Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews was in Las Vegas for the NHL Awards, where he was nominated for the Hart Trophy, though it ultimately went to Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.
While there, Matthews spoke to reporters for the first time since the Leafs' season ended in a Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins, and he addressed the trade rumors surrounding Mitch Marner.
All I'm gonna say is, we love Mitch, obviously. There's a lot of noise rolling and all that, but we love Mitchy. He's a great person, great teammate. I can't speak highly enough about him.
Matthews was also announced as one of the elite six for team USA during the Four Nations Face-off next February, joining the best NHL players from Canada, Sweden, and Finland.
🇺🇸 We have the first six players for Team USA for the Four Nations Face Off 🇺🇸
First six players for 4 Nations Cup: FIN: Barkov, Aho, Rantanen, Heiskanen, Lindell & Saros. SWE: W. Nylander, Forsberg, Zibanejad, Hedman, E. Karlsson and Forsling. USA: Matthews, Eichel, M. Tkachuk, Q. Hughes, Fox and McAvoy. CAN: McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, Marchand, Point and Makar. So which team finishes 2nd after Canada? 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦