Auston Matthews 69 goals in 81 games, most goals scored since Lemieux in 1995-96

[ecemleafs]

on pace for 77 goals now. would be the most since brett hull in 90/91.

 

[Fatass]

The fact he's smashing all of the Leaf's scoring records talks about the sad state of affairs of previous Leaf talent. Don't get me wrong, he's f***ing amazing...but he's going to surpass Sundin likely next season already.

Reminds me of Espo. Can he get to 76?

 

[1specter]

 

[Machinehead]

I think this guy might be a decent prospect.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I don’t disagree. But I also think anyone saying Ovechkin would break Gretzky’s goal record when he had 350 career goals likely would have been called crazy. I’m not saying it won’t happen, but I would assume Vegas odds are at least 10:1.

And if you look at other players who were on a better pace like Lemieux, Bossy, Robitaille, Hull. None of them even hit 800 goals. So odds are not in Matthews favor.

To be fair to Mario, he got cancer, others he might be the all time leader in goals and even if not 800 would have been a lock.

 

[SkinsFan09]

One thing Ovechkin has that very few in the history of the league is durability and otherworldly consistency. he put up 40 and 50 goal seasons until age 36. Matthews won't have that durability and already has nagging wrist injuries that won't help him as he gets older. Even if Matthews PEAKS higher than Ovechkin goal scoring wise and beats 65 goals, he gas a hell of a hill to climb to get even 800 career goals. that's why Ovechkin stands alone as a goal scorer for me. been doing it since 2005 and has insane durability and consistency.

congrats to Matthews, great goal scorer and great accomplishment. he needs to round out his overall game to become a 100 point player to take that next step as a player IMO.

Can we not do the Mahomes Brady thing and just let Matthews' career play out?

And Ovechkin isn't even retired yet. He has 8 goals in his past 8 games so his career needs to play out too.

 

[v00d00daddy]

""

If anyone is wondering what Ovi’s numbers are in his first 9 seasons

290 ES goals in 760 gp

 

[Drytoast]

Reminds me of Espo. Can he get to 76?

I think he will finisher somewhere in the range of 65-70. But not 76. No shot.

 

[Fogelhund]

If anyone is wondering what Ovi’s numbers are in his first 9 seasons

290 ES goals in 760 gp

So 0.422 Goals/game for Matthews, 0.382 for Ovechkin.

 

[the_fan]

He couldn’t do 50 in 50.. not impressed

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

Congrats to Auston

 

[LivingRentFree]

I just don’t know if he is the kind of player that will stick around past age 36, let’s say. I think he retires in 10 years. 650-700 goals.

unless he breaks both of his legs at the same time, there is a 0% chance he only puts up 300 goals in 10 years.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

• Insane achievement!

 

[authentic]

Love that Matthews is scoring at this torrid pace!

So many non leaf fans forget that he's a 200ft player. He's defensively responsible, not just an offensive juggernaut.

Not just responsible, his defensive skill is elite. Just seriously watch the guy play for a while, it’s not hard to see.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

The fact a 40g 87pt season was considered a "down year" lol

87 points aint what it used to be for elite players

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Auston, save some goals for the playoffs.

 

[Quinning]

His shot is borderline unstoppable from that spot on the hashmarks. He can score at any time.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Hats off to Matthews and the season he is having but I'm more interested in his playoff performance this year. He could score 200 goals in a season but if he doesn't produce in the playoffs, it doesn't really matter.

This. He will be judged in the post season. Goals are much harder to come by in the playoffs.

 

[umma gumma]

And Leaf fans complain everyone else always makes it about the Leafs.

Helluva season by Matthews.

 

[authentic]

""

This is unreal. He didn’t start playing until 2016-17 and he’s sooo injury prone (right hf?). How is this possible?

 

[filinski77]

At what point do we start comparing this to peak Ovechkin's goal scoring?

As a huge Ovechkin fan, very likely that this season tops out as a better peak than Ovechkin in 2008 (even era-adjusted, and relative to peers). A truly remarkable season from one of the best to do it all time.

Let's see him get another 6 rockets after this season though

 

[LivingRentFree]

""

This is a very important image.

Best 5 on 5 player in the NHL is Auston Matthews.
Imagine what would happen if Toronto got powerplays.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

You may hate the Leafs and want to say "What has he done in the playoffs ?" But this is a phenomenal season and he's just destroying the league. It's impressive.

Tsn 1200 said it best.

"You're not trying to stop him, (Matthews) you're just trying to limit his chances"

 

[34]

Saying McDavid is the best player in the league does not take away from what Matthews is doing right now.

Saying that Matthews is the better player this season does not take away from McDavid. He is still a great player.

 

[filinski77]

If you looked at hockey reference season average, they add the winning goals of a shootout, which is counterintuitive a bit, at least for people that will tend to look at them to have a feel for the scoring environment.

07/08 was a bit lower at 2.72, this year around 3.11 (3v3 reduce the amount of game that goes to shutout I could imagine)

but 07/08 was a 4.28 powerplay a game versus 3.12 this year, which can push the scoring among the top player that play on the first unit of the PP at similar level (or not , it depends).

Don't agree with your point about the powerplay time. Scoring is up amongst top-players as well, not just overall league-wide. Powerplay time might be a lot lower, but powerplay efficiency is up, and it's much easier to score even-strength nowadays (goalie pad reductions, rule changes etc).

Below are the 5th/10th/20th/30th place goal and point scorers, and their projected finishes (based on average of 56gp through this season).

Results being that elite players are scoring at about a 15% higher rate overall so far. This includes PP and ES time, and difficulty all encompassed.

	Points - 2024	Points - 2024 proj	Points- 2008
5th	75​	110	96​	14%​
10th	71​	104	87​	19%​
20th	59​	86	78​	11%​
30th	54​	79	72​	10%​

	Goals - 2024	Goals - 2024 proj	Goals - 2008
5th	34​	50	43​	16%​
10th	31​	45	40​	13%​
20th	27​	40	32​	24%​
30th	23​	34	29​	16%​