I dont understand how people can put Matthews over McDavid. Matthews doesnt even beat Draisaitl in alot of categories like GWG. +-, Sh Goals, Assists, PK minutes and so on, so how can he better than Drais teammate who is considered the better player of the two?
I think partially it's the debate over what criteria we each use to determine the "most valuable player". Some simply say give it to the best player, others that it should literally be the most valuable to his team.
Gaudreau is not as good as McDavid, but it's tough to argue he's less valuable to his team. And what muddies the waters is when you've got an elite 1-2 like McDavid and Draisaitl if you're going for the most valuable to his team approach.
This year, most valuable to his team probably includes Shesterkin, Matthews, Gaudreau. Best player, period, will likely lean the Oilers stars. And others who try to balance the two approaches will probably help make the voting this year extremely close.
Personally, I think Matthews all-around play and his clear impact on games puts him a tiny bit above the others as "most valuable to his team." It also helps that many feel he's closed the gap on Connor for the best player in the game. Hitting 60 this year would certainly help his case for both arguments.