Auston Matthews' Struggles This Season Explained by Analyst After Shocking Discovery

Auston Matthews' Struggles This Season Explained by Analyst After Shocking Discovery

NHL Network analyst Mike Kelly has a theory as to why Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews hasn't been scoring like normal this year.

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews scored 69 goals last year, capturing his third Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy in 4 years as the NHL's leading goal scorer.

But this year, he's scored just 28 goals in 57 games in a year that he's also missed multiple contests because of injury.

Why Auston Matthews Has Struggled This Season

While Leafs fans may be wondering about the reason behind Matthews' drop-off in production, NHL analyst Mike Kelly discussed the matter during an appearance on "Coast to Coast" on Amazon Prime.

It's kind of funny, I mean he's on a 40-goal pace in terms of goals per game, but it is the lowest of his career. So, I've had a lot of people ask me this year, 'Mike, what's going on with Matthews? What do the numbers say?'

Kelly then showed a video highlight package of Matthews last year routinely sniping goaltenders from that area of the ice, noting that he scored 22 such goals in 2023-24 but has only 5 this year.

I'm gonna tell you something that you probably haven't heard yet, and this is my theory.

So, you look at the goals he scored last year, 69, and he's got 27 this year. Mid-range, right around the hashmarks; he had 22 last year. He only has 5 from an area that he scores a ton from usually.

Now his shot volume isn't down much; his shot quality isn't down much.

Look at some NHL EDGE data, and this is where it gets fascinating to me. Auston Matthews, you talk about him maybe dealing with some injuries.

His average shot speed from that mid-range area last season right around the hash marks was 77 miles per hour, it's down 10 miles per hour this season.

So, when I look at the numbers and I say, 'He's still getting a lot of looks and he should still be scoring at the same rate, but he's not,' I wonder if there's some fatigue.

The 4 Nations, an injury he's been dealing with - maybe some of that, both of that, kind of factors into that mid-range shot not being as deadly this year as it was last year.

Toronto is going to need Matthews to be at his best if they want to weather the storm that is the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and whoever else the East throws at them.

Will Matthews' alleged fatigue/injury keep him from being able to lead the team on a badly-needed lengthy playoff run? Or will he rise from the ashes to lead them to glory?

Will Auston Matthews be able to lead the Maple Leafs on a lengthy postseason run?