Auston Matthews Has Something to Prove Again

There was a time when nobody really needed to have a conversation about where Auston Matthews ranked among the NHL’s best players. You could start making your list and put Matthews somewhere near the top. The only real question was how high you wanted to go.

Now Frank Corrado has Matthews ranked somewhere between 17th and 25th in the NHL. That sounds pretty harsh for a player who scored 69 goals just two seasons ago. But there is something about Corrado’s ranking that makes sense. It isn't really a ranking of Matthews’ career accomplishments. It is a ranking of where people think he is right now. And that's an important distinction.

Matthews Has Lost the Benefit of the Doubt.

Matthews scored 27 goals and 53 points in 60 games last season before his knee injury ended his year. Those numbers aren't terrible. They just aren't Matthews’ numbers. And that's the problem.

When a player establishes himself as one of the best players in the world, expectations change. A 30-goal season might be a terrific year for somebody else. For Matthews, it starts a conversation about what went wrong. The 69-goal season is still sitting there in everyone's memory. So is the history of Matthews scoring at an elite level. But the last two seasons haven't looked like the Matthews we saw then.

Eventually, reputation stops carrying quite as much weight.

This Is Where the Matthews Comeback Gets Interesting.

The good news for Matthews is that his ceiling hasn't disappeared. That's really the most important part of the discussion. Even the people ranking him outside the top 10 aren't suggesting that Matthews has suddenly become an ordinary player. They're saying they don't know if the elite version of Matthews is still the version they should expect.

That's something he can change pretty quickly. If Matthews comes back healthy and scores 50 goals, this entire discussion disappears. If he starts piling up points again and looks dangerous every night, nobody will care whether somebody had him ranked 17th or 20th in August.

And that's what makes this season different for Matthews. He isn't chasing Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon on somebody's list. He's trying to get back into the conversation he used to own.

For the first time in a while, Auston Matthews has something to prove.

And honestly, that might be good for him. The Maple Leafs don't need Matthews to prove he was once a great player. They need him to remind everybody that he still is one. If he can, he might be the player who helps push his team into the postseason. Right now, that might seem like a tough sell for this Maple Leafs roster.