Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: Mid-Season Awards

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Jan 1, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs players embrace forward Auston Matthews (34) after he scored the overtime winning goal in a 5-4 win over Detroit Red Wings in the Centennial Classic ice hockey game at BMO Field. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /

Keeping with our Toronto Maple Leafs mid-season review, we’re handing out mid-season awards to celebrate what has been an exciting first half of the season.

With the second half of the Toronto Maple Leafs season set to begin on Tuesday night against the Buffalo Sabres, we thought we would take one more look back at the first 41 games of the season.

After handing out our mid-season grades on Monday, we’re announcing our prestigious mid-season awards. Here’s a look at who won each award, starting with the team’s most valuable player.

Most Valuable Player

Chris Okrainetz: You could make a strong case for Frederik Andersen, but in my mind it has to be Auston Matthews. The 19-year-old has not only lit it up on the ice, he’s transcended the franchise and created a buzz around this city that has casual fans tuning in just to see what he might do next.

He’s had a number of memorable moments during the first half of the season and has already developed into a No. 1 centre, which is amazing when you take into account that he has two rookies as his linemates. Overall, his impact on and off the ice makes him the Leafs first half MVP.

Jake Middleton: This was actually a really close decision for me between Frederik Anderson and Matthews, but I will give the edge to the Leafs franchise player for a myriad of reasons.

1) He legitimizes the franchise league wide. The presence of a true elite and complete super star center has evaded the blue and white for more than 10 years, and to finally have one has injected life into the rabid fan base that is Leafs Nation.

2) He has brought up the players around him. No longer does Nazem Kadri or Tyler Bozak have to face top pairing anymore, they are properly slotted and are benefitting from it offensively, not only that, but the presence of Matthews has brought up the offensive abilities of both Connor Brown and Zach Hyman.

Dave Morassutti: This was a really tough decision to make and as much as I wanted to say Matthews it is hard to ignore the impact that Andersen has on the team’s success. He has 18 of the team’s 20 wins, is in the top three in save percentage among all goalies and top five in wins since the start of November. If the Leafs want any chance of staying in the playoff picture Andersen will have to be their best player.

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