Can Auston Matthews Win the Hart Trophy Again in 2025?

After a record breaking season in which he scored an astounding 69 goals yet wasn't a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy, can Auston Matthews capture his second MVP award in 2025?

Auston Matthews potted 69 goals and 37 assists last year for 107 points on the season, becoming just the ninth player in NHL history to record multiple 60-goal seasons, yet as mentioned, was not one of the three finalists for the Hart Trophy.

The nominees were Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, and Connor McDavid, with MacKinnon taking home the hardware after his 140 point campaign.

With Matthews leading the league in goals last season, scoring the most goals in a single season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96, as well as receiving a nomination for the Frank J. Selke Trophy, awarded to the best defensive forward in the league, it's hard to know what more the Maple Leafs center could have done to receive a Hart Trophy nomination last season.

Can Auston Matthews Win the Hart Trophy Again in 2025?

Matthews has one Hart Trophy on his résumé already, capturing the award for the 2021-22 season, after he became the league's first 60-goal scorer at the time since Steven Stamkos in 2011-12.

Should Matthews be in the conversation for the Hart Trophy again this season, his competition will likely be much of the same -- McDavid, Kucherov, MacKinnon, with guys like Artemi Panarin, Jack Hughes, and David Pastrnak not far below.

The 2024-25 season marks the first year of Matthews' new four-year, $53M contract that he inked last offseason for an annual cap hit of $13.25M. This means Auston Matthews will be the highest paid player in the NHL this upcoming season, ahead of Nathan MacKinnon's $12.6M cap hit.

The "core four" of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and Tavares will be making a combined $46.65M next season, good enough for approximately 53% of the newly increased salary cap. This upcoming season is the last year on both Marner and Tavares' contract, while it is the first year of Nylander's new contract that he signed in January. (all info naturalstattrick.com and puckpedia.com).

Despite not taking home any hardware at the NHL Awards last month in Las Vegas, Matthews' trophy cabinet is far from empty. He currently has three Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophies to his name, one Hart Trophy, a Ted Lindsay Award, an NHL First and Second All-Star team nod, and an All-Star Game MVP.

Of course, it is missing the *big* one, which I'm sure he'd love to bring back to Toronto this season as well.