NHL Hall-of-Famer talks highly of Auston Matthews

If you watched any Toronto Maple Leafs game last year or this season, you’ve probably said to yourself «Wow, this Auston Matthews kid is really good!». Well you’re not the only one!

Mike Modano, one of the best American born player to ever skated in the NHL, speaked highly about the sophomore forward in an interview with Sporting News.

“If you go down the league, there’s a lot of great players nowadays. I would say he’s definitely in the top 20 as of now.”

Modano, who was introducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014, added that he thinks Matthews could become not only the best American player in the NHL (ahead of Patrick Kane), but the best player in the entire league. One of the element of Matthews play that impresses Modano the most is the way he shoots the puck. He scored 40 goals in his rookie season, and so far this year he already scored six goals in seven games, for a total of ten points.

Modano, now 47 years old, retired in 2011. He was drafted first overall by the Minnesota North Stars, and played 21 seasons with the North Stars, the Dallas Stars and the Detroit Red Wings. In 1499 games, he scored 561 goals, added 813 assists for a total of 1374 points (24th most in NHL history). He added 146 points in 176 playoff games. Modano helped the Stars to win the Stanley Cup in 1999.