‘He takes his craft very seriously’
Matthews voted finalist for MVP trophy following career season
TAMPA — Those chants of “MVP! MVP!” at Scotiabank Arena are only going to get louder at the Maple Leafs’ next home game.
Following a prolific 202122 regular season during which he hit the 60-goal milestone, Leafs centre Auston Matthews has been voted as one of three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy.
Matthews’ competition for the award given to the player judged most valuable to his team are centre Connor Mcdavid of the Edmonton Oilers and goaltender Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers, as voted by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
During the regular season, Matthews typically dominated, becoming the first NHLER in 10 years to score 60 goals, finishing with 60 in 73 games.
He has continued producing in the playoffs in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning. With the Leafs leading the best-of-seven 3-2 and Game 6 next at Amalie Arena on Thursday night, Matthews has seven points, tying him for the Leafs scoring lead with linemate Mitch Marner.
Not only did Matthews win the Rocket Richard Trophy for the second year in a row — he had five more goals than Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers, who was second — his 106 points marked just the fifth time in Leafs history that a player reached the 100-point milestone. Doug Gilmour and Darryl Sittler were the only others to do it, both accomplishing the feat twice.
Matthews broke the Leafs’ goals record, previously held by Rick Vaive, who scored 54 in 1981-82.
When Matthews scored his 56th goal, he set an NHL record for most goals in a season by a player born in the United States.
Matthews’ 44 goals at evenstrength in 2021-22 were the most by a wide margin, as he had eight more than Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets who was second with 36, and 10 more than Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames and Mcdavid.
Matthews’ 60th goal came on April 26 in Toronto against Detroit.
“It’s unique, it’s rare, I’m just really happy for him,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said after that game. “You know the abilities he has, but he works extremely hard at his game, he works extremely hard off the ice.
“He takes his craft very seriously. So to see him at the top of his game and reaching these milestones, it’s outstanding.” Of course, there’s a lot more to Matthews’ game than filling the opponents’ net. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Matthews has learned to use his strength to his advantage, and as a result, his defensive play is elite.
If there is anyone more effective in the NHL at taking the puck away from other players, he has not been revealed.
Matthews led NHL forwards with 92 takeaways, just one off the NHL leader, Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo.
“I’ve always marvelled, even in his first couple years in the league — his ability to strip pucks is uncanny,” Leafs captain John Tavares said in April, referring to Matthews. “It’s a talent that you can’t really teach. The instincts to execute that and turn it into offence so quickly … he’s always reading the play from the right side of it defensively, then his ability to strip guys and use his body to take pucks away and transition to offence is pretty remarkable.”
In the faceoff circle, Matthews won 56.2 per cent of his draws, good for 14th in the league.
Just two Leafs have won the Hart. Babe Pratt was the first in 1944 and e leven years later in 1955, Ted Kennedy won the award.