Maple Leafs Rumors: Auston Matthews 'Won't Be Back'; 3 Teams Named As Landing Spots

The rumors will be coming fast and furious this offseason regarding the future of Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews. Will they or won't they trade him? Will he or won't he ask out?

Without any noteworthy front office personnel in place on the hockey side after the firing of GM Brad Treliving this week, those questions will have to wait a bit.

But one former beat reporter for the Leafs has heard that Matthews "won't be back" next season.

Howard Berger was a Leafs radio reporter for 20 years, though that gig ended in 2011. Yet, he has tried to keep his ear to the ground for the past 15 years and continues to attempt to find scoops on the team. His latest has Matthews being traded this summer, to one of three teams.

His "source" was a text from someone who he says had given him good information in the past. It read like this:

Your favorite captain will be traded this summer, to one of three western teams: Anaheim, Los Angeles or Utah. Mark it down. [Auston] won’t be back with the Leafs.

Again, we must consider the source, but Berger writes that the thought of Matthews wanting out of Toronto shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Both he and the team have been subject to ten years' worth of disappointment, never fulfilling all of the promise that this team seemed to have late in the last decade, and early in this one.

Ducks, Kings & Mammoth named as potential landing spots for Matthews

Those three destinations, Anaheim, LA and Utah, also make sense, says Berger, from the standpoint that Matthews is a southwestern U.S. kid, from Arizona. Additionally, he'd be far, far away from the glaring spotlight of hockey-crazed Toronto. And finally, the Leafs would love to send him out west, where he wouldn't be able to haunt them in any future playoff meetings.

As for those teams in particular, the Kings have been craving more offense all season, even with the acquisition of Artemi Panarin, and with the retirement of icon Anze Kopitar after this season, Matthews would be just what the doctor ordered in LA.

The Mammoth have been said to be craving a big splashy addition, and they would likely stop at nothing to bring in the former 69-goal scorer. They've already been named as a "sneaky, dark horse team" to land Matthews.

The Ducks are a team on the rise, clearly, and have finally emerged from their rebuild, which is a stage that the Leafs captain would love to be in, but simply won't be anytime soon in Toronto.