In 2016, the Toronto Maple Leafs chose Auston Matthews with the number one pick, and the Californian-born hockey player became an instant ice-sport superstar. He was hyped to be great, and the Maple Leafs fans loved him immediately.
In the Center's first game, he scored four Goals, an unprecedented debut in the NHL. Matthews won the Calder that year on a 40-Goal year, and he was first in Even Strength Goals (32). To date, he has been a three-time All-Star and has never had a year in which he lit the lamp fewer than 33 times. Matthews had 47 Goals in 2019-20 and 41 in the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign, which won him the Rocket Richard Trophy. That was good but the American had another trick up his sleeve.
From the outset of the 2021-22 campaign, Matthews was lighting the lamp often, and he broke Toronto's single-season record for Goals, netting 61 (with 106 Points in total), which also led the NHL. Matthews was awarded the Hart Trophy for his work, a second Rocket Richard, and his peers voted him the MVP with the Lester B. Pearson Award. Matthews was not as good in 2022-23 but was still at a superstar level with 85 Points. Last season, Matthews won his third Rocket Richard Award with 69 Goals (his best to date), and was also the league-leader in Even Strength Goals with 51. He was also fourth in Hart voting, and for the first time in his career was third in Selke voting.
As of this writing, Matthews is entering his eleventh season and has been their star since his debut. Stanley Cups will be the only way to enter the stratosphere of this list, but we aren't counting him out of reaching the top without one.
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