Auston Matthews has a Chance to Become Legendary

Although he may not fully realize it yet, 17 – year old phenom Auston Matthews has a very rare opportunity that few people get to have in their lifetime. Matthews, who hails from Scottsdale, Arizona, is projected to be among the top players selected in the 2016 NHL draft, with many scouting services and analysts already pegging him as the top available prospect. With a unique mix of size and skill, Matthews is already drawing comparisons to top NHLers. TSN analyst Ray Ferraro has described Matthews as “Like Jonathan Toews with better hands”. Now that’s a hefty comparison.

Imagine this with better hands 

If Matthews can live up to the insane hype that’s already being placed unto him, he has the chance to do something very special, something comparable to what Wayne Gretzky did for the game of hockey in the Los Angeles area way back in the early 1990’s. See Matthews mother is Mexican, and hailing from Arizona he would be the top draft pick to come out of the region by a longshot, and It is a big if, but if the Coyotes managed get the 1st overall pick in 2016 and land Matthews, hockey in Arizona and the surrounding region could explode (wink, wink, nudge, nugde Gary) . The possibilities are endless with how many people that he could help make interested in the game of hockey… and  this is where the part about him being half Mexican comes into play. Matthews could appeal to a whole new demographic as there never really has been a Latino superstar to play in the NHL. Matthews can help lead a whole new generation of Mexican-Americans to become interested in this great game that we all know and love.

Now this may sound like it’s starting to go overboard a little bit, but it’s true. Matthews has the unique ability to be able to transcend the sport of hockey across both culture and geography, as well as having the chance to prove all the NHL expansion nay-sayers wrong and prove that hockey can work in the desert and anywhere else in the United States for that matter. 

 Auston Matthews will almost certainly become the highest ever drafted Mexican-American in the 2016 NHL draft.

One last thing I wanted to talk about with this article is what this means for USA hockey. The pretty consensus Top 2 prospects for the 2016 NHL draft are Matthews and Jakob Chychurn. Although Chychrun has exercised his right to be able to represent Canada internationally, he still played his formative youth years in the hockey hotbed of Boca Raton, Florida. That’s right, the Top 2 picks in a single NHL draft could possibly be from Arizona and Florida. If you would have told someone in the hockey community that in 1990, you’d be labeled a lunatic. But it’s true, and it gives reason for USA Hockey to be super optimistic for the future. See, USA hockey perennially sees most of it’s roster players come from traditional hockey states such as Minnesota, Michigan, and the Northeast United States. All in all about 7 or 8 states producing quality hockey players for them, and it was like that for a long time. But now with the recent explosion of youth hockey in places like Florida, Arizona, California, Texas, Missouri, Colorado, Illinois, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, USA hockey is looking at a huge new player base. All these states producing elite talent could do wonders for the USA’s international roster, as well as their overall depth as a hockey country. It is definitely a very exciting time to be a fan of USA Hockey, because they seem to only be on the very tip of the ice berg with what could return huge dividends, just like ole Gary was planning all along.