Auston Matthews current rank among NHLers

[Despote]

Where would you slot Matthews among all NHL players right now? Vote the highest option he fits in.

Click to read more...

 

[dirtydanglez]

somewhere just before 10

 

[Xspyrit]

The word "current" is in the question so obviously, we're not talking about 2-3 seasons ago

Some facts :

17th in PPG in 2022-23
26th in PPG in 2023-24

Players with a higher PPG this season :

Jack Hughes, Nikita Kucherov, McDavid, Panarin, Miller, Pastrnak, Makar, MacKinnon, Quinn Hughes, William Nylander, Draisaitl, Reinhart, Pettersson, Bratt, Rantanen, Stützle, Hyman, Forsberg, Boeser, Fox, Bouchard, Barzal, Connor, Guentzel, Eichel

Notables with a lower PPG :

Marner, Barkov, Point, Crosby, Hedman, Jason Robertson, Kaprizov, Bedard, McAvoy, Dahlin, Tage Thompson, Matthew Tkachuk, Erik Karlsson

So how many players above would be considered better? Not including goalies

 

[Kerberos]

Getting harder and harder to consider him in the top 10. Probably just outside of it.

He's had 1 truly exceptional season in his career which is looking like more and more of an outlier by the day.

 

[notbias]

Getting harder and harder to consider him in the top 10. Probably just outside of it.

He's had 1 truly exceptional season in his career which is looking like more and more of an outlier by the day.

He has at least 2 exceptional seasons.

Votes for 1st and 2nd for the Hart.

That outlier season was not only one season.

He was injured all season, but before that was the 2nd best player in the world.

Not sure what is happening this season (could just suck now), but it was confirmed he was injured last season.

I agree at his current playing level he is not a top 10 player... but he didn't have just one exceptional season, and I'd assume that the multiple wrist injuries have more to do with his decline than having an "outlier" season which isn't true anyway.

 

[blundluntman]

Much closer to top 25 than top 10 this season for sure. Very very streaky and still barely a ppg

Edit: This comment was obviously made when he had 25 points in 23 games and wasn't far removed from a streak where he had 2 points in 7 games... Now? Around top 7 I'd say, maybe top 5

 

[Sheppy]

Probably 10-12

 

[Craft Beer Lover]

My contention has always been that as a center, he makes nobody around him better on the ice. He simply doesn’t have the playmaking skills to be an elite center. His skill set is much more conducive to playing left wing, where he wouldn’t have the defensive responsibility, and could just fire away.

 

[Sweetpotato]

My contention has always been that as a center, he makes nobody around him better on the ice. He simply doesn’t have the playmaking skills to be an elite center. His skill set is much more conducive to playing left wing, where he wouldn’t have the defensive responsibility, and could just fire away.

He played a bit on McDavids left-wing in the world hockey championship and even at 18 they were absolutely a cheat code together. I tend to agree with your sentiment if they had more center depth to make that shuffle.

 

[PromisedLand]

Not sure how to vote on this

He was a top 3 player before his wrist surgery

Post his wrist surgery he ranges anywhere from being top 10 to top 20 especially given his cap hit

 

[wetcoast]

Getting harder and harder to consider him in the top 10. Probably just outside of it.

He's had 1 truly exceptional season in his career which is looking like more and more of an outlier by the day.

I took him as top 15 as an overall player but came here to see how many fantasy hockey argument would ensue and wasn't disappointed.

I also wonder if this is the best post wrist injury AM that we will see or if there is an injury adjustment that will happen. Still a very valuable center IMO.

 

[bobholly39]

i've been calling him a top 5 player for a while now. Problem is "top 5" was really a group of 6, so top 6. 6 players would be:

McDavid, Makar, Drai, Matthews, Kucherov, MacKinnon (not in any order, outside of McDavid at #1).

But not sure anymore:

1. Mcdavid still top 5 (top 1), obviously
2. Makar still top 5
3. Kucherov still top 5
4. Draisaitl still top 5 (slower season start, but fantastic last few seasons and playoffs, and he likely bounces back by season's end)
5. MacKinnon - maybe still top 5 too, maybe not with a lot of other players rising
6. Matthews...not sure. Weakest season last year of these 6, weakest of the bunch so far this year. He might be dropping down.

I voted top 10. I had predicted he'd score 70 goals this season, and I still think it's possible he bounces back and does. But so far he's very streaky - too many pointless games. He needs to become more consistant again.

So top 10 - but in my opinion you only get one season of "grace period" and last year was his. If he can't bounce back to be one of the clear top 5 players by end of season, it will mean he falls back and others will have passed him (Hughes, Pastrnak, etc).

 

[TMLife17]

Its never too late to edit a post

 

[amnesiac]

McD
MacK
Kuch
Drai
Makar
J.Hughes
Pasta
Pettersson
Matthews
Rantanen
M.Tkachuk
Panarin
Marner
Fox
Q.Hughes
Hedman
Crosby
Point
Robertson
Kaprizov

 

[hamzarocks]

15-25th

 

[Stealth1616]

I remember when Leaf fans were telling everyone he was the best player on the planet.

Good times

 

[Regal]

I’ve generally defended the guy because I think he’s gotten the Toews treatment where people go too far the other way when they think he’s overrated. Such as saying he’s only had one good year when he was runner up for the Hart the year before he won. It’s getting harder to do so though because he just doesn’t seem to have the killer instinct you want and bring his A game enough. Seems more content to collect his paycheque. He’s still a top 20 player when he’s playing like that but he should be a top 5 player.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Getting harder and harder to consider him in the top 10. Probably just outside of it.

He's had 1 truly exceptional season in his career which is looking like more and more of an outlier by the day.

That's not true he has had several. Covid robbed him of being recognized for what he was doing because there weren't enough games to hit the numbers.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I’ve generally defended the guy because I think he’s gotten the Toews treatment where people go too far the other way when they think he’s overrated. Such as saying he’s only had one good year when he was runner up for the Hart the year before he won. It’s getting harder to do so though because he just doesn’t seem to have the killer instinct you want and bring his A game enough. Seems more content to collect his paycheque. He’s still a top 20 player when he’s playing like that but he should be a top 5 player.

I think the bolded is a big part of the issue and why his playoffs have mostly been underwhelming. You can "talent" your way to good totals in the regular season because you'll play against shitty teams. But in the playoffs, you can't just rely on talent alone. There's got to be that extra bit of heart/hunger to dig deep when things get tough, and Matthews doesn't seem to have that.

 

[ricky0034]

probably 20th or so

it's crazy how much hype he gets for someone that even at his absolute best never once finished higher than 5th in the league in points

 

[heretik27]

I'm more shocked by Matthew Tkachuk's latest stretch than Auston Matthew's streakiness while still remaining PPG. Tkachuk just had two back to back 100 point seasons and just went through a stretch of like 2 points in his last 10 games. Not sure what's going on there, but Laine's fallen off too since he had a concussion and PLD isn't producing much over in LA. A bit of a disappointing start to the year for a few of the top draft picks from the 2016 draft.

 

[Sens9292]

McD
MacK
Kuch
Drai
Makar
J.Hughes
Pettersson
Matthews
Pasta
Rantanen
M.Tkachuk
Panarin
Fox
Q.Hughes

Pasta is clearly the better player over Matthews

 

[Sheppy]

I remember when Leaf fans were telling everyone he was the best player on the planet.

Good times

Elite two way center, too.

Guy is the best at everything

 

[nbwingsfan]

Where would you slot Matthews among all NHL players right now? Vote the highest option he fits in.

Somewhere around 10-12

 

[koyvoo]

Good thing is that pure goal scorers always peak after the age of 26-27 years old, so the best is yet to come.