Ranking the 3 Best Toronto Maple Leafs Players in 2019-20

1. Auston Matthews

However, the award for ‘best season by a Leaf this year’ has to be given to the face of the franchise.

Any time you can put up near 50 goals you have to be doing something right.

Any time you can be on the verge of breaking a goal-scoring record for one of the most storied franchises in the league you have to be doing something right.

Any time you can lead the league in xGAR you have to be doing something right (stats; evolving-hockey.com).

Auston Matthews was flat out dominant in 2019-20 for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic wrote an article predicting individual player value ratings using the sites’ projected ‘Game Score Value Added’. The model uses the last three season as a frame of reference to predict players’ game score that then is translated to a win value.

Auston Matthews led all forwards in GSVA this season, finishing ahead of superstars such as Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin, and David Pastrnak.

It is no secret Matthews was in a heated Rocket Richard race towards the end of the season with Alex Ovechkin and David Pastrnak. While any one of those three players could have won it, Matthews is definitely the rightful winner, mostly because he did not receive the same man-advantage time the other two players did.

This season, Pastrnak had 48 goals while Matthews had 47 (stats; NHL.com), although, if Matthews received the same amount of powerplay time per game that Pastrnak received, Matthews totals leapfrog Pastrnak’s and he registers 49 goals.

Similarly, Ovechkin had 48 goals at the time of the stoppage and should Matthews have received the same amount of powerplay time Ovechkin did, Matthews’ totals jump to 53 goals, creating a significant gap between him and the rest.

Should that have carried through the rest of the season, Matthews would have finished with a blistering 62 goals, which would have been the highest goal total in one season since Ovechkin had 65 in 2007-08.

Matthews is also a center and is forced to take on more responsibility on the ice, unlike Pastrnak and Ovechkin who are both wingers.

But not only did Matthews establish himself as the best goal scorer in the league this year, but he also made significant strides in transforming himself into an all-around center. He set a career-high in faceoff percentage and began utilizing his 6”3’, 223-pound frame more often, also setting a career-high in hits.

Furthermore, Matthews developed into an absolute menace in the defensive end. He was tied for the league lead in takeaways among forwards with 78 (stats: foxpsports.com), finishing alongside someone who is raved about for his quick stick, defensive instincts, and Selke- esque play, Mark Stone.

It is fair to say the 2019-20 season was not kind to the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. But, there are certainly three guys who did not mind how it played out for them.