Fresh off of signing his new 4-year, $53M contract, which has made him the highest paid player in the NHL, Auston Matthews appears to be heading back to Toronto a little bit earlier than originally expected.
The beginning of Leafs training camp is still a couple of weeks away, but Matthews wrapped up his summer training with coach Brian Slugocki in Arizona yesterday, leading to a lot of speculation that he is ready to hop on a plane and get himself back to Toronto to join some of his teammates who have already arrived for some informal skates to help get ready for training camp in mid-September.
Matthews has the luxury of coming into this year's training camp, preseason and regular season fully healthy - something he could not say at this time last year as he was engaged in rehab sessions, recovering from offseason wrist surgery. A healthy Auston Matthews is a dangerous Auston Matthews, as we know, and if Matthews truly is coming in healthy this year, I'd expect a much hotter start and a return to form following what was a bit of a "down" year last season, if you can call it that.
Matthews had finished last season with 40 goals and 85 points in 74 games, but even thought he was well over the point-per-game mark, it paled in comparison to his 60-goal, 106-point campaign just one year earlier.
There are plenty of new additions in Toronto this year, including the likes of Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, Ryan Reaves and, now, Simon Benoit. I'll be as intrigued as anyone to see what kind of season the Leafs have with a little more bite in their lineup.
