The best player in Toronto Maple Leafs franchise history is Auston Matthews.
With apologies to the former King, Mats Sundin, and all the other great Toronto Maple Leafs over the years, Auston Matthews is the single best player to ever wear the blue and white.
Syl Apps, Charlie Conacher, Ted Kennedy, Turk Broda, George Armstromg, Frank Mahovolich, Dave Keon, Johnny Bower, Darryl Sittler, Borge Salming, Lanny McDonald, Rick Vaive, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Lonny Bohonos and Phil Kessel are all legends.
None of them are as good as Matthews.
In the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews is fourth in points per game. He is second in goals per game. He ranks 27th in all-time franchise points, even though he’s just 24.
He has never won a playoff series, mostly due to his injured wrist, which he recently had surgically repaired.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews
This summer, he had his wrist surgically repaired. Even with John Tavares injured, even with Jake Muzzin missing game seven, even with Marner’s zero in 18, and even with the uncalled headshots, fluke goals, and generally terrible luck, the Leafs would have beaten Montreal if Auston Matthews could shoot the puck.
In fact, if Matthews could have shot the puck at full strength, it is likely the Leafs power-play never goes into the toilet for half a season. It is likely – even probable – that they win the President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best team. A Stanley Cup Final appearance was all but guaranteed (I mean, if Montreal made it…).
Matthews scored 41 goals in 52 games which included a ten game stretch where he played but could not shoot. He wasn’t even fully healthy, but in all other games he scored about one goal per game.
If he is fully healthy after his surgery, it is not unreasonable to think he could score 82 goals in a season. This isn’t the 80s, so Wayne Gretzky’s 92 goals are probably out of the question….aren’t they?
Matthews is 24, so it’s entirely possible that he is about to hit his all-time peak performance level. He might already have done so, but it’s still a possibility that he actually gets better. Marner is a year younger, and he might get better too.
If these guys are healthy, if they get hot, if everything goes right……93 goals is still pretty ridiculous. But it’s fun to think about it. There will be around 20 games against Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa…..
I know it’s probably dumb to even mention it, but just the fact that you can is pretty fun. What is a healthy Matthews’ upper limit? We don’t know. All we do know is that he played a half season with a bum wrist and he was still the best in the NHL.
A healthy Matthews is a lock for 65 goals. He enters the season as the co-favorite to win the Hart Trophy. This could be the best Toronto Maple Leafs season we’ve ever seen.