The Captain is listed as one of the top five centers in the league as Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews finished third on the NHL Network’s Top 20 Centers Right Now list.
Presenting the Top 20 Centers Right Now! Thoughts? 🧐#NHLTopPlayers | @NHL pic.twitter.com/r8GS5JFgp6
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) August 21, 2024
Matthews, who was Toronto’s lone representative, edged out the likes of Leon Draisatil and Aleksander Barkov while placing behind only Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid. Oilers fans may want to argue that Matthews should have finished fourth instead, but the Toronto faithful will have no gripes that the reining Rocket Trophy winner is one of the top three.
If anything, this is a well-deserved honour because Matthews is coming off the best season of his career so far from a goal-scoring perspective. His 69 goals were the most in the salary-cap era and the first to reach the mark since Mario Lemieux did so in 1995-96. Although he just missed out on the 70-goal plateau, his 107 points were a career-high which was than his previous best of 106 in 2021-22, which was his first 60-goal campaign.
Matthews was not quite able to maintain his dominance in the playoffs in part due to battling an illness, but he still managed to top the team in scoring with four points (a goal and three assists) in five postseason games. His brilliance in 2023-24 led to him being nominated for the Lady Byng Trophy, the Ted Lindsay Award, and the Selke Trophy but was snubbed from being a Hart Trophy finalist.
Put it all together and it makes sense why he was listed as the third-best center in the NHL right now. Matthews is indisputably the Leafs’ best player and has remained such since he entered the league in 2016-17. Becoming the 26th captain in franchise history further elevates his importance to the team as he begins a new chapter with increased responsibility and a bigger target on his back.
He is one deep playoff run away from being crowned the greatest player to ever don the Blue and White and is right in the prime of his career. Suffice it to say that the Leafs are lucky to have him on their side for the foreseeable future because it is hard to imagine where the team would be without him.
