Toronto Maple Leafs Fans Outraged by Auston Matthews' Latest NHL Network Ranking
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Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews suffered a dip in his production last season, and now, the NHL Network is hitting him with a disrespectful ranking.
Auston Matthews had some issues last season, especially when it comes to injuries, and it stopped him from being the player he was a couple of seasons ago.
As many of you remember, Matthews had 69 goals during the 2023-24 campaign. However, he had just 33 goals last season due to a nagging injury.
Consequently, fans and analysts do not have big expectations going into this season, especially when you factor in the fact that the captain will no longer have Mitch Marner by his side.
Overall, this could be an even worse season for Matthews, and we will just have to wait and see how things play out.
Auston Matthews takes huge hit on NHL Network rankings
Due to his performance a couple of seasons ago, the NHL Network ranked Auston Matthews as the third-best center in the league heading into last season.
Now, Matthews is ranked seventh due to his dip in production. Jack Eichel, Sidney Crosby, Aleksander Barkov, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid were all ranked ahead of him.
As you can imagine, Toronto Maple Leafs fans feel as though Matthews was completely disrespected by this ranking, especially with Eichel above him.
However, Eichel will now have Marner on his wing, which certainly puts him in a better position than someone like Matthews.
The captain beat out players like Brayden Point, Nick Suzuki, and Mark Scheifele, who were all there to round out the top 10.
Only time will tell whether or not Matthews can prove people wrong and rise the ranks going into 2026.
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