Is Auston Matthews the greatest goal-scorer in hockey history?

[CascadiaPuck]

It’s weird to see a couple people be a bit dismissive saying things like “of course, Ovechkin has longevity”.

That longevity is the biggest reason he is the greatest goal scorer. What Ovechkin has done after the age of 30 is what sets him apart more than anything else. You can do the head to head stuff for Ovi, Bossy, Stamkos, Matthews, Esposito, Hull, Hull, etc. People will end up debating league wide scoring rates, separation from peers, and so on. And ultimately the analysis will show that these players all have different cases (some more nitpicky than others).

But the reason Ovi is separated from the others - by a massive amount - is what we’ve seen from him during the back half of his career. It is literally one of the most impressive things to ever happen in the history of the league.

 

[VanIsle]

Nope. Ovechkin has 8x more top GPG finishes:
Ovechkin: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,3,5,5,6,8,9
M. Bossy: 1,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,5,8

9 consecutive 50 goal seasons. . Most ever. . .

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Is Auston Matthews the greatest goal-scorer in hockey history?

I have seen some Matthews fans put forth this hypothesis but I am not sure.

I think Lemieux, both Hulls, Ovechkin, etc. rate as better goal-scorers.

Is this a thread to mock Matthews?

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Didn’t #99 score 92 one year?

The GOAT *player* had a superlative goal-scoring career as well. Bossy and Lemieux have significantly better G/G, however. Matthews, playing in a different era, is not far behind them, but none of his contemporaries are close to him.

See how this works?

 

[I am not exposed]

Jesus Christ.

Definitely one of the best back in the day but could he hack it in todays NHL. I doubt it.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

All hail Pig Papi.

Auston “Peppa Pig” Matthews.

 

[Unspecified]

Some people really do breathe different oxygen than the rest of us.

 

[reino]

 

[EazyE1]

Auston Mathews is easily the best goal scorer of all time. Even if he doesnt play another season hes a first ballot hall of famer. I'd bet he gets at LEAST 5 or 6 cups throughout his career

 

[Albatros]

This 50 in 39. Can you imagine how many more goals he would have had if he just concentrated on goal scoring only like Matthews and OV do.

Gretzky had 174 shots on goal in those 39 games, that's more than Matthews has ever taken in his first 39.

 

[kevsh]

I'm not taking OP seriously.

The second Leafs-focused thread today that clearly seems designed to troll us.

 

[Crazy8oooo]

It's not an unreasonable question. He is most certainly in the conversation.

He's ahead of most of the all-time great goal scorers in goals/game. Ignoring numbers 3 and 4 on the list below, who played almost a century ago, Matthews is only behind Bossy and Lemieux.

View attachment 766593

He is well ahead of his contemporaries who are considered great goal scorers - McDavid, Pastrnak, Draisaital, Connor, Rantanen.

View attachment 766592

So if you accept that Matthews is the greatest goal scorer of his generation, because it's fairly obvious he is, then it's a matter of comparing eras to answer the question of who is the greatest in history.

As I stated above, Matthews is definitely in the conversation, if he continues producing.

I’m a big Mathew’s fan so this is in no way to try and take away from him being a great goal scorer. However, using career averages of Matthews versus players who have played double his time, isn’t actually fair comparisons. All of Matthews’ years, so far, are prime years. Meanwhile, you’re using those prime averages to compare against other players’ prime years and non prime years. When Matthews has played upwards of 20 seasons, I’d bet his averages will not be as high as they are currently. With that said, comparing their prime years, he’s still either at the top or close to it.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Auston Mathews is easily the best goal scorer of all time. Even if he doesnt play another season hes a first ballot hall of famer. I'd bet he gets at LEAST 5 or 6 cups throughout his career

Maybe, but he is not the best at the moment.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

I’m a big Mathew’s fan so this is in no way to try and take away from him being a great goal scorer. However, using career averages of Matthews versus players who have played double his time, isn’t actually fair comparisons. All of Matthews’ years, so far, are prime years. Meanwhile, you’re using those prime averages to compare against other players’ prime years and non prime years. When Matthews has played upwards of 20 seasons, I’d bet his averages will not be as high as they are currently. With that said, comparing their prime years, he’s still either at the top or close to it.

That's fair. It would be amazing if he keeps that G/G pace into his mid-30s. It's unlikely that he will be the absolute machine that Ovi has been the past few years.

The historical chart was mostly to show Matthews is right up there with the all-timers, whereas his contemporaries are nowhere to be seen, in an historical context. McDavid and Pastrnak are the next highest on that list, at 18 and 19 respectively.

FTR - I'm not saying Matthews is the GOAT goal scorer, just that it's not unreasonable that he's in the discussion, admittedly relatively early in his career.

 

[Crazy8oooo]

That's fair. It would be amazing if he keeps that G/G pace into his mid-30s. It's unlikely that he will be the absolute machine that Ovi has been the past few years.

The historical chart was mostly to show Matthews is right up there with the all-timers, whereas his contemporaries are nowhere to be seen, in an historical context. McDavid and Pastrnak are the next highest on that list, at 18 and 19 respectively.

FTR - I'm not saying Matthews is the GOAT goal scorer, just that it's not unreasonable that he's in the discussion, admittedly relatively early in his career.

I definitely think he belongs in the conversation with what he’s done so far. He’s proven it for multiple seasons. Like I said, I’m a big fan and hope he continues it throughout his career. It’s just rare to have a player continue high goal totals as they get into their mid thirties.

 

[Dirty Dan]

Too early to tell, but at the exact same age as Matthews is right now Ovechkin, who is about to become the greatest goal scorer of all time, had 308 goals. Matthews right now has 312 goals. So he's on the right track.

Ovi missed his rookie year due to a lockout. Lets call 2013 and 2021 even with lockout vs covid now. But you can wash that and say Ovi benefitted from the end of the dead puck era

Even then Ovi had his worst scoring seasons at 26/27. I don't think Matthews will be as good as Ovi was past age 34.

Another thing is that Matthews had a lot more skill around him in his ELC contract where as Ovechkin scored 52 in his rookie year on one of the worst teams

 

[Dave92]

It really depends if we're talking Hockey only or all sports.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Leafs fans lol

 

[toomuchsauce]

without question. all these other guys just got fat off of power play goals, which - as we all know by now - do not count, and are actually bad. when matthews does them they're good though. Stats prove this.

 

[BostonBruins11]

This again.......

 

[End on a Hinote]

 

[34]

Yes, he will be. Best ever.

 

[BlueBaron]

Triggered? I couldn’t care less. I know that he’ll never win a Stanley Cup, because in the playoffs, teams can clamp down on him defensively, shutting off his shooting lanes, to the point where he should be passing off to his linemates. However, being the middling playmaker that he is, he doesn’t do it.

Dude has 249 assists in 495 games. NOT AN ELITE PASSING CENTER.

Yeah....22 goals in 50 playoff games is soooo bad. List all the players with more than .44 goals a game playoff average and then slap yourself for being silly. You really do need to watch him play because you clearly are trying too hard.

 

[Silky Johnson]

How many classless Subbans?

All of them

the real question is if he's also the greatest goal scorer in Soccer history and the greatest goal scorer in Water polo history

All three have the same answer.

 

[Silky Johnson]

Gretzky had 174 shots on goal in those 39 games, that's more than Matthews has ever taken in his first 39.

How many assists did he have? Gretzky and the Oilers were a dominant offensive team.

Gretzky gave himself way more opportunity all around - so its a relative thing. He could have broke 100 if he only focused on goals scoring. Instead he just double up Matthews best points total...