Leafs’ Auston Matthews named NHL’s rookie of the month

Leading all rookies in goals and points for the week as well as scoring the OT game-winner in the Centennial Classic is plenty enough to name Auston Matthews rookie of the week.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews has been named the NHL’s rookie of the month.

The 19-year-old has been playing like a seasoned veteran lately, recording eight goals and four assists in 12 games during the month of December.

Matthews ended the month on a five-game point streak, which he extended to six with a two-goal performance at the Centennial Classic on Sunday.

Back in November, head coach Mike Babcock said that Matthews would be a “dominant centre” by Christmastime and it appears as though he was right on the money.

He currently leads all rookies in points (32) and goals (20).

Matthews won the honour be beating out fellow rookies Patrik Laine (six goals, six assists), Matthew Tkachuk (one goal, 11 assists), Sebastian Aho (four goals, five assists) and Matt Murray (6-1-1).

This is the second time this season that a Maple Leafs player has won rookie of the month after William Nylander did so in October.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.