Auston Matthews arrives to the Leafs' morning skates to thousands of ''MVP'' chants from fans
With the Leafs not having been home since March 31st, you knew that the fans were going to respond well to Auston Matthews, who just set the franchise record for most goals in a single season with 56, two above Rick Vaive's previous record of 54 back in 1981-82. I don't think anyone could have prepared Matthews for the welcome he got at the Leafs' morning skate at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
Matthews took to the ice on Saturday morning to take part in line rushes with his usual linemates Mitch Marner and Michael Bunting, but when he made his way out of the gate and stepped foot onto the ice, he did so to thousands of fans in attendance applauding him and chanting "MVP".
What Matthews has done this season would have been special even if he played all 71 games. The fact that he's managed to score 56 goals in 66 games is all the more impressive. It gets even more astounding when you realize that he's scored 49 goals in his last 49 games, with a chance to score 50 in 50 against the Habs tonight.
I understand the argument that it's too soon to label Matthews the greatest Leaf of all time (GLOAT), but at this point, I don't know how you can even deny him that. He's already set multiple franchise records and is well on his way to becoming just the 3rd Leaf ever to record a 100-point season (Gilmour and Sittler have each done so twice).
I'm just going to put this out there. The Hart Trophy race is over. Auston has won and I don't think it's particularly close. No matter how the voting comes down, nobody will ever convince me that Matthews was not the 2021-22 MVP.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 9 | 353 ANSWERS Auston Matthews arrives to the Leafs' morning skates to thousands of ''MVP'' chants from fans Regardless of how the voting comes down, is Auston Matthews the 2021-22 MVP? | ||
| 100% | 144 | 40.8 % |
| 110% | 25 | 7.1 % |
| 120% | 20 | 5.7 % |
| 134% | 164 | 46.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
