Maple Leafs’ Matthews passes on chance to join Nylander on Toronto subway

It doesn’t sound like Auston Matthews will be joining Toronto Maple Leafs teammate William Nylander on the subway to commute to work anytime soon.

A photo of Nylander riding the subway to Scotiabank Arena went viral this week — he was sitting beside a man with a Leafs hat — and then the Toronto forward told Postmedia’s Terry Koshan that he takes the TTC to most games.

Matthews likely hurt his chances of getting a gig as a TTC spokesperson with his response to Nylander’s choice of travel.

“I usually like to give myself enough time to get to the rink. I don’t know if he’s in the same category there,” Matthews said with a smile on Friday when asked if he’ll consider public transit.

“I think the weekday games, he’ll find himself on the subway every once in a while. I mean, I don’t blame him. It’s probably better than sitting in traffic for an extended period of time.”

Union Station connects via a pedestrian path to Scotiabank Arena, making it an easy walk to work for Nylander when he exits the train.

He’s not the first notable Toronto sports figure to hit the rails for his commute.

Former Raptors forward Matt Bonner was affectionately known as “The Red Rocket” when he played in Toronto (2004-06) — both for the colour of his hair and his regular use of the TTC (The Red Rocket was an iconic Toronto streetcar).

The Toronto Sun had Bonner pose in front of a streetcar on Queen Street in the downtown core for a feature on the player when he was on the team. Bonner ran in front of the streetcar when it was stopped so the photographer could snap some shots, leading to the driver ringing his bell numerous times to try to clear the way

Former Raptors coach Dwane Casey also made headlines when, with the Toronto Marathon causing traffic nightmares, he took the subway to get to the arena for what would turn out to be a heartbreaking Game 7 loss against the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs.

“Good old reliable subway,” Casey said at the time, laughing. “I don’t think anyone expected us to be here today in that they had a marathon and a Game 7 on the same day.”

Casey was wearing a Raptors T-shirt and was recognized by fans.

“They just said, ‘Go get ’em,'” Casey said.

Nylander also said fellow riders have been polite.

“People come up and ask for pictures or say hi, but they don’t really bother me,” he told Koshan. “Everybody’s very nice.”