The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a painful second-round exit in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the hands of the Florida Panthers. The Maple Leafs had all the big guns they needed to thwart the Panthers and smash Florida's glass slippers into pieces, but that's not what happened. Instead, Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs are back to the drawing board.

Matthews will still be in Toronto for the 2023-24 NHL season but that could be his last with the team — unless he and the Maple Leafs come up with an extension. If anything, Auston Matthews has already made it clear that he intends to continue playing for the team.

“My intention is to be here,” Auston Matthews said, per Chris Johnston of TSN Sports.

Matthews has always been the Maple Leafs' best player ever since he entered the league in 2016. Toronto's playoff heartbreaks are well-documented, but with Auston Matthews, the Maple Leafs have an elite talent they can hope to one day carry them back to the top of the NHL. That being said, he's only got one more season to try and do it based on his current contract. The Maple Leafs would and should want to keep Matthews. They still have plenty of time to decide on that (and negotiate with Matthews' camp).

In any case, the Maple Leafs are entering another intriguing offseason with plenty of questions to answer and needs to address.

In the 2022-23 season, the 25-year-old Auston Matthews collected 40 goals and 45 assists across 74 games.