Matthews saw his offensive output take a hit while the Leafs improved to second place in the NHL and their first division title in over two decades. Despite a lot of money being tied up across the lineup, both Matthews and William Nylander each got an extension with the former getting a one-year deal.
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In free agency, the Leafs decided to bring back James van Riemsdyk while adding Tristan Jarry and Jordan Staal. Tyler Bozak retired during the offseason. The Anaheim Ducks won their second Cup in franchise history in a rematch against the Senators. Matthews also played well with 94 points on the season, finishing tied for third the NHL scoring leader.Ī completely different story in the playoffs though, with the Leafs eliminated in the first round by the Tampa Bay Lightning while Matthews seven points in six games certainly gave his team a chance. In spite of that big loss on the blueline, the Leafs had a monster season by finishing fifth in the league and just five points behind the Ottawa Senators for the top spot in the division. Hamilton was given a four-year extension of his own, but it came at the cost of Morgan Rielly who went on to sign with the Carolina Hurricanes. Former Leafs Jason Spezza and Cody Franson called it quits at the end of the year. Matthews was certainly not to blame, as his 14 playoff points were tied for third on the team in scoring. The Leafs finally broke through in the postseason and reached their first Stanley Cup Finals in over 50 years, but were eliminated in five games by the Vancouver Canucks.
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On the plus side, Matthews was healthy for the entire season and recorded 70 points on the year. The changes resulted in some regression as the Leafs finished with 11 fewer points and sat 14th in the NHL. Toronto had quite the busy offseason as they added Dougie Hamilton to a one-year contract and re-signed Frederik Andersen to a four-year extension at $9.45 million per year.
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So why not see if can achieve the milestone and how the rest of his career plays out using NHL 21? That’s right folks, the third edition of my own-going series of simulating a Leafs’ career with an NHL video game has finally returned! If this is your first time reading one of these, check out the other two posts below:
While the number of games this season has been cut down to 56 due to the ongoing pandemic, the idea that he can reach the half-century mark in such a short amount of time doesn’t seem so far fetched given how talented he is. One such area of intrigue is how Auston Matthews will followup his impressive performance in 2019-20 in which he flirted with 50 goals and was in the conversation for the Rocket Richard Trophy all year long. It’s only fitting that predictions and guesses of what will happen are sure to follow in the days leading up to puck drop as well as once the campaign finally gets underway. The 2021 shortened season is fast approaching and so is the excitement of hockey finally coming back after a prolonged absence.