NHL announces special recognition for Auston Matthews

The announcement came from the official NHL public relations account on X this morning. Matthews is joined by Nikita Kucherov and Nathan Mackinnon as the other finalists for the award. This does mean that Connor McDavid is somewhat surprisingly, not a finalist for the award. The Oilers captain has won the award four times already in his career.

NHL insider Frank Serravalli was the first to share the information online, even ahead of the NHL.

The Toronto Maple Leafs congratulated Matthews on the achievement on X following the official announcement. It is not clear exactly who the favorite to win this year is. Matthews lead the lead with an eye-watering 69 goals, but Mackinnon recorded 140 points and Kucherov found the score sheet 144 times. Matthews had just 107 points.

That being said, goal scoring is the hardest thing to do in hockey, and Matthews lead the league in that department by a wide margin. Since this is a peer-voted award, it will be revealing to see what players value more, more points, or more goals. Matthews is also a finalist for the Selke award this year, for best defensive forward. As such, Leafs fans will have something to look forward too this summer as their franchise player could be in line for some personal hardware.

Source: MapleLeafsDaily
Insider drops exciting Auston Matthews announcement