Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 Players Due For A Bounce Back
#1-Auston Matthews
Now this one’s fairly obvious.
It’s no secret Auston Matthews had a disappointing season in 2022-23 – at least by his standards.
He followed up a 2021-22 campaign in which he scored 60 goals and 106 points, winning himself a load of awards, with a 2022-23 season where he fell to 40 goals and 85 points. (stats: nhl.com)
By no means did he have a BAD season, Matthews just failed to reach his lofty standards. In all fairness, he did play with a nagging wrist injury for most of the season.
Since he had previously established himself as someone who could score a goal per game (he scored 50 in 50 the year before) Matthew’s downturn was clearly injury related.
I myself, along with many others, predict a strong bounce-back for Auston Matthews next season.
Look for “Papi” to score 55+ goals and contend for another Hart and Maurice Richard Trophy.
Connor McDavid had a career season in his age 26 season (he’s born earlier in the year and is a year ahead of Matthews despite both having been born in 1997) and don’t think that Matthews isn’t aware of that – he’s a competitive guy and he won’t be satisfied with last year’s totals.
A career year is possible in 2024.