Auston Matthews - POTENTIALLY Greatest American player of all time?

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

If he manages to surpass Modano in points and lead Toronto to a few cups I'd say so. But right now I'd say Modano is, but Kane is about to steal his spot.

 

[daver]

Is he the best American at age 20, or after 1 and 1/3 season? Who are some comparables?

 

[Pyrophorus]

We have a long way to go.

 

[DrJustice]

When Matthews scores the OT winner against Canada to secure the Gold Medal for his country, he will replace Gretzky as the best player of all time.

 

[djpatm]

of course the potential is there for him to be, highly likely too, hes almost there already

Gaudreau, Wheeler, Kessel, Kane, Trochek and Lee are all having better seasons than Matthews right now. He's not even in remotely close.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

He is the best American hockey player already.

The real question is if he becomes the best athlete ever.

Jordan, Ali, Federer, Brady, Matthews.

Ignoring the bit about Matthews, you're not serious about putting Brady in with the likes of Jordan, Ali and Federer are you?

 

[Semantics]

Oh God... HE'S TWENTY.

Exactly... if he's this good at 20, imagine what he can do over the next 10 years.

 

[Semantics]

Gaudreau, Wheeler, Kessel, Kane, Trochek and Lee are all having better seasons than Matthews right now. He's not even in remotely close.

I'd rather have Matthews on my team right now than any of those players. So would the vast majority of hockey experts, that's why people in the business like Bob McKenzie have been consistently ranking Matthews as a top 5 player in the league.

Pretty sad that some people think a point total is the only thing players should be evaluated on.

 

[kunekune]

Ignoring the bit about Matthews, you're not serious about putting Brady in with the likes of Jordan, Ali and Federer are you?

He holds pretty much every NFL record superbowls, superbowl mvps, wins, touchdowns etc.

Is still the best player in NFL at the age of 40 and is going to win mvp this season.

Yeah, he definitely is in the same class as Jordan and Ali. Maybe even better.

 

[ijuka]

Let's get back to this in 10 years or so?

Everyone is "potentially" America's greatest player ever, you never know how they develop.

 

[Future GOAT]

We'll have to see how Kane closes out his career and how much better Matthews gets. Only time will tell.

 

[daver]

I'd rather have Matthews on my team right now than any of those players. So would the vast majority of hockey experts, that's why people in the business like Bob McKenzie have been consistently ranking Matthews as a top 5 player in the league.

Pretty sad that some people think a point total is the only thing players should be evaluated on.

So we should expect him to get Hart votes over these guys, and Selke votes because of his defensive play?

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Sure, he has the potential. Plays on an up and coming team in the biggest media market of the League. And frankly, American forward depth historically is fairly weak. If he's a 1b to McDavid for 5+ years he'd have a case.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

He holds pretty much every NFL record superbowls, superbowl mvps, wins, touchdowns etc.

Is still the best player in NFL at the age of 40 and is going to win mvp this season.

That was Carson Wentz, hands down, until two weeks ago. Kamara is coming on strong, if the Saints don't choke and he continues double digit yards per touch he could secure it.

Brady is overrated. He's not the goat.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

He's on pace for 85 points.
Never mind greatest American, we may be talking GOAT.

 

[djpatm]

I'd rather have Matthews on my team right now than any of those players. So would the vast majority of hockey experts, that's why people in the business like Bob McKenzie have been consistently ranking Matthews as a top 5 player in the league.

Pretty sad that some people think a point total is the only thing players should be evaluated on.

They are only saying that so people in Toronto get excited and watch. Just think about the hype if those players were on Toronto instead of Matthews. If I counted correctly there are 18 teams with one to three players that have scored more than Matthews this season. Let that sink in before you slurp down the TSN kool aid.

Long term you might want Matthews more although there have been many, many players that won the Calder and then had average careers. Matthews being outside of the top 20 in PPG is a fact you can't jump through logic hoops to get around. He's simply not having a notable season

 

[Steven1562]

He has that potential for sure. We still have to wait and see if he reaches those heights.

 

[jonlin]

Maybe threads like this are more suitable on Leaf boards? There all Leaf-lovers can pump eachother and the rest of us dont have to read theese...

 

[Jee]

not today maybe next season

 

[brighteststars]

I'll just concede that Matthews is not only the CURRENT best American player OF ALL TIME but the current GOAT and forever will be. Maybe that will keep these stupid threads from being created.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I'd rather have Matthews on my team right now than any of those players. So would the vast majority of hockey experts, that's why people in the business like Bob McKenzie have been consistently ranking Matthews as a top 5 player in the league.

Pretty sad that some people think a point total is the only thing players should be evaluated on.

Agree that there's more to a player than points. That's what I tried to explain to Leaf fans in the Marner vs Barzal thread.

As for McKenzie I believe he's talking about Matthews potential. He's not there yet.

 

[djpatm]

Agree that there's more to a player than points. That's what I tried to explain to Leaf fans in the Marner vs Barzal thread.

As for McKenzie I believe he's talking about Matthews potential. He's not there yet.

There's more than just points but being 20 spots back of the top forwards isn't something you can make up with intangibles.

 

[McShogun99]

If Matthews can win multiple Cups with Toronto, International tournaments and finish his career with over 1400 points then it will be him without a doubt. Right now it's Modanao.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

There's more than just points but being 20 spots back of the top forwards isn't something you can make up with intangibles.

I agree. He's still got a long long way to go and no guarantee he'll get there.
It should also be noted that Patrick Kane has a 106 point season under his belt and a bunch of hardware. If Matthews gets 85 points he's not even in the same ballpark.

 

[McDavidCrushedLarkin]

Matthews>Gretzky>>Lemieux