Auston Matthews tackles Trump questions in return to Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews has weighed in on his much-talked-about appearance at U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.

Matthews captained the U.S. to its first Olympic gold medal in 46 years at Milano Cortina 2026, and what's happened in the wake of that win over Canada just days ago has sparked plenty of discussion.

While there are many moving parts to this conversation, one of the biggest issues at hand came shortly after the U.S. won gold. Once back in the dressing room, the team received a call from President Donald Trump, who invited them to the State of the Union address planned for Tuesday evening.

A comment Trump made during that phone call, when referring to the U.S. women's team, which had won gold the day prior, generated a firestorm of controversy.

"We're going to have to bring the women's team, you do know that," Trump said in a video that went viral, as players from the men's team were heard laughing. "I do believe I probably would be impeached [if not], okay."

It's been viewed as a major slight towards the women's team and has many outraged. On Wednesday, Matthews, who has since returned to Toronto, made it clear that he and his U.S. Olympic teammates have nothing but respect for the women's team and their massive accomplishment.

"Ya, that was unfortunate," Matthews said regarding the comment. "We love the women's team, we support them. The night we won the gold medal, we were hanging out in the dining hall until 3 or 4 in the morning. It's unfortunate that that occurred. We have nothing but love and respect for the women's team and what they were able to accomplish.

"It's amazing that the men's and women's ice hockey teams are both bringing home gold medals for the United States of America. I think that should be talked about more than the other. We're extremely proud of them and happy for them and we support them 100 per cent."

While the majority of the men's team, including Matthews, accepted the invite, Jake Guentzel, Kyle Connor, Brock Nelson, and Jake Oettinger all chose to skip and join their respective NHL teams. 

The decision to accept the invite has also been criticized by some, though Matthews wanted to make it clear that he and his teammates who were in attendance would have gone regardless of who was in office.

"To me, I don't like to get political or get into that kind of stuff. Like I said, we're proud Americans. Winning a gold medal, it's been 46 years since the men's ice hockey team has done that. 

"The team that wins the Stanley Cup every year accepts the invitation to go, so I think it's something that you do because we are proud Americans. Whatever your political beliefs may be, hopefully something like this will bring more unity to the country. For us, we believe it's a great honour no matter who's in office."

As for Matthews, his attention will now turn to getting the Maple Leafs back into the playoff picture. They sit six points shy of a playoff spot and are at risk of missing the postseason for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign.