Trade Proposal Emerges Sending Auston Matthews To His Hometown Team

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James Connelly
July 17, 2023 (9:56)

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A massive trade proposal has emerged which sends Auston Matthews back to his hometown team in exchange for two young stars.

Matthews To Arizona

Auston Matthews grew up as a hockey fan in Arizona. The Maple Leafs superstar and former MVP comes from an abnormal hockey area.

With rumors of Matthews potentially wanting to leave Toronto, fans have begun to speculate on where he could go to. The two front-running locations are LA and Arizona.

However, the Kings acquired Pierre-Luc Dubois earlier this offseason so they will not have the space to bring on Matthews.

That leaves the Coyotes and if they want to acquire Matthews, it will be a hefty price.

Trade Analysis

The Arizona Coyotes get a flat-out superstar in this trade. Matthews is coming off of a down year where he scored 40 goals and 85 points in 74 games. For 99.99% of NHLers, this would be a career year of dreams. Matthews would also be more inclined to sign long-term in Arizona as it is closer to home for him where he can be near friends and family.

The Maple Leafs package is quite intriguing. Both players, Keller and Cooley, possess a lot of value as is.

Cooley was the third overall pick in 2022 and has developed nicely at the University of Minnesota. He was on a line with top Leafs prospect Matthew Knies where they developed a lot of chemistry and both finished as Hobey Baker Award finalists.

Cooley is widely considered one of the top prospects in all of hockey right now trailing only behind Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson, Adam Fantilli, and Matvei Michkov. Other than those four, Cooley is likely the top prospect in all of hockey.

Keller on the other hand is a bona fide star in his own right at the moment. He is coming off a year where he scored 86 points in 82 games. Keller also scored 75 primary points (goals and primary assists) which surpassed Matthews' total of 69.

Overall the Coyotes are getting the best player of this deal but if Cooley can amount to something at the NHL level, the Leafs become more balanced and they get two top-line players and an early 2nd round pick for the future to compensate for the loss of Matthews.