Auston Matthews Calls Maple Leafs 'Embarrassing'

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a mess and their captain Auston Matthews isn't shying away from it.

Matthews spoke to reporters after the team's loss to the rival Ottawa Senators Saturday night, and called out his team for their pride in their play. 

I thought we started better. We just kind of lost it there. Just really disconnected throughout all three zones. Just bad. Just fairly embarrassing, to be honest with you. We need to have more pride in our play, no matter where we’re at, no matter what the situation is. We didn’t have that tonight.

The Leafs moved to 27-24-9 on the season, and now are creeping lower in the Eastern Conference standings, and GM Brad Treliving is ready to sell. They've gone 0-3-0 out of the Olympic break and it feels like this is certainly rock bottom.

“A good first five minutes, I thought,” stated defenceman Jake McCabe after the 5-2 shellacking from the visiting Sens. “We get the first goal, which we’ve been searching for. And then s*** the bed after that.”

The Maple Leafs are in trade talks to move on several of their players, including Max Domi, Brandon Carlo, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and potentially Morgan Rielly, Contract talks have heated up around Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann, as it appears extensions are coming for both forwards. 

"Nobody’s quitting, everybody wants to fight for a playoff spot,” stated William Nylander. “It’s just, we’ve got to figure it out. … It’s still not impossible, but we’ve got to play a lot better hockey if we want to be there.”

The Leafs take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night, and if things don't go as planned, don't be surprised to see the team booed off the ice at Scotiabank Arena by Leafs Nation.

Photo credit:  Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images