It’s been 66 years since a Toronto Maple Leafs player has won the Hart Trophy, but Auston Matthews is continuing to showcase the reason why he deserves that title.
There’s still one month left in the regular season, but the awards race is getting interesting. Although it seemed like a lock that Connor McDavid would win the Hart Trophy, Matthews is trying to convince voters that he deserves the crown.
If you followed the NFL last year, Patrick Mahomes was the favorite to win the NFL MVP heading into the last month of the season. However, Aaron Rogers was the eventual winner of the award.
Rogers peaked at the right moment, while Mahomes declined with four weeks to go and as a result, the voters gave the award to Rogers, although Mahomes is the better player.
I’m not saying that McDavid’s game is going to fall off a cliff, but there’s still a ton of hockey left to decide which player deserves the award and Matthews has a great case as to why he should be the eventual winner.
Making the Case for Matthews to win Hart Trophy
Although the Hart Trophy is an individual trophy awarded to the player that is “deserved most valuable to his team”, the team itself does weigh on the voters.
For example, the Edmonton Oilers are currently 12th in points percentage in the NHL, while the Toronto Maple Leafs are third. The Leafs are still one of the best in the entire league despite having Michael Hutchinson and Jack Campbell in net for 20 of a possible 42 games.
The fact that half of the goaltender starts have been played by back-up goalies speaks volumes to what Matthews is doing up-front. I know Campbell’s stats are great, but without Matthews, this team could be struggling for a playoff spot.
At this current moment, Matthews has 32 goals and 53 points in 39 games, which represents 1.35 points per game and 0.82 goals per game. In an 82-game season, he’d be on pace for 67 goals and 110 points.
Comparatively, McDavid has 23 goals and 69 points in 42 games, which represents a 1.64 points per game and 0.54 goals per game average. If this were an 82-game season, he’d be on pace for 44 goals and 135 points.
Both seasons are insane, and although McDavid is scheduled to have 25 more points than Matthews, Papi would be on pace to score 23 more goals than him.
Goals are way harder to come by in the NHL than assists. Especially, when a large percentage of McDavid’s assists are from goals scored by former Hart Trophy winner Leon Draisaitl.
Scoring at a pace of 23 more goals than the next best player in the NHL is an outrageous amount. I mean, some top-six forwards score 23 goals in a single season and that’s an amazing season for them, let alone that it’s the gap between first and second place.
Matthews is essentially having a replicate season of Alex Ovechkin in 2007-08. Ovechkin scored 65 goals, 110 points and won every single major award that year. Matthews is scoring at a pace that we see sometimes only once every decade.
Obviously you can say the same thing about McDavid and his point totals, but points are not as valuable as goals. Matthews goal-scoring prowess is exceptional and the fact that he is going to win the Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy by double-digit goals in a 56-game season is outrageous.
If the Leafs win the North Division and Matthews scores 10-15 more goals than McDavid, then I don’t know why he wouldn’t get more votes. Not only is Matthews clearly the best pure goal-scorer in the league, but he has a better 200-foot game than McDavid, as well.
Nobody has outscored the rest of the league at a pace like Matthews is currently doing in the Lockout Era, so hopefully voters take notice.
Matthews is just getting started and if he can finish this month as strong as he started it, he could be lifting more hardware than just the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy.