Auston is a better offensive player than Jonathan Toews was ever in his career but Toews had a peak where he was playing stellar defensively while his team was winning cups. He has all the skills in the world and he could've easily been a top-flight offensive player but he knew that his contributions to his team success were going to cost him offensive numbers and while he still had a front and center role (pun intended) on their cup winning teams, he was responsible for doing a ton of under-appreciated dirty work that didn't always catch the eye of the casual fan. It was kind of hilarious reading for years how Toews was one of the most overrated players in the league on these same boards that is now clamoring about how overrated Matthews is. In reality, neither guys are overrated and are worth their weight in the hype/ praise they've been receiving. Hf just loves to hate the Leafs and was quite jealous of the success of the Hawks teams in those times.
Right now, I take prime JT19 over Auston because Auston hasn't won anything. If he can channel his inner Toews defensively and leadership wise, with the natural abilities and offensive talents he possesses, Auston Matthews would be the best player in the league by a decent margin. Scary part for the haters is that Auston last season showed us that he has it within him to play a consistent 200 foot game and he has the ability to be a rock-solid defensive forward who can put up 50 goals 100 points and still be a contender for the Selke. Last year he was the 13th best forward in defensive point shares. For as much hype as a guy like Elias Pettersson gets, Matthews actually puts up the same defensive numbers while destroying him offensively. Yet, one guy is up and coming star player while the other one gets consistently demolished in every HF poll because of "reasons".