If you thought being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan is tough, being an Edmonton Oilers supporter may be even harder right now.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were elated when Auston Matthews won his first career Hart Trophy last year, but once the awards are handed out this season, an Edmonton Oilers player will have won that award four times in the past seven years.
If you have the best player in the world on your team four out of seven years, you should probably advance to a Stanley Cup Finals once, at the minimum, however hockey is a weird sport. As shown by the Oilers over the past few years, you can have the best player(s) in the world, performing their best and it still won’t lead to victory.
At the end of the day, you still need a hot goaltender or need a few bounces to go your way because it’s not like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl underperformed in the playoffs. In fact, Draisaitl played some of the best hockey we’ve ever seen this postseason and it still wasn’t enough.
So if you’re the Oilers, you’re not going to trade Draisaitl or McDavid, even though the team never advanced because that would be crazy. When you have players of that talent, you don’t just ship them away because how in the world are you ever going to replace them?
Toronto Maple Leafs Should Never Trade Auston Matthews
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a very similar situation as the Edmonton Oilers. They have a Hart Trophy winner on their team and still can’t win, however if you look at the history of the NHL, that should change one of these years.
In the 100-plus history of the Hart Trophy Award, only five players who have won the award have never made a Stanley Cup Finals in their career and all five of those examples are recently, including Jose Theodore, Taylor Hall, Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews.
Essentially if you a have Hart Trophy winner on your team, you will eventually make the Stanley Cup Finals, which makes sense.
If you were to tell an NHL fan that McDavid or Matthews will never make a Stanley Cup Finals in their career, they’d probably tell you they were lying, right? The best players in the world can’t win every single year but one of these year’s they will eventually break through.
However, the biggest question with this, is will it be with the Oilers or with the Toronto Maple Leafs? It may take a change of scenery for either player to reach a Stanley Cup Finals, but if history has shown us anything, if you keep a Hart Trophy winner on your team, you will eventually get there.
You may have to change the pieces around them, but having one of these award winners eventually translates into playoff success. I know we’re all frustrated, and should be, but one of these years, Matthews will reach a Stanley Cup Finals.
It may not be in Toronto, which is his right, but the Leafs should never think of moving him.
It would be devastating to see him walk and eventually win a Stanley Cup, so hopefully the team can convince him to sign a long-term extension this summer.