More players have done what Matthews did in the history of the NHL than what Kucherov/McDavid did.
If it's so much easier to get that many assists, then why is it a more exclusive club than Matthews scoring 69 goals?
Wrong.
0 people did what Matthews did this past season, ever!
There has never been an instance where the player who scores the most goals in the league is also one of the 3 best defensive forwards.
It's possible, albeit extremely unlikely, that Matthews actually won the Selke.
That would make it the single greatest individual season ever, after the ridiculous Wayne and Mario seasons of course....and can we really count those?
It's all but guaranteed that Barkov won the Selke, and then the debate becomes Staal or Matthews for 2nd.
The closest instance ever to rival this dominant 2 way play, wad 1985 when Jari Kurri scored 68 goals to lead the league, and finished 5th in Selke voting. Of course, it was one of those ridiculous Wayne seasons where he amassed 163 assists and 215 points.
I would venture a guess that Kurri made the most out of those 163 apples...........