Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews has the top-selling jersey in the NHL, according to the league’s website.
NHL.com reported Friday that Matthews’ No. 34 jersey was the hottest seller on the Fanatics network of e-commerce sites, including Shop.NHL.com, NHLShop.ca and Fanatics.com, for the 2017-18 regular season.
Matthews, who had 63 points (34 goals, 29 assists) in 62 games his second season in the NHL, beat out Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who had the top-selling jersey last season, and Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid, the league’s scoring champion for two straight seasons.
Those jerseys may have to be mothballed soon, as the Leafs trail Boston 3-1 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal following a 3-1 loss at home Thursday night.
Rounding out the top five are Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
There are some surprises on the list. Washington superstar Alex Ovechkin came in at a middling sixth, while Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello, who had a modest 53 points on a terrible Rangers team, was seventh.
Washington glue guy T.J. Oshie was 12th, ahead of major stars Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa Bay and Evgeni Malkin of Pittsburgh.
Surprising omissions from the top 15 include Winnipeg sniper Patrik Laine and Nashville defenceman P.K. Subban
The Canadian Press
