Matthias hopes to stay home awhile
Mississauga native would like to stick in Toronto longer than his one-year contract
Shawn Matthias didn’t sign with the Maple Leafs to get traded.
But it would sure be tempting for the Leafs — if, as expected, they tumble their way to the bottom of the standings in 2015-16 — to sell the six-foot-four, 27-year-old Matthias to a playoff-bound team for coveted draft picks and/or prospects.
That certainly seems to be the template president Brendan Shanahan has laid out in his short time running the team. And it could be the narrative Matthias, who signed a one-year deal in early July, and others play under. Matthias hopes it isn’t.
“Every day I’m a Leaf I’m going to be pumped up and do what I can for the Toronto Maple Leafs,” he said in a recent phone interview. “Hopefully it’s for a lot longer than what I’m signed for, but that’s out of my control.
“I’ve got to prove to them that I belong here and show them that I really do care about being with this organization and how badly I want it. That’s my goal.
“If there are rumours and all that, I’ll try not to let it bother me. I will laugh it off as much as I can. I’m sure those questions will come. It seems those questions come every year. I can’t let it get to me.”
Matthias grew up a Leafs fan in Mississauga and now lives about five minutes from his parents’ house, where he grew up. It is a dream come true to join the Leafs.
Matthias is one of seven Ontario players now on the Leafs’ roster, joining fellow newcomers Taylor Beck (St. Catharines), Scott Harrington (Kingston) and Nick Spaling (Palmerston), the returning Daniel Winnik (Toronto), and holdovers Nazem Kadri (London) and Peter Holland (Toronto).
GMs are fond of saying they don’t look at passports when they draft or sign players, but there was a time, when Brian Burke ran the Leafs, when no player from Ontario was on the Leafs.
Given the province is responsible for roughly two of every nine NHLers, the law of averages suggest four or five players per each 23-man roster. Each team has at least two from Ontario listed on their summer rosters. Florida has the most at nine.
The Leafs, like the Senators, are at the high end with seven. It may just be the cyclical nature of roster building. Or perhaps the Leafs front office — with former OHL executives Mark Hunter (London) and Kyle Dubas (Sault Ste. Marie) — has found a comfort zone with Ontario players. Four of the nine players they drafted in June came from the OHL, including the team’s top two picks, Mitch
“There’s a lot of work to be put in. If every guy buys in, who knows what’s going to happen?” SHAWN MATTHIAS ON THE 2015-16 SEASON
Marner and Travis Dermott.
“They were at the top of my list of where I wanted to go,” said Matthias, who scored 18 goals for the Vancouver Canucks last season.
“There’s been a lot of positive changes as well. I just can’t wait to get started. This is the team you grew up watching, the team you grew up cheering for.”
Matthias isn’t among those who think the Leafs will necessarily be a bottom-feeder, citing the anything-- can-happen philosophy players have once the puck drops.
“I don’t think it’s going to be easy,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to be put into this. Every guy has to buy in to what’s happening. If every guy buys in, who knows what’s going to happen?
“Last year in Vancouver there were a lot of people saying we were in a rebuild. And people didn’t think we were going to be as good as we were.”
The Canucks finished with 101 points and made the playoffs.
“The guys put the work in every day,” Matthias said. “You have to be prepared to come to the rink every day, put your hard hat on and go to work and try to get a little better each day, and things will start going in a positive direction.”