The Toronto Maple Leafs have two franchise centers in Auston Matthews and John Tavares, but who is better?
The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Auston Matthews first overall during the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. They got their franchise center that they have been waiting for since Mats Sundin departed the team almost a decade earlier.
John Tavares signed with the Leafs on July 1st, 2018, two years after they drafted Matthews. By joining the team, he instantly made them Stanley Cup contenders and gave them the deepest center core out of the entire NHL.
In 2015, the Leafs did not have any centers worthy of the number one line. Tyler Bozak was really a second or third line center and Nazem Kadri was nowhere close to how good he is today. But, in the span of three years, they now have two franchise centers and Kadri who could be a first line center or a really good second line center.
With that being said, who is better? Tavares or Matthews?
Auston Matthews
As mentioned before, Matthews was drafted first overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. Known for his accurate wrist shot, Matthews entered the league by storm, breaking an NHL record in his debut.
Matthews was able to do something no other player in the modern era was able to do. Not even Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux have this feat in their record books. He scored four goals in his NHL debut, something never done by a player before him.
That was just the beginning of a historic first year by Matthews. He scored 40 goals, the 40th being an empty netter to seal the Leafs’ playoff spot. He also had 69 points in 82 games, which is very good for a first year player. Both are Leaf records and the former is an NHL record for most goals scored by an American born rookie.
So what makes Matthews so good? His wrist shot is flawless, a technique I have never seen before. The way he drags the puck towards his skate almost seamlessly and releases the puck like a sling shot off of his stick. You know when he is at the top of the circle by himself that the puck will be in the net 9/10 times.
He is also able to hold onto the puck as if it is glued to his stick. The way he is able to push players away and keep the puck under control the whole time is more difficult than a lot of people think. It looks easy because of how well he is able to do it, just showing how talented he actually is.
John Tavares
Tavares was drafted first overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. While he is not the fastest skater, he is probably one of the hardest players to get the puck away from. An example of this is the OT game winner by Josh Bailey against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Tavares was able to keep the puck away from one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL. By using his lower body strength and stick work, Tavares embarrassed Sean Couturier, passed the puck across the ice to Bailey who put it in the back of the net.
That is just one example of many at how strong Tavares is on his feet. On top of that, he has a very strong wrist shot like Matthews. While their style is different, JT still has an accurate shot. He has three 30+ goal season (could be four since he had 28 goals in 48 games during the 2012-13 lockout season).
Tavares also has 30+ assists in eight of his nine seasons in the NHL, showing that he can not only shoot the puck, but is able to be a solid play-maker as well. Again, look at the clip above, that just shows his play-making abilities on top of his hockey sense and overall strength.
Who Do I Think Is Better?
Matthews is hands down my favourite player right now, but I think, at this moment, Tavares is better. Both players play a full 200 foot game so comparing their defensive abilities is a waste of time. Offensively they are also very comparable, but Tavares is able to produce more than Matthews can right now.
That can obviously change and I think it will as soon as this season, but at the time of this article, Tavares is the better player. Matthews has William Nylander to play with, while Tavares had Josh Bailey and Anders Lee. Both are good players, but I think it is safe to say that I would rather Nylander over both of them.
With all of that being said, both players are two of the best in the NHL and they will lead the Leafs for the next seven years. It is a fun time to be a Leafs fan and the fact I can even write this article comparing these two players is still mind-boggling.