Maple Leafs’ Matthews, Roslovic hoping to rekindle past heroics

TORONTO — Back when Auston Matthews and Jack Roslovic were teammates in Plymouth, Mich., suiting up as teenagers for the U.S. National Team Development Program, they formed two-thirds of a trio they dubbed 'The Superman Line.'

“I think it was the Cam Newton era,” Roslovic explained with a grin Friday, referring to the former NFL quarterback’s signature touchdown celebration. “When he was ripping the jersey open. It was jokes.”

The 29-year-old skated alongside his former USNTDP linemate for the second straight day as the Toronto Maple Leafs continued on-ice sessions at the club’s practice facility in Etobicoke, Ont., showing well as they continue recovering their former chemistry on the blue-and-white's top line.

“He’s extremely skilled,” Matthews said of his new winger, who joined the Leafs on a two-year, $8-million deal in July. “He’s always got his head up, he skates well, he shoots the puck. He can drive play with his speed — he’s good at holding on to pucks, finding the open guy, just trying to read off each other a lot. … I think it’s definitely coming along. It’s still obviously very early, but tomorrow will be a good test for us to get out there, get in a game situation and just play hockey.”

“We’re getting there,” Roslovic added. “Obviously the biggest thing is just the communication aspect — when you know somebody, you have that comfortability of talking to them. That’s the biggest thing. As the ice sessions keep on going, and the games start happening, it’ll build.”

Through two days of camp, the connection between the longtime friends has been clear, not only in the handful of sterling sequences the pair has come up with on the sheet, but in the rekindling of their camaraderie off it, too.

“We had a lot of good memories, honestly. Those two years were so much fun,” Matthews said of their run together Stateside. “We had a lot of success. … It’s pretty cool to reminisce on those times. And obviously it’s exciting having him on the team here, to play with him and be around him again, hang out — he’s a blast to be around.”

The third member of that original Superman Line — Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk — appears less enthused about the reunion.

“He told us if we played against them and scored, and did the Superman celly, he was going to kill one of us,” Matthews said with a laugh.

Filling in for Tkachuk in this iteration of the Superman trio is Matthew Knies, who said Friday he feels 100 per cent healthy heading into the new campaign. After a 2025-26 that saw the winger hampered by injuries, but still able to put up a career-best 66 points in 79 games, the 2026-27 season brings with it the potential for even more progress.

“The strength is really impressive,” Roslovic said of the 23-year-old. “And then you mix that with his goal-scoring prowess, his ability to be disruptive netfront, and then obviously playing all the way down to his D-zone. I’m excited to play with him as well. That’s a guy who can control the game in a little bit of a different way than Auston can.”

“He looks great,” Matthews added.