Division, were eliminated by the Cats in Round 2 of the playoffs. It was a tough pill to swallow, undoubtedly. Citing the Leafs’ situation, ex-Florida coach Doug MacLean even suggested the team up their scouting game. “They better figure out their pro scouting really fast,” MacLean told Sportsnet 590. But what he probably didn’t expect was to see Auston Matthews’ career in jeopardy. But the fans aren’t having any of the suggestions that are doing the rounds across social media.

In a post on the Subreddit r/NHL from May 31, one fan opened the discussion about the possibility of Auston Matthews being traded by the Maple Leafs. With the rising speculation that Mitch Marner could be traded by the team after his contract expires on July 1, this fan suggests that the Leafs should instead look to drop the captain while retaining Marner.

“My take is that the Maple Leafs should look to trade Matthews instead of letting Marner go. I think he is the main problem. He has injury issues that may never clear up and the team has shown that they perform better without him in stretches of the season,” the Reddit post reads, as the fan suggests the Maple Leafs could even bag a pretty sweet deal in exchange for the 27-year-old hockey center.

However, it wouldn’t be an easy thing to decide to get rid of Auston just like that. After all, Matthews has posted an impressive 78 points in the regular season (11 points in 13 playoff games), keeping himself pretty close to Marner. However, it looks like Brad Treliving’s “DNA change” comment has certainly opened the floodgates to a whole plethora of possibilities and conversations about the future of both these stars in Toronto.

However, it seems like the captain that he is, Auston Matthews’ case is yet to be brushed aside by the Leafs fans.

Maple Leafs fans stand firm in Auston Matthews’ corner

Despite ranking even higher than the likes of Alex Ovechkin in terms of goals per game average, Matthews has always found himself on the receiving end of the fans’ wrath. And yet, along with Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares, Matthews is one of the four very cornerstones of the Leafs’ play style. Naturally, now, with talks about Auston’s time in Toronto coming to an end, fans finally seem to be rallying behind the captain. “I’m pretty sure Marner doesn’t want to stay and trading Matthews would just make that worse,” one fan suggested that Mitch Marner would himself make things easier.

Making things tricky, rumors suggesting that the Maple Leafs might be looking at current Florida stars to beef up their own roster in the 2025-26 season are also creating quite the ripple within the hockey community. And yet, many fans think that letting go of Auston Matthews for stars like Brad Marchand or Sam Bennett might not be the best call. “They’ll definitely start winning immediately if they trade Matthews, right?” one fan’s sarcasm could hardly go unnoticed, as they reminded how Matthews is at an all-time low valuation right now. “There is no amount of prospects and picks that a team could realistically give up that would be worth it for Matthews,” agreed another.

“About as likely as McD signing with the leafs,” jeered another fan who believes that Connor McDavid has next to impossible chances of coming to Toronto, leaving behind his teammates and a storied career in Edmonton. “Marner probably doesn’t want to stay and trading your new captain won’t help the team morale either, so no,” yet another fan believes that letting go of Marner should be the way to go, especially after his fallout with the Toronto media, instead of trying to dump Auston.

Who do you think should be traded? And who retained? Tell us in a comment!