Auston Matthews Reveals Why He Made Smiley Face In Preseason Game

Some fans noted the gesture resembled something Mitch Marner did while still with the Leafs, drawing a smiley face on his gloves early in his Leafs career.

However, Matthews has made it clear he wants questions about Marner put to rest, putting the links between his Tuesday gesture and that Marner thing in question, at the very least.

Matthews told reporters Sunday they had “two more weeks” to ask about his former teammate before he would stop addressing the subject.

The ultimatum comes on the heels of Marner’s July trade to the Vegas Golden Knights, which ended Toronto’s infamous “Core Four” era. Matthews emphasized the importance of moving on, something he and his teammates seem to have already done.

“Obviously, at the end of the day, you’re teammates, you’re also friends, and he’ll be a friend of all of ours for life,” Matthews said at the start of camp. “But you just got to put your best foot forward.”

Head coach Craig Berube, meanwhile, echoed those words, pointing instead to the roster additions of Nicolas Roy, Dakota Joshua and Matias Maccelli while feeling relieved the "Core Four" era is finally over.

“We lost a player, a real good player here,” Berube said. “But we added three to our lineup. What excites me is that I don’t have to hear ‘Core Four’ anymore.”