William Nylander snubbed from his first All-Star Game while a banged up Matthews is voted in
Following a two-goal performance in what was easily his most dominant and best game of the season, Auston Matthews was named to his sixth straight All-Star Game. With 24 goals and 51 points on the season, Matthews is now tied with William Nylander for the Leafs' goal scoring lead and tied with him for second in points behind only fellow All-Star, Mitch Marner.
While it's great that Matthews was once again selected to the All-Star Game, Leaf fans not only cost him some valuable recovery time, but also prevented a deserving Nylander from attending his first All-Star Game. With Matthews having played most of the season injured and still battling the ailment, the extended break would have been great for him to get some rest. At the same time, next to Marner, Nylander was the most consistent Leaf the first half of the season, scoring a number of big goals and carrying the extra load that Matthews could not while he dealt with the mysterious injury.
Nylander deserved to be at the All-Star Game as much or more than Matthews this season, but will now be taking a nice vacation and relaxing while Matthews has to spend his break playing with the potential of aggravating his injury again. We have seen players withdraw from the ASG due to nagging injuries in the past, so perhaps Matthews will elect to do the same if he experiences any sort of a flare-up. However, even if that happens, there's no guarantee that Nylander would be named as his replacement. Time will tell.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 20 | 59 ANSWERS William Nylander snubbed from his first All-Star Game while a banged up Matthews is voted in Should Nylander be going to the All-Star Game? | ||
| Yes, he was robbed | 51 | 86.4 % |
| No, Matthews is the bigger star | 8 | 13.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
