Thornton believes Matthews should be in the conversation for three major awards this season

The Leafs snapped a two-game losing skid on Wednesday with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators, with superstar forward Auston Matthews taking centre-stage with yet another goal - his league-leading 14th in just 16 games this season.

The Maple Leafs sniper has taken it to a higher level in 2020-21, after finishing 2019-20 with 47 goals in 70 games. That's a 55-goal pace over an 82-game season.

You'd have to imagine that Matthews will slow down at some point, as he is currently on pace for 77 goals over an 82-game span, but if he does manage to continue at the same torrid pace all season, he will become the first Leaf to score 50+ goals since Dave Andreychuk in 1993-94. The only difference is that Matthews will have done it in 55 games, while it took Andreychuk 83.

What Matthews is currently doing is not lost on 41-year-old Joe Thornton, who took some time to pump the 23-year-old's tires following Wednesday's victory.

"He's on a different level," Thornton said after the game in Toronto, according to The Hockey News' David Alter. "He just competes so hard. I think he should be up for ... the Selke, Hart, Rocket.

"He does so many things and he just plays the game the right way. I really enjoy watching him play and playing alongside him. He's the complete package."

It's nearly impossible to argue a case against Matthews deserving any one of the awards that Thornton listed, as he truly does compete hard across the entire 200-foot ice surface.

While it looks as though Matthews is running away in the race for the Rocket, he will have some stiff competition in both the Selke and the Hart race, with names like Patrice Bergeron, Aleksander Barkov, Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Patrick Kane to contend with. The fact that Matthews' name is right there with these guys at just 23 years-of-age is nothing short of amazing, and for a Leafs team that has been in need of such a dominant player for such a long time, the future looks very bright with #34 in the fold.

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