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Leafs' Auston Matthews has bestowed the No. 3 rank in TSN's Top 50 NHL Players List, behind Avs' Nathan MacKinnon at No. 2 and Oilers' Connor McDavid at No.1. While McDavid retained his No. 1 spot, MacKinnon jumped one spot from #3 and Matthews two spots from #5, as compared to the 2023-24 ranking.
NHL analysts Marty Biron and Craig Button debated if Matthews belonged in the No. 3 spot after a close battle against Oilers' Leon Draisaitl, who finished fourth, and Bolts' Nikita Kucherov, who finished fifth, in the overall rankings. Biron opposed Matthews' #3 ranking.
"I'm going to say the voters got it wrong because I had Matthews at number five. I don’t want to bring in some hate from the Toronto fanbase," he said.
The former NHL goalie turned analyst acknowledged Matthews' record-breaking 69-goal NHL season. However, he said 2024 Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov deserved to be in the No. 3 spot owing to his 144 points and 100 assists last season.
He also thinks Nikita Kucherov will continue to dominate this season, despite the franchise's long-serving captain Steven Stamkos' surprise exit and Jake Guentzel's acquittance.
Marty Biron pushes down Auston Matthews below Leon Draisaitl for purely statistical reasons
Continuing his justification against Auston Matthews' No. 3 ranking, Marty Biron pointed out that Oilers' Leon Draisaitl (148) is tied second only to Auston Matthews (169) in total goals scored in the last three regular seasons.
Another distinction that Biron brought up was that Draisaitl scored 234 points (from 161 regular season games) in the last two seasons as compared to Matthews' 192 (from 155 regular season games). The 42-point difference was Biron's determining factor in opining that Draisaitl deserved to be ranked ahead of Matthews.
Citing his final reason against Matthews' #3 ranking, Biron predicted:
"I understand the 69 goals are huge, but I don’t think Matthews is going to get to 69 again this year, which is why I have him at number five."
Here are the Top 10 players from TSN's Top 50 list:
