Matthews 'not at McDavid's level just yet,' Scheifele says: report

Auston Matthews is off to a historic start with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he isn't better than Connor McDavid, Mark Scheifele said Tuesday.

"Obviously Auston's a great player. He's got a lot of skill and you watch him on a nightly basis, he makes a lot of really good plays," the Jets forward said, according to Sportsnet. "Connor McDavid has put up back-to-back 100-point seasons. He's done a lot that Matthews obviously hasn't done. Matthews is a star in this league and he's going to get better. But he's not at McDavid's level just yet."
Matthews led the NHL with 10 goals and 16 points in seven games and became the fifth player in NHL history to have multiple points in each of the first seven games of a season, joining Mario Lemieux and Kevin Stevens of the Pittsburgh Penguins (1992-93), Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders (1984-85), and Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers (1983-84).

McDavid, the Oilers center who won the Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring champion the past two seasons, and the Hart Trophy voted as NHL most valuable player two seasons ago, leads Edmonton with nine points (four goals, five assists) in four games, including four points in a 5-4 overtime win against Winnipeg on Tuesday.
"Toronto's played seven games. Edmonton's only played three," Scheifele said before the game. "It's still early in the season and there's still so much that will happen. Every year there's ebbs and flows. Auston's had a great start and you want him to keep going, but it'll be interesting to have this conversation later in the season."
McDavid had a point on Edmonton's first nine goals of the season, breaking the NHL record of seven held by Adam Oates (Detroit Red Wings, 1986-87).
"I'm sure Connor likes challenges and wants to be the best player he can be," Scheifele said. "I'm sure [Matthews] having a great start is only pushing him to do more."