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William Nylander takes Auston Matthews’ rookie of the month award

Getty Images
Getty Images

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a blessing of young riches, as they should with one playoff appearance in 11 seasons. (But what an appearance!)

Auston Matthews, the No. 1 overall pick last summer, burst onto the NHL scene in October with 10 points in nine games, including a four-goal debut that was so impactful it somehow got a Canadian team on American television.

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Was that good enough to be the rookie of the month? No!

How about Patrik Laine of the Winnipeg Jets, who is tied with Matthews with six goals and is fielding daily questions about being the next Alex Ovechkin? Was he the rookie of the month?

No!

The rookie of the month is actually another member of that blessing of young riches for the Leafs: William Nylander, who had four goals and seven assists in nine games.

From the NHL:

Nylander, the eighth overall selection in the 2014 NHL Draft, collected at least one point in seven of his nine appearances, highlighted by his first career multi-goal performance Oct. 22 at CHI (2-0—2). He recorded three other multi-point efforts: Oct. 12 at OTT (0-2—2), Oct. 19 at WPG (1-1—2) and Oct. 25 vs. TBL (1-1—2). Nylander also shared the League lead with seven power-play points, while placing second among rookies with three power-play goals and 31 shots on goal. The 20-year-old Calgary native has 10-14—24 in 31 career NHL appearances since making his League debut Feb. 29 vs. TBL.

So the Pippen to Auston’s Jordan (or is that Mitch Marner … the Leafs have too many damn good young players) wins the October rookie of the month award. Quite the upset of the anointed one. Hell, they gave Crosby rookie of the month in Oct. 2005 despite not being the best rookie that month.

Of course, the good news for Scottsdale’s Own is that the last eight players to win rookie of the month in October didn’t go on to win the Calder.

So keep at it, Auston Matthews! You’re pretty good too!

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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