Only thing Matthews has proven this season is how central he is to Leafs’ success

One of the ideas the Leafs have floated this year is asking Auston Matthews to do less, in the hopes that it results in more. Less onus on carrying the puck up. Fewer defensive assignments against the opponent’s best centre. Less pressure in general.

Yet so far, Matthews seems more central than ever. When he has a good night – as he did for the most part on Monday against the visiting Sharks – the Leafs have a chance. When he lets someone who isn’t Jesus take the wheel, they don’t.

Monday’s game was meant to be a next-gen showcase. Some combo of San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini, Ivar Stenberg and Will Smith against Toronto’s Gavin McKenna. (It says a lot about the Leafs’ place in the NHL’s mid-table quicksand that the Sharks have multiple hot young things to Toronto’s one.)

McKenna surviving under the Toronto microscope

Instead, it was old man Matthews sucking up all the attention. He was at fault on the first San Jose tally. He tidied his own ledger by scoring the tying goal. He set up the one who won it, as well as the empty netter at the end. It ended a 3-1 Leafs’ win.

It’s rare that a player can be said to have played a key role in every goal in a game, for both good and ill.

When Matthews was on the ice, Toronto looked fluid and put together. When he wasn’t, everyone was hanging on until he caught his breath. In those moments, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky took over.

It’s a given that Matthews should be the centrepiece of the Leafs’ ambition, but maybe it would be better if he could coast every now and again. Given that Matthews has been tremendous so far, and yet the Leafs still have a losing record, it doesn’t look like there will be much coasting this year.

This Mr. Everything routine extends to Matthews’ media presence. After getting stick in the past for shirking his responsibilities in that regard, Matthews is now often waiting for the press after games. He speaks almost entirely in the first-person plural – a lot of ‘we’, very little ‘I’.

This is difficult to do when someone has asked a question about you in particular, but Matthews doesn’t mind a choppy transition.

“That’s a great one top to bottom, all facets,” Matthews said on Monday. He makes a deliberate effort to sound more like an assistant coach than the player in charge. Mostly positive stuff, the occasional gentle rebuke, all delivered in the flattest sort of generalities.

The only downside to any of this is that it’s happening so early in the year. This is the Matthews the Leafs need in March more than they do in October (though they need him in October as well).

If there’s any residual hard feeling after last year, Matthews isn’t showing it. He looks like a guy who has decided that he will be the change he wants to see in the team. That’s very different from bleeding blue and white. In fact, it’s the opposite.

No one seems more aware at the moment of the Leafs deficiencies than their best player. That must be why he’s already running on all eight cylinders. He understands that Toronto isn’t good enough to give away games in the early going.

The question is whether he can continue to be this guy for six-months plus. It’s been a while since Matthews has been fit enough to play a full season. He’s never really showed up in the playoffs. Not in the way that would make him a generational performer. Currently, he’s running at the highest average ice time per game (21:39) of his career.

It seems inadvisable, but what other choice do the Leafs – or Matthews – have?

If this year goes well, it sets up next year – the last of Matthews current contract. If this season goes poorly, well, forget about it. That’s when things slide into chaos.

Quinn Hughes is currently proving the problem with building your team around a guy with one year left on his deal who isn’t interested in committing long term. It’s bad enough in Minnesota. It would be the only thing anyone would talk about in Toronto.

Matthews is in the best position to understand if his Leafs career should now be measured one season at a time, not that he would tell anyone. If this year goes well, then maybe another – that would be the logic. And if not, then maybe not.

Whatever the case, Matthews is in the midst of proving his indispensability. That’s good right now. Whether it’s good in the medium term will depend on how things turn out.

The Leafs spent the off-season doing as much of an overhaul as they could in order to diversify their talent base, and reduce their reliance on the No. 1 guy. All they seem to have accomplished is re-proving how much they can’t manage without him.