Matthews ready for fun in the sun
Leafs’ rookie all-star has busy to-do, or rather to-meet, list for his L.A. weekend
PHILADELPHIA— It sounds as if Auston Matthews has a to-do list for Los Angeles this weekend.
While the rest of his teammates head home, or somewhere, for a three-day break, Matthews will be the Toronto Maple Leafs’ representative at the all-star game.
He has things to do, and people to meet.
“I haven’t met (Patrick) Kane, or a number of guys,” said Matthews. “I met (Sidney) Crosby. I did a thing with (Jonathan) Toews in the summer. There’s plenty of guys I’m looking forward to meeting.
“The NHL 100 is going to be pretty fun.”
All-star festivities kick off Friday, with the NHL announcing the 100 best players of the last 100 years in what is the league’s centennial season. The skills competition is on Saturday, the 3-on-3 games are Sunday.
“He’s going enjoy it and have fun,” said Leafs forward Leo Komarov, the Leafs’ representative last year. “It was good. It was a little bit busy. Good memories for me.
“We’re happy for (Matthews). We all know it’s going to be a hard one for him. A long flight for just a couple of days.”
The Leafs have tried their best to get under the skin of Matthews recently, joking about a mere rookie representing the team. None have succeeded. “I keep forgetting he’s going,” forward Matt Martin said. “I asked him about 10 times what he’s going to do for the break and he looks at me like, ‘What are you talking about?’
“He’s a special player and deserves to be there.”
“The way he’s taken the league by storm is really impressive, but at the same time at 19 years old to stay as humble and grounded as he has in this market is pretty incredible.
“I don’t know if I’d be the exact same way. He’s an impressive player. You can tell he’s got those leadership qualities. At the end of the day, he just wants to be the best. He stays humble and grounded throughout all of it.”
The argument could be made that Mitch Marner should be there, too. He and Matthews seem to be pushing each other to be better. They have their own little game of leapfrog going in the scoring race, both for the team lead and among league rookies.
“I think we drive each other a lot,” Matthews said. “This is a core group going forward. We want to be together a long time, we want to win, we want to continue to get better every day.
“We’re a pretty close group, us young guys.” Remarkably, Matthews and Marner don’t even play on the same line, showing just how deep the team is at forward. With eight rookies in the lineup — each contributing in major ways — the team’s rookie records are sure to be obliterated.
“We’re starting to learn the systems of coach Babcock, and the older guys have been there to help us out a lot and make sure if we have any questions they’re there for it,” Marner said. “That’s why we’ve been successful lately. Everyone is bonding really closely and we’re all getting the systems down and getting better in that way.”
Marner is not jealous that Matthews got chosen over him.
“He’s going to have a lot of fun down there,” Marner said. “L.A. is a great place. He’s going to meet a lot of guys. I get a couple of days off. Relax. Take care of yourself and spend time with family. It’s a win-win situation.”