Auston Matthews Disrespected by ESPN's Latest Player Rankings
Photo credit: The Daily Faceoff
Some believe that 2nd year Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews caught some disrespect from the latest NHL player ranking list from ESPN.
Auston Matthews, who was taken by the Toronto Maple Leafs with the 1st overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, is now in his 2nd year as captain of the team.
He took the role from John Tavares before last year after Tavares willingly handed over the captaincy, and he helped bring the Leafs to the ECSF after winning just their 2nd postseason series since 2004.
Matthews was included in the latest ranking by ESPN of the best 100 players currently in the NHL, but was further down the list than some Maple Leafs fans would have liked to have seen.
Matthews came in at No. 8 overall behind Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Leon Draisaitl, Quinn Hughes, Nikita Kucherov and Connor Hellebuyck.
There aren't many goal scorers who are as pure as Matthews, who possess the sort of shot every player covets. He has tallied 30-plus goals in every season of his career -- despite injuries -- and does it all for the Leafs as a standout 200-foot center. - ESPN
Should Matthews have been ranked higher on this list?
Auston Matthews' Goal Scoring Dropped Off Last Year
Coming into last year, Matthews was only a season removed from scoring 69 goals in 2023-24, which was the highest total of any NHL player since Connor McDavid scored 64 goals in 2022-23, and was also the 1st time that anyone since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96 hit that number.
But Matthews experienced numerous health issues last season that kept him from playing in the entire season.
He had 78 points (33G, 45A) in 67 games.
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