Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews Completes Trophy Hat-Trick

Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Auston Matthews added two more trophies to his collection last night at the NHL Awards. He won the Ted Lindsay Award and the Hart Trophy. Matthews already won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for leading the NHL in goals.

This is the first time a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs has won the Hart Trophy since the NHL expanded beyond six teams.

After six seasons in the NHL, Matthews has already won five awards. As he continues to evolve as a player, there will be more awards in his future.

Matthews is not only one of the best goal scorers in the NHL, but he has become one of the best complete players. He plays a full 200-foot game and can be relied on to play well defensively. Last season, Matthews led all forwards in takeaways with 92 to go along with his 60 goals.

Toronto Maple Leafs Forward Auston Matthews Adds More Trophies

Before the 2021-22 NHL season, Matthews had already won two trophies in his young career. He won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year in 2017. Matthews then went on to win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy in 2021 after leading the NHL in goals with 41

Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy

For the second season in a row, Matthews finished the regular season with the most goals (60) to win his second Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. The trophy got introduced in 1999, and Matthews is just the third player to win the award in back-to-back seasons. He will be looking to become the second player to win it three years in a row.
(Stats from hockey-reference.com)

Ted Lindsay Award

The Ted Lindsay Award is awarded annually to the NHL’s most outstanding player in the regular season as judged by the members of the NHL Players’ Association. Knowing that your peers voted for you as the NHL’s most outstanding player must make a player feel good. Matthews might win a few more of these before his career is over.

Hart Memorial Trophy

The Hart Memorial Trophy is an award for the most valuable player to his team. Members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association are the ones who vote for the winner. Winning the Hart Trophy is a great accomplishment for Matthews. He is the first player from the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the award since Ted Kennedy won it in 1955. It will hopefully not be his last time winning it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are incredibly lucky to have Auston Matthews on their team. The individual awards are starting to pile up for him, but we all know he has his eyes on the Stanley Cup. Let’s hope he wins one, and let’s hope it’s in Toronto.