Will Auston Matthews make the NHL top 10 despite recent concerns surrounding his Toronto Maple Leafs performance

Auston Matthews’ tough 2025-26 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs has made talk of whether he will remain inside the top 10 in the NHL a talking point. TSN’s Bryan Hayes and Frank Corrado were talking recently about where the star center might land in the network’s upcoming player rankings, and Corrado was especially skeptical.The debate follows NHL Network ranking Matthews No. 8 on its list of the top 20 centers. That ranking also had Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki ninth with 101 points and a Selke Trophy win, adding to the debate about where Matthews stands right now.Why could Auston Matthews miss TSN’s NHL top 10?The biggest issue is Matthews’ recent production and availability. Frank Corrado believes Matthews could drop out of TSN’s top 10, while Bryan Hayes also questioned whether the Toronto Maple Leafs captain is currently worthy of a spot in the top 15 players in the league.Matthews finished the 2025-26 season with 27 goals and 53 points in 60 games, the lowest totals of his 10-season NHL career. He was injured for 22 games, but still became the all-time goal-scoring leader of the Toronto Maple Leafs.That drop is especially significant because Matthews had become one of the NHL’s top goal scorers. Before last season, he had scored at least 30 goals in each of the previous nine seasons.Frank Corrado questions Matthews’ current NHL statusCorrado already has Matthews outside the top 10, which means the center could fall somewhere in the No. 17-to-25 range in TSN’s upcoming ranking. His view is less about Matthews’ career to date than his recent form.Matthews could fall out of the top 10 due to the way he has played over the last two seasons, Hayes argued. Where Matthews ends up on TSN's new Top 50 list is a mystery, as it has yet to be released.Matthews’ ranking by the NHL Network has also drawn comparisons to Nick Suzuki. Suzuki finished with 101 points in 82 games, won the Selke Trophy and helped the Canadiens reach the Eastern Conference Final.Matthews was eighth, and Suzuki was ninth among centers. Matthews’ standing as one of the NHL’s best has grown increasingly uncertain heading into the new season, following the gap in 2025-26 results.So the upcoming TSN ranking could be an important indicator of how NHL analysts view Matthews’ standing after a campaign cut short by injury.Auston Matthews’ status among the NHL’s best players is being challenged ahead of TSN’s upcoming Top 50 ranking. The Toronto Maple Leafs captain recorded 53 points in 60 games before his 2025-26 season ended due to injury. Analysts Bryan Hayes and Frank Corrado can't agree if Matthews still deserves a top-10 spot going into the 2026-27 season.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.