What Jack Roslovic said offers a telling clue about Auston Matthews' future in Toronto
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Jack Roslovic signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1, but his interest in Toronto predates Auston Matthews by a full year.
He and Matthews were linemates on the U.S. National Development Team more than a decade ago, finishing one-two in scoring on a roster that also included Matthew Tkachuk and Clayton Keller. That decade-old bond is the framing driving this week's coverage.
Roslovic has said Matthews helped him find housing, introduced him around the organization, and the two have already been chatting with new teammates in group texts.
“Yeah, I've talked to Auston a lot. He's been awesome, helping me figure out where to live, what to do around town, and even introducing me to the staff and people around the organization… It's really fun when you get the chance to play with someone you once had a lot of success with.
I've heard their locker room is really strong, and we've already been chatting in the group messages, getting to know everyone. It seems like it's going to be a good time, and everyone's ready to get to work. So it's exciting.”
- Jack Roslovic
I've heard their locker room is really strong, and we've already been chatting in the group messages, getting to know everyone. It seems like it's going to be a good time, and everyone's ready to get to work. So it's exciting.”
- Jack Roslovic
This shows Matthews appears to be determined and committed to the city of Toronto and the Leafs.
The pursuit outlasted a front office purge
In a separate interview, Roslovic revealed he had talked with Toronto last fall too, back when Brad Treliving still ran the front office and Craig Berube still coached the bench.
Treliving was fired in March, and new general manager John Chayka fired Berube two months into the job before hiring Jim Hiller as head coach in June.
Roslovic called the new front office thorough, saying it seemed to have inherited notes on players the previous regime had already scouted.
The Matthews friendship sped the deal along, but Toronto's front-office interest in him predates both Chayka and Hiller.
The cap hit tells the real story
William Nylander was Toronto's only significant right-shot forward last season, a gap that limited lineup balance as the team finished 32-36-14 and missed the playoffs entirely.
Roslovic, a right-shot winger with 20-plus goals in three of his last five seasons, fills that hole directly.
His contract carries a four-million-dollar annual cap hit over two years, not the 1.5 million dollar figure circulating in some coverage.
That's the actual reason Toronto wrote the check, and the Matthews reunion is simply how the signing got sold to fans.
Toronto also guaranteed money to Sergei Bobrovsky in the same week, signaling a front office spending to fix specific holes rather than chasing narratives.
Roslovic's fit with Matthews just made the math easier to sell, and Matthews appears in it for the long haul.
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