Auston Matthews is the Toronto Maple Leafs best player, but with Frederick Andersen out, he has a chance to prove he’s the NHL’s most valuable.
The former first-overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft is having his best statistical year as a Toronto Maple Leafs.
With 37 goals and 62 points, he’s only games away from breaking both of his career records of 40 goals and 73 points in a season.
Auston Matthews confidence is at all-time high this year. After Sheldon Keefe took over, it feels that Matthews scores every night, now that he’s paired up with Mitch Marner.
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews
Personally, I thought his confidence came from the mustache, or being the cover-man for NHL 20, but whatever it is, he’s turned into the best pure goal scorer in the NHL.
In the Toronto Maple Leafs biggest game of the year against Florida on Monday night, Matthews brought one of his best games of the year.(Stats naturalstattrick.com).
Matthews had one goals and seven shots on net, three high-danger scoring chances and another shot that hit the post that would have tied the game.
From the second the game started Matthews was electric. He was all over the ice creating offense chances, while playing an exceptional 200-foot game. If it wasn’t for a few big stops from Sergei Bobrovsky, we could have been talking about another multi-goal game for Matthews.
To ensure an appearance in the playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs need Matthews to continue to play the way he did against Florida every night.
50 goals seem like a no-brainer for him this year, but 60 goals aren’t out of the question.
Matthews would only (and I say only laughingly) have to score 23 more goals in 29 games to do so. It’s not that crazy to think he could do this, as he already has nine multi-goal games this season and has 21 goals in his last 23 games.
If Matthews can keep up his incredible streak of scoring there’s no reason that he shouldn’t be considered a Hart Trophy candidate.
Sure, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are light-years ahead of him in points, but perhaps goal scoring should be more valued than overall points. Additionally, Matthews has extremely strong defensive metrics, and leads the NHL in 5v5 goals.
The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t had a player win the Hart Trophy since Ted Kennedy in 1954-55, but this year might be their best chance.