Pastrnak backs Matthews to win Hart Trophy next season

Looks like someone is jealous.

Boston Bruins forwards David Pastrnak’s choice for who is most likely to win the Hart Trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player next season, is Auston Matthews.

No matter what, we can all read into this that the Leafs will complete the regular season sweep over the Bruins and will finally beat them in their eventual first-round playoff matchup. Pastrnak has succumb to the pressure that is the overwhelming hockey force that is Toronto.

What the Bruins winger does touch on is exactly what all Leafs fans are hoping for as they count down the weeks before training camp begins. A completely healthy season from their first-overall pick, where he will score a ton of goals and contribute again to their lethal powerplay.

The Leafs forward suffered from a back injury last season, forcing him to miss most of November and the team went 9-4-0 with Matthews not in the lineup.

He just finished his third-consecutive 30-goal season, scoring a total of 37 goals and 73 points through just 68 regular season games last season. As Pastrnak touched on in his quote, the 21-year-old centre has gotten better in the most recent post-season, in which he scored a total of 5 goals and 6 points in 7 games. Most impressive, he was able to have 32 shots on goal in those seven games against the Bruins.

This team has not had a Hart Trophy winner since Ted Kennedy back in the 1954-55 season. To go a total of 65 seasons without an MVP is incredibly telling — the quality of individual players this franchise has had is not up to snuff compared to rivals or even modern-day expansion franchises. Just been stuck in the mud with some very good players, but never being named the league’s best.

With all the off-season moves that the Leafs made — acquiring Tyson Barrie, Alexander Kerfoot — they are posed to have an all-in season before a couple of key contracts expire, like the aforementioned Barrie and defenceman Jake Muzzin. Matthews will have an increasingly more important role in their success as the season continues.

Let’s all just collectively hope that a healthy and dominant season is coming from Matthews and he makes Pastrnak look like a fortune teller.