Toronto Maple Leafs: Is Auston Matthews a Top-Two Centre?

The NHL released a list of the best centremen in the league and the Toronto Maple Leafs had two players on it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs best centreman is John Tavares, according to the NHL Network. Tavares is ranked fifth behind Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Aleksander Barkov.

But, there is one player that Tavares isn’t behind, and that’s his teammate, Auston Matthews. While I agree that Tavares is the Leafs number one centre, I think Matthews isn’t far behind him.

Matthews has everything in his toolbox to be the second-best centre in the NHL, but injuries have been a problem. The 2016 first-overall pick has missed a total of 34 games in his three years in the league. And while it’s not a huge number, there’s a lot he could’ve done in that short amount of time.

To measure, Matthews had 205 points in his first three seasons in the NHL, compared to Tavares’ 202 points in the same span.

However, it wasn’t the same span. Tavares had 243 games under his belt, while Matthews had 212, which is an extra 31 games. Matthews also doesn’t have Mitch Marner on his wing feeding him tap in goals. Even then, Tavares knows where Marner is going to put the puck, so he would place himself in the right spot for the best result.

But even though Matthews has more points in fewer games, there’s still parts of his game that he needs to work on. One of those is his work in the defensive end. I can’t argue the fact that Tavares is close to insane in the defensive zone. He’s not afraid to get in and dig deep along the boards, and that’s something Matthews won’t do, yet.

I don’t want to argue about which player’s better, Matthews or Tavares, but I just had to put it all into context. But even more so, the Leafs and all of us fans are very lucky to have two generational centres in our lineup.

What About the Other Players?

The top three on the list are the clear cut best centres in the league. But what about the fourth-best? I can agree that Barkov is a very good centreman, and one of the best in the NHL. However, fourth is a big jump for someone who came 5th in Selke voting last season. Being the best centreman means, being good in your own end and in the other team’s end.

Barkov racked up 96 points last season, but I still don’t think he’s one of the top five centres in the NHL. I’m sure that this list was a hard one to make, but how can you put Barkov in front of Patrice Bergeron? Along with Crosby, he’s one of the best all-rounded players in the NHL. I think that Bergeron should’ve been slotted into fourth, and Barkov moved down to sixth.

Now, I’m not here to argue about two players who aren’t on the Leafs. I think Matthews and Tavares are placed almost perfectly on this list. And in the coming years, I’m sure Matthews will move up to the number two, or three spot once Crosby declines, if he ever does.

But, for now, I think that both Tavares and Matthews have so much room to grow and be the best they can be. We just need the 2019/20 season to start already to see that.