Is Auston Matthews still a top 5 player in the world?

[SharksFan1992]

Reading these lists I think he’s clearly gone from overrated to underrated. He’s not top 5 imo primarily because of his playoff performances but he’s clearly top 10. I’d like to see him healthy again but he’s won some Rockets, a Hart, and a Lindsay and he’s got some Selke votes.

Nah, Top 25 players should be the best players regular season & playoffs. If you are useless come April, you aren't among the elite group of players. I don't care how many goals you score on a regular season Tuesday night against Columbus or Anaheim.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Never was.

Healthy Matthews scoring 69 goals and playing a 200 ft game is easily a top 5 player, I can’t really argue against that. The problem is that resolving chronic back issues is easier said than done.

It’ll also be interesting to see how he does witthour Marner on his wing now.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

Factoring in down season, and playoff resume, he is a top 25 player today. Let’s see if I can come up with as many players better or at least more valuable to him (no caphit consideration)

In no order just random

1.Mcdavid
2.Drasaitl
3.Makar
4.Q.Hughes
5.N.MacKinnon
6.Heiskanen
7.Morrisey
8.hellebyuck
9.Kucherov
10.Point
11.K.Connor
12.Barkov
13.Tkachuk
14.Crosby
15.Kaprizov
16.Eichel
17.Pasternak
18.Dahlin
19.Rantanen

I’d have matthews at around 20-25

Where's Scheifele, Ehlers, and Pionk !??

 

[Fatass]

Nah, Top 25 players should be the best players regular season & playoffs. If you are useless come April, you aren't among the elite group of players. I don't care how many goals you score on a regular season Tuesday night against Columbus or Anaheim.

Exactly! Matthews or Bennett? Obviously we all take Matthews. But what about in the playoffs?
This poll needs an option that says Matthews was never top five.

 

[Fatass]

Healthy Matthews scoring 69 goals and playing a 200 ft game is easily a top 5 player, I can’t really argue against that. The problem is that resolving chronic back issues is easier said than done.

It’ll also be interesting to see how he does witthour Marner on his wing now.

Do playoffs not count?

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Healthy Matthews scoring 69 goals and playing a 200 ft game definately is up there, I can’t really argue against that. The problem is that resolving chronic back issues is easier said than done.

It’ll also be interesting to see how he does witthour Marner on his wing now.

He never played a 200 ft game, he's capable of doing one or the other, not both. When he's playing defensive he stops scoring, when he's scoring he's cheating defense.

Matthews scored more empty goals than any goal scorer I've ever seen. The guy has a knack for scoring goals in games the Leafs were probably going to win regardless, and disappearing when you really need him to show up.

His stats were always impressive, I'd say they made him an undisputed top 10 player for a while. But if you're a top 5 player I'm expecting you to impact and influence games regularly more than Matthews would even in his prime. Matthews is style over substance to a T, never played a winning brand of hockey.

 

[nowhereman]

I have him 7th behind McDavid, MacKinnon, Drasaitl, Kucherov, Makar and Q. Hughes.

Weirdly enough, I'd probably take Crosby, Rantanen, Tkachuk, Eichel and Barkov ahead of him for a playoff run, right or wrong.