Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews Slighted in ESPN Player Rankings

Other Underappreciated Players

Kucherov and Stamkos are two other players who were undervalued in the rankings.

At seventeenth, Kucherov is too low and he should be ahead of players such as Karlsson and Draisaitl.

He is a two-time Cup winner, two-time scoring champ, and a Hart Trophy winner. That resume trumps both Karlsson and Draisaitl.

Stamkos (12th) was Kucherov's teammate for those championships, is a two-time Rocket Richard winner, and is third among active players in goals scored. His credentials are more impressive than players like Henrik Lundqvist (8th) and MacKinnon (6th).

Comparing incomplete careers to those that are finished or players from different eras is an onerous task. ESPN's top five is hard to argue with, but there are many inadequacies within the rest of the top twenty-five.

Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the league's best goal-scorer since he entered the league, being ranked so low was the most glaring error.

Among active players, Matthews is currently the no-doubt second-best players. Sure, players like Kucherov and Kane are being evaluated on much longer careers, but even they were never as good as Matthews is right now, at the peak of his powers.

One thing Toronto Maple Leafs fans can take solace in, is that these rankings are clearly influened by Championships, and the Leafs are not going to fail in the playoffs for Matthews entire career - they are going to eventually get it right, and then he will be properly rated.