Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews 2022-23 Season

Coming off his 2021-22 season that saw Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews collect the Hart, Pearson and Rocket Richard trophies, while also finishing as a First-Team All-Star there were high expectations for what he could bring in 2022-23.

While the Toronto Maple Leafs were unable to see the same output from their star last year, Matthews was still impressive.

The Arizona native had his fourth consecutive season that saw him collect at least 40-goals.  Despite only ever playing one full season in the NHL, this mark is the norm for the former Calder Trophy winner.

Injuries have become a common occurrence for Matthews and the 2022-23 season were no different.  He missed a few days in mid-January with an undisclosed injury and then missed nearly three weeks from last January to mid-February with a knee injury.

Despite scoring 40-goals, Matthews never really put together any real long stretches of goal scoring throughout the season.  His longest streak saw him have one four game goal stretch from January 8 until January 19 when he put five pucks behind goaltenders.

After collecting four hattricks during his 60-goal campaign the season before, the former first overall selection was unable to pot three in a game last season.  In fact, Matthews had just five multi-goal games throughout the season and had just four three-point games.

Toronto Maple Leafs Top Dog Impressive Against Division Rivals

Matthews did come up biggest against some of his division rivals.  Matthews scored five goals in four games against the Florida Panthers, while collecting seven points in four games against the Montreal Canadiens.

The two-time Rocket Richard winner failed to lead the league in even strength goals for the first time in three seasons which was likely due to getting less shots on net and having his lowest shooting percentage of his career.  Matthews had averaged a 17.2% shooting percentage over the previous three seasons, however saw it drop by 5% for 2023-24.  Had Matthews continued on the same percentage as the previous three seasons, he would have flirted with 60-goals again.

Matthews was dominant in the first round of the playoffs as he collected five goals and nine points, while averaging almost four shots per game in the six games against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Unfortunately, like all his teammates he was non-existent in the Florida series.  Matthews would finish with just two assists in five games and finished pointless in the last three games.  Despite playing nearly 30-minutes in the final game and firing eight shots on net, Matthews was unable to put in a goal.

If Matthews can put together a healthy season in 2023-24, 60-goals should be within range again with a chance of getting close to 70.