Maurice Richard Trophy Tournament (1995-Present) Round 1: 2021 Auston Matthews vs 2016 Alexander Ovechkin

[blundluntman]

MATCHUP #4 (Round 1): Auston Matthews (2021) vs Alexander Ovechkin (2016)

Auston Matthews (2020-21):

Games Played	Goals	Even Strength Goals	Power Play Goals	League Wide Goals Per Game
51	41	31	10	2.94

Alexander Ovechkin (2015-16):

Games Played	Goals	Even Strength Goals	Power Play Goals	League Wide Goals Per Game
79	50	31	19	2.71

Round 1 Matchups
24 Matthews vs 97 Tkachuk Thread
23 McDavid vs 17 Crosby Thread
22 Matthews vs 06 Cheechoo Thread
21 Matthews vs 16 Ovechkin
20 Pastrnak vs 20 Ovechkin
19 Ovechkin vs 18 Ovechkin
15 Ovechkin vs 12 Stamkos
14 Ovechkin vs 09 Ovechkin
13 Ovechkin vs 95 Bondra
11 Perry vs 00 Bure
10 Stamkos vs 10 Crosby
08 Ovechkin vs 01 Bure
07 Lecavalier vs 02 Iginla
04 Nash vs 04 Iginla vs 04 Kovalchuk
03 Hejduk vs 96 Lemieux
99 Selanne vs 99 Bondra

Note: Due to the Richard Trophy not having a tiebreaker, I will conduct one myself in the first round to avoid matchup complications in later rounds.

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[Video Nasty]

Easily Matthews.

Never really thought about it, but he had 12 GWG on 35 Leafs wins that season, which is nuts with 26 games lopped off the schedule and missing 4 personal games.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Matthews numbers are in the awful Canadian division.

 

[TheGuiminator]

Matthews numbers are in the awful Canadian division.

Not that dumb excuse again?

In 2020-21, Matthews was on pace for 66 goals, then exceeded that pace in 2021-22 and again in 2023-24, under normal league circumstances while playing more games. This erase any doubt or asterisk about the Covid season.

That being said, his Rocket win in 2020-21 was legit and far better than Ovechkin's 2016.

 

[Video Nasty]

Matthews numbers are in the awful Canadian division.

So what? He has since scored 60 in 73 and 69 in 81, which are higher raw totals and averages for longer. Like McDavid, he proved that he could do it over the course of a normal, full season. Full credit.

 

[Albatros]

Matthews clearly, the season was unusual but that's not on him.

 

[filinski77]

Not that dumb excuse again?

In 2020-21, Matthews was on pace for 66 goals, then exceeded that pace in 2021-22 and again in 2023-24, under normal league circumstances while playing more games. This erase any doubt or asterisk about the Covid season.

That being said, his Rocket win in 2020-21 was legit and far better than Ovechkin's 2016.

I voted Matthews here, but to say "far better" is stretching it, and definitely disingenuous, It's Matthews, but it's still quite close.

#1) Adjusted-wise (which picks up the shortened season for Matthews), it's 63 goals for AM vs. 57 for AO.

#2) Dominance vs. peers: Other than Ovechkin having a better #2 behind him, he's actually quite close in performance over 3rd, 5th, 10th, 20th. This is without considering any of the following context:
-> Matthews was 100% playing a lower quality division, some of the worst teams GA-wise from the previous season ended up in the Canadian division. I completely agree he showed he was legit, but you can't act like this isn't some context (even if not a big deal)
-> Regardless of quality of division, he did only play the same 6 teams over and over, which makes his performance vs. the rest of the league almost impossible to compare.
-> There were also so many teams, players, goalies etc. who were short-manned, missed time, or sick/tired while playing due to covid etc

Ovechkin				Matthews
1​	50​			1​	41​
2​	46​	9%​		2​	33​	24%​
3​	41​	22%​		3​	32​	28%​
5​	38​	32%​		5​	30​	37%​
10​	33​	52%​		10​	26​	58%​
20​	30​	67%​		20​	23​	78%​
30​	29​	72%​		30​	20​	105%​

 

[Johnny Tomala]

Matthews 2020-21.