What does what happened in the 80's have to do with an Ovi vs. Matthews comparison? It is an objective fact that scoring has increased both at a league-wide level, and at a top-player level from Ovi's peak to now Matthews peak.
Some can argue that the player skill is higher, I would say that's as subjective as you could possibly be. We've had numerous rule changes on how the game is called, numerous goalie pad size changes etc. Not to mention, no coincidence that Ovi/Crosby/Kane/Malkin etc. all increased their production in like 2017 (despite being post-peak and older), as soon as all of these changes in the game were implemented.
Some will talk about PPTOI differences 15 years ago vs now. Well if PP's are lower now than before, but scoring is overall way up, that has to mean that even strength and powerplay scoring are both easier nowadays to overcompensate for less PP opportunities.
Goal scoring is up one way or another. Just because Hull, Mogilny, Esposito, Selanne, Kurri, Nicholls, Bossy, etc all scored more in a single season than Matthews doesn't mean they peaked higher than him. And in the same facet, it's completely relevant to consider how scoring has changed.
Scoring over the last few years is simply just up like 10-15% from Ovi's 08-10 peak, and about 25% more from his 2013-2016 2nd goalscoring peak. This does not diminish that Matthews is the best goalscorer in the world right now, it does not diminish that he's already one of the best of all-time, and it does not diminish that he's peaked pretty close (or equal) to Ovechkin in goalscoring. But it does add context that the raw numbers do not tell the whole story.
[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
2008
[/TD]
[TD]
2009
[/TD]
[TD]
2010
[/TD]
[TD]
2014
[/TD]
[TD]
2015
[/TD]
[TD]
2016
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
2022
[/TD]
[TD]
2023
[/TD]
[TD]
2024
[/TD]
[TD]2024 est?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1st[/TD]
[TD]
65
[/TD]
[TD]
56
[/TD]
[TD]
51
[/TD]
[TD]
51
[/TD]
[TD]
53
[/TD]
[TD]
50
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
60
[/TD]
[TD]
64
[/TD]
[TD]
64
[/TD]
[TD]
68
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2nd[/TD]
[TD]
52
[/TD]
[TD]
46
[/TD]
[TD]
51
[/TD]
[TD]
43
[/TD]
[TD]
43
[/TD]
[TD]
46
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
55
[/TD]
[TD]
61
[/TD]
[TD]
53
[/TD]
[TD]
56
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5th[/TD]
[TD]
43
[/TD]
[TD]
40
[/TD]
[TD]
42
[/TD]
[TD]
37
[/TD]
[TD]
37
[/TD]
[TD]
38
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
47
[/TD]
[TD]
51
[/TD]
[TD]
47
[/TD]
[TD]
49
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]10th[/TD]
[TD]
40
[/TD]
[TD]
39
[/TD]
[TD]
35
[/TD]
[TD]
34
[/TD]
[TD]
33
[/TD]
[TD]
33
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
42
[/TD]
[TD]
42
[/TD]
[TD]
41
[/TD]
[TD]
43
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]30th[/TD]
[TD]
29
[/TD]
[TD]
31
[/TD]
[TD]
29
[/TD]
[TD]
28
[/TD]
[TD]
27
[/TD]
[TD]
28
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
34
[/TD]
[TD]
36
[/TD]
[TD]
31
[/TD]
[TD]
33
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#50 goal[/TD]
[TD]
3
[/TD]
[TD]
1
[/TD]
[TD]
3
[/TD]
[TD]
1
[/TD]
[TD]
1
[/TD]
[TD]
1
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
4
[/TD]
[TD]
5
[/TD]
[TD]
3
[/TD]
[TD]
4
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#40 goal[/TD]
[TD]
10
[/TD]
[TD]
8
[/TD]
[TD]
7
[/TD]
[TD]
3
[/TD]
[TD]
3
[/TD]
[TD]
4
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
17
[/TD]
[TD]
19
[/TD]
[TD]
15
[/TD]
[TD]
17
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]#30 goal[/TD]
[TD]
28
[/TD]
[TD]
39
[/TD]
[TD]
24
[/TD]
[TD]
21
[/TD]
[TD]
15
[/TD]
[TD]
28
[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]
51
[/TD]
[TD]
54
[/TD]
[TD]
38
[/TD]
[TD]
43
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]