Playing NHL hockey in Toronto is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, the spotlight of being a Maple Leaf amplifies all the things a player does well, and at the same time, it puts a player’s weak points under the microscope in a way that doesn’t happen in cities that aren’t head-over-heels-in-love with their elite hockey players. You have to roll with the punches when you’re a Leaf and not buy into the hype about you. It’s a balancing act, to be sure.
But man, alive, is it good to be Auston Matthews right now? He’s been absolutely berserkers with the puck this year, producing goals at a clip of better than 0.882 goals-per-game – and that includes a thoroughly dominant performance in Toronto’s 4-3 overtime win over Philadelphia Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena. Matthews was a bull in a china shop, marauding over the Flyers with a natural hat trick in two periods of play to give him 45 goals in 51 games this season. He’s now on pace to score 71 goals this year, a total that would easily break his career-high 60 goals, which he set in 2021-22. He also has five hat tricks this season. This. Season. Some players would die for five hat tricks in a career. Matthews makes it look easy.
And it’s not just the force or regularity with which he scores that makes him so impressive. It’s the pinpoint accuracy that’s arguably his best quality. On his second goal Thursday, Matthews blasted a one-timer shot short-side and over the shoulder of Philly goalie Samuel Ersson. The shot was perfect, and it didn’t happen by accident. It happened because Matthews’ hand-eye coordination is as good as it gets in the sport.
Many NHL stars can shoot it hard, in no small part due to the advancement in hockey stick manufacturing. Very few can pick apart an opposing netminder the way Matthews can. A one-on-one showdown for goalies facing Matthews is almost unfair now. He has so many weapons in his offensive arsenal that it’s a pick-your-poison scenario for the unfortunate souls tasked with defending against him.
Matthews knows he ultimately will be judged by how many Stanley Cup playoff wins he can be part of in Toronto, but his humility belies his ability. We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating – he’s the single-best Maple Leaf we’ve seen in our lifetime. And he’s still just 26 years old, improving his all-around game every season. In addition to his playing time at regular strength and on the power play, Matthews now averages 53 seconds of penalty kill time per night. You can see Buds coach Sheldon Keefe trusts his best player in all situations.
More importantly, Matthews clearly can thrive under the pressure of being a Leaf. With every game, like the game against Philadelphia, his legend grows, but Toronto management has done well by him, slowly bringing him along and preparing him for the relentless media assignments that are part and parcel of wearing the Blue and White. Remember when there was tangible angst last summer, with some Leafs fans and media worrying themselves into a lather over the idea that Matthews wouldn’t sign a contract extension? This writer wasn’t one of those people because Toronto brass couldn’t have treated him any better.
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And because of that first-rate treatment, Matthews will be (for a short time, at least) the NHL’s highest-paid player next season. Does anybody have a problem with that now? Other than Connor McDavid’s agent, we mean. Matthews is worth each and every penny that’s coming to him, and most NHL GMs would dropkick an elderly beloved relative into next week if it meant they could acquire him.
As a marquee talent, Matthews has delivered the goods in the regular season, to the point we’re probably spoiled to see him perform night in and night out. Calling him a beast doesn’t do him justice. He’s a beast-and-a-half, and when he’s feeling it the way he felt it against the Flyers, there’s no stopping him. Like the cream of the crop in any sport, Matthews thrives in spite of the pressure, and he has elevated his game to new levels this season.
We’ll look back on games like Thursday’s game and marvel that Matthews basically imposed his will against opponents who thought him a mere mortal. He’s not. He’s the closest thing Toronto has had to a hockey god, and the bigger the sample size, the better he looks. Enjoy him while he’s here, Torontonians. A player of his caliber doesn’t come along often.