Auston Matthews needs to protect himself
Let's be clear Auston Matthews did nothing last night to earn a penalty on this play. There isn't a single world where this is a penalty against Matthews, and Pierre-Luc Dubois should have been sitting alone for 2 minutes or less for this play, but that doesn't mean Matthews shouldn't have taken a penalty.
Auston Matthews is indisputably a top 10 talent in the NHL and probably even higher, but his shelf life is growing shorter because of the abuse he seems to willing take almost nightly. Up until last night Matthews had drawn zero 5v5 penalties this season which is an extremely surprising stat, but if the referees aren't going to protect Matthews it's going to be up to him to do it himself.
The Maple Leafs have added a lot of toughness to their roster in Wayne Simmonds, Nick Ritchie and Kyle Clifford but none of those players are capable of playing on a line with Matthews. Sure, retribution is great, but if your star player is injured for any length of time retribution doesn't fix that problem.
I often flashback to this scene of a smiling Matthews and think about how much more respect he'd have around the league if he took matters into his own hands.
Matthews just had off season wrist surgery and I'm not expecting him to drop the gloves, but so many players have made a career protecting themselves with stick infractions.
So whether it's a slash like Kessel on John Scott or a cross check it's time for Matthews to allow himself to let go, take some time in the penalty box and protect himself!
Crosby fought. Ovechkin fought. Lemieux fought. Gretzky fought. McDavid fought.
At 6'3 and 205 lbs. Auston Matthews is very capable of fighting for himself.
That is truly the next step in Auston Matthews evolution.
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