How Auston Matthews has become a valuable defensive presence for Maple Leafs

Unlike most rookies, when Auston Matthews first arrived on the NHL scene in 2016 the struggle wasn’t to prove that he belonged. As has been amply covered, he stepped into the league and shot four pucks into the opposing team’s net in his first 60 minutes, so it’s safe to say we all knew he could hang. But similar to most offensively gifted rookies, his game wasn’t overly well-rounded. He had never made defending a priority, always scoring at a rate that nullified any defensive oopsies, and frankly, he was so good offensively he likely didn’t have to spend much time in the D-zone up until the NHL.

But the NHL is a league made up of the best few players from the best leagues around the world, and nobody gets away with just living in the offensive zone, particularly as a centreman. When it came to expected goals against — which looks at the volume and type of shot taken by the opposition with a player on the ice — rates were higher against the Leafs when Matthews was on the ice than off, and not by a shot or two. Good looks came between five and 10 per cent more often against when Matthews was out there in years one through three of his career.

Of course, he still created so much at the other end no one cared much, but over the past three seasons — and this one in particular — Matthews has become a legitimate force in all aspects of the game. You may not think of him as the Leafs’ best pure defending forward — we tend to reserve that for more grinder-y types — yet the least happens against the Leafs when he’s out there on the rink.

Some stats for you.

First, if you do like the grinder-y stuff, he leads Leafs forwards in blocked shots. He’s got a willingness to get in front of attempts and not do the whole “hey look I tried” thing that I was really effective at when I played.

But more importantly, among Leafs forwards Matthews is first on the team in expected goals against per game. When he’s on the rink for 60 minutes (that’s about three games for Matthews), the opposition has an expected goals total of 2.24, meanwhile the total going the Leafs’ way is 4.35. With that he’s first on the Leafs in expected goals percentage, with nearly 66 per cent of the goals that are scored while he’s on the rink being in Toronto’s favour. That’s pretty great for a guy who plays big minutes and is undoubtedly keyed on by the opposition.

Go ahead and sort any of the defensive categories among Toronto’s forwards and Matthews has the best outputs. Shots against, scoring chances against (and high danger scoring chances against), he runs the table of categories when it comes to suppressing whoever he’s up against.

One of the biggest reasons for this isn’t just D-side positioning though, it’s his puck battling skills, specifically his ability to strip pucks. You’ll often hear coaches talk about players “being hard on the puck” and “being heavy,” and this is almost universally what they’re referring to: when there is a battle for the puck, how often do you come away with it? Can the opposition lift your stick and take the puck and go the other way? Can you get it back when they have it?

Matthews isn’t the most physical player, which I think people tie to the idea that he doesn’t use his size, when really he’s just using it by leaning more into these puck battles. As of Friday Matthews is fourth in the NHL in takeaways, and as much as that’s a shoddily tracked stat in my estimation, it’s at least a ballpark picture of a player who’s effective at getting the puck back.

Further to the idea of a player who’s effective at getting under the opposition’s stick and digging out pucks is Matthews’ work on the forecheck. As of right now Sportlogiq data has him as the league’s top player at turning a forecheck into a chance for.

That isn’t a list of “best forecheckers” by any stretch, but a list of guys who forecheck with a purpose, trying to create. For that I think of players who come up with a sneaky stick lift as the D tries to skate away from them, which goes from being a turnover to a breakdown to a chance almost immediately. It’s why a guy like Alex Ovechkin is on that list — goal scorers know where it’s most valuable to put in the effort trying to get pucks back.

On top of the whole stick battle thing, Matthews also just reads plays well, and is adept at turning quick touches into quick chances.

In short, you don’t want to be dancing the blue line when Matthews starts to get his stick into the area around the puck.

This is the type of stuff that we didn’t used to associate with defence, because it doesn’t necessarily happen in the defensive zone. But this is the picture of what modern defence is, and is embodied by the type of forwards we talk about when it comes to defensive expertise (like Mark Stone and Sean Couturier and Aleksander Barkov).

We know Matthews scores, but he’s helping the Leafs out defensively in a big way by being hard on pucks, hard on his stick, winning loose pucks back and pushing the play the right way for his team.

[relatedlinks]