Auston Matthews current rank among NHLers

[Steven Toast]

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 would say 2, maybe even 3 exceptional seasons. 2021 and 2022, and you could argue 2020 was as well.

 

[Video Nasty]

Certainly outside the top 10 at this point, even when omitting defensemen and goalies.

 

[Craft Beer Lover]

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

If that is so, then his peak has already occurred, or will pass in the next year or so.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Closer to top 10 than top 3 as always.

 

[authentic]

Gotta love some of these not top 10 hot takes in here

 

[crowi]

Backend of top 10 is what I went with. Elite player for sure, about to be paid a bit too much.

 

[Voodoo Child]

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.

Most goals since his rookie season which was seven years ago.

Alligators are ornery because they’ve got all them teeth and no toothbrush.


Edit: top-10, McDavid and 9 guys that he’s among.

 

[Craft Beer Lover]

Most goals since his rookie season which was seven years ago.

Alligators are ornery because they’ve got all them teeth and no toothbrush.


Edit: top-10, McDavid and 9 guys that he’s among.

I notice that you made your post after he scored two goals in a game, after going multiple games without a goal...how convenient. However, it does not negate the reality that if Matthews does not score goals, he makes absolutely nobody around him better on the ice, a requisite for a top 10 player.

 

[Buck Naked]

15-20 probably. Went with 15 just to give him the benefit. Combining this and last season he's 20th in points and 6th in goals. A guy like Pastrnak has 19 more goals and 40 more points over the same span. How anyone would put Matthews over Pasta is truly mesmerizing.

 

[SillyRabbit]

The consensus top 5 for a while now has been:

McDavid
Draisaitl
Kucherov
MacKinnon
Makar

Matthews was generally considered to be the next guy up right after them.

But now it's clear that:

Jack Hughes
Elias Pettersson
David Pastrnak

Have all caught up to and surpassed him.

So the highest you could possibly have Matthews in my books, would be 9th.

But there are other players fighting for that spot alongside him, like:

Adam Fox, Mikko Rantanen, Matthew Tkachuk, Artemi Panarin, Quinn Hughes, Miro Heiskanen and Brayden Point.

Is Matthews better than all of those players? Then he's top 10. Otherwise he's probably top 15.

 

[Plastic Joseph]

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).

People just get used to his level of play and are bored by it. He was 5th in pts last year (3rd in ppg) and is 5th now. No reason to take him out of the top 5, the only real arguments I could see is Pasta but IMO MacK still takes it

Agreed with everything else in the post

 

[Plastic Joseph]

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

I'm far from a Matthews fan but this isn't fair. He had 60 goals, a Hart and 2 rockets. He was, at one time in legitimate contention for best player outside McDavid.

He's closer to 15 than 5 atm though IMO

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

I'm far from a Matthews fan but this isn't fair. He had 60 goals, a Hart and 2 rockets. He was, at one time in legitimate contention for best player outside McDavid.

He's closer to 15 than 5 atm though IMO

He has never been in contention for best player aside from McDavid aside from Toronto driven media and fans.

 

[Plastic Joseph]

He has never been in contention for best player aside from McDavid aside from Toronto driven media and fans.

b2b rockets and a hart will get you into that conversation, Toronto media or not.

I never thought it was true, but he was deserving of the conversation

 

[ole ole]

I have him 15-20.
If he had any heart he'd fit in the top 10.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I’d say around 15th currently.
I think it’s clear that his play a few years ago when he won the Hart was an outlier.
Goal scoring is still a really unique skill and he is one of the best so that moves him up even though his point totals aren’t great.
His defensive play has always been overrated imo. He’s above average defensively but certainly nowhere near Selke level as some were trying to say. And then his playoff performances in the key games have been really underwhelming.
Throw it all together and around 15th seems about right.

 

[notbias]

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

What's crazier to me is posts like this...

He has a 1st and 2nd place finish for the Lindsay... do the players just give that away for fun?

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

Good times

The players voted him as such one year.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

he has won all the same trophies as McD, but one more: the Calder. I often see the term: quasi-generational, thrown around with Matthews' name. Truly apt.

You’re underselling Matthews here. A Bergeron-McDavid cross is more apt.
Toronto already has their Ohtani.

 

[GoldenKnight]

Gotta love some of these not top 10 hot takes in here

According to the poll results, this appears to be the majority view.

 

[Craft Beer Lover]

You’re underselling Matthews here. A Bergeron-McDavid cross is more apt.
Toronto already has their Ohtani.

/ Sarc?

 

[Craft Beer Lover]

he has won all the same trophies as McD, but one more: the Calder. I often see the term: quasi-generational, thrown around with Matthews' name. Truly apt.

I sense one trophy that McDavid has won several times that Matthews will most likely never win due to his poor playmaking skills: Art Ross.

 

[Craft Beer Lover]

According to the poll results, this appears to be the majority view.

Three voters actually believe he is the #1 player in the NHL. Who are these folks?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Three voters actually believe he is the #1 player in the NHL. Who are these folks?

You can click on "view results" and see the usernames who voted for that option.

Hint: all three are Leaf fans.

 

[Xspyrit]

Damn about 50% of voters still see him as a Top-10 player... Is it just some Leafs fans and some hockey fans that don't update very fast or just didn't read the question properly?

Gotta love some of these not top 10 hot takes in here

Is Matthews better than all of these guys?

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


I think those 10 have comfortably surpassed him at this point :

McDavid, MacKinnon, Makar, Draisaitl, Jack Hughes, Kucherov, Pastrnak, Quinn Hughes, Pettersson and Fox

Many others are close or just behind

 

[Darcy Tucker]

He's top 10ish. Can get hot and raise his rank though.