Edmonton Oilers v Toronto Maple Leafs — Connor McDavid vs Auston Matthews: Could this be the NHL's next great rivalry?

Connor McDavid vs Auston Matthews: Could this be the NHL's next great rivalry?

Modified Dec 16, 2023 21:46 GMT

In 2022-23, Connor McDavid became the sixth player in NHL history to score more than 150 points during the regular season. Interestingly, that came one season after Auston Matthews reached the 60-goal plateau for the first time in his career.

Even though these two eventual Hall of Famers play on different sides of Canada, they are the faces of the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs, two teams carrying the burden of lofty expectations to end Canada's 30-year drought without a Stanley Cup title.

There have been numerous legendary rivalries throughout NHL history, including Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux and, most recently, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. When we say they are "rivals," we don't imply these players dislike each other. Instead, they inspire each other to perform better because the game is more entertaining when the best go face to face.

Now that Crosby and Ovechkin are winding down their legendary careers, giving us an intense marquee rivalry since 2005, it's time the NHL showcases two rising stars, McDavid and Matthews, who have already cemented their status as two of the best players in the world in less than ten seasons.

After an unusually slow start, Connor McDavid is close to defending his scoring title

McDavid started the 2023-24 season where he left, registering a point in the first six games before missing a couple due to an undisclosed injury. After rushing back to skate in the Heritage Classic, he didn't seem like himself collecting a single point in his next five games before head coach Jay Woodcroft got fired on Nov. 12, 2023.

As the Oilers struggled with a 3-9-1 record, the projected Stanley Cup winners hired McDavid's former junior coach from Erie, Kris Knoblauch, to turn things around. Immediately, the Oilers' captain ramped up production with six points in the next five games, with the team going 2-3 under their new coach.

Despite not even cracking the top 20 in scoring with 16 points in 16 games, McDavid powered the Oilers to an eight-win streak from Nov. 24 to Dec. 12, tallying 22 points during the stretch.

Initially, he scored at a point-per-game pace but turned it up to 2.75 during the win streak, vaulting him back into the race for the Art Ross Trophy, sitting in sixth place heading into Saturday night.

Although there's a small gap of three points between McDavid and J.T. Miller (who is in second), everyone is currently chasing Nikita Kucherov, who already has 50 points in 30 games.

After scoring a career-high 64 goals and 89 assists last season, McDavid is back to being a playmaker rather than a goalscorer, with an 11-29 split for 40 points in 25 games. Even though his goal total isn't in the top 50, he's ranked fourth in helpers, right behind Quinn Hughes and Kucherov (30 each), tied with Nathan MacKinnon with 29.

Auston Matthews is on pace to surpass 60 goals again, keeping trophy races interesting

Matthews started the 2023-24 campaign on a mission to regain the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, scoring back-to-back hat tricks in the season's first games. However, his production dipped significantly after those games, with a single goal in his next seven games.

Ultimately, Matthews responded to questions about his performance, netting six goals over a three-game span before entering another cold streak with just a single lamplighter in nine games.

Luckily, the Maple Leafs didn't struggle to win games like the Oilers, and Matthews has a stronger supporting cast, which allows him to have off nights without worrying about the losses piling up.

Moreover, the Arizona native is on another heater with nine goals in his last six games, with Toronto going 3-0-3 simultaneously. Heading into Saturday night, Matthews sits atop the goal-scoring list with 23 on the season after notching his 300th career goal earlier in the year.

The NHL needs to acknowledge and promote the McDavid and Matthews rivalry

Considering that McDavid and Matthews are leaders in two of Canada's most passionate hockey markets, these two players are tasked with trying to end the country's championship drought, which started in 1993, four years before either superstar was born.

Statistically, the duo have pretty different numbers in head-to-head matchups, with McDavid netting 31 points (11-20) in 21 games against the Maple Leafs, while Matthews is just at 17 points (11-6) in 17 contests.

Unfortunately, just like the days of Gretzky and Lemieux, we don't see many McDavid vs. Matthews matchups because they play in different conferences, even though everyone dreams of how fun a Stanley Cup showdown between the two players and their teams would be.

Moreover, the hockey community has to wait until Jan. 16. 2024, for the season's first meeting, but if these games are anything like the 5-2 and 7-4 offensive-heavy contests like last year, the league needs to go above and beyond to get eyeballs on these marquee games.

Although neither play would ever acknowledge it publicly, they know, and most fans know, that McDavid and Matthews may be the best rivalry in the game today.