2022-2023 Toronto Maple Leafs Player Grades: Part 3

#10. Auston Matthews

Stats with the Leafs:

Regular Season:

Games Played: 74

Goals: 40

Assists: 45

Playoffs:

Games Played: 11

Goals: 5

Assists: 6

Contract Status:

Signed through 2023-24 at $11,640,250M AAV and through 2027/28 at $13,250,000M AAV.

Overall Thoughts:

Now that Matthews has re-upped for another four years, Leafs fans can get a good night of sleep; and haters can go back to predicting another exit when his contract extension comes close to expiring.

The deal was great for both the player and the organization. Yes, he’s now getting more money per year than any other NHL player, but let’s be frank. Matthews could have gotten way more on the open market. He chose to take less. A great gesture of leadership and it allows the team to add more talent around him once the cap rises next season. He deserves every single dollar of that contract.

When Matthews is healthy, he’s the best overall player in the league.

He’s always the first one back into the Leafs defensive zone and backchecks like he’s on a mission. He wins lots of draws and was the team leader in plus-minus. Everyone talks about his shooting percentage being down, but he still scored 40 goals in 74 games. Matthews never makes excuses for any result, but reports surfaced that he played through a bad wrist injury from the get-go.

Any team would be ecstatic if one of their players netted 40 in 74, but when you are the reigning NHL Most Valuable Player, it seems like the standard is different.

Since playing his first game in 2016, a four tally welcoming party on the road against the Ottawa Senators, Matthews has led the entire league in goals. More than Alexander Ovechkin. More than Connor McDavid.

Perhaps the most impressive stat comes at 5v5, when there is less open ice and tighter checking, during which Matthews also has racked up the highest total with 92. The next closest person, McDavid, has 73.

Oh, and Matthews also led the team with five playoff goals. He would have had more if Bobrovsky didn’t go on an insane, unexpected run of superior goaltending.

Matthews receives a solid ‘A’ for his efforts and there is a sense that his best grade is yet to come.