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

[Hockey Outsider]

 

[Silky Johnson]

That’s because he was a goalie

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I thought he was a place kicker. Always going after those conversions....

 

[BostonBob]

That’s because he was a goalie

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Bruin fans prefer this version:

 

[MadLuke]

Maybe....

 

[Toronto makebeleifs]

Hard no. Even as a huge matthews Homer, who thinks top 5 at the end of everything could potentially be argued... best ever in history is not going to be a thing. Best ever on the leafs, yes, probably.

 

[Mohar Ikram]

No,

Until someone broke Gretzky record, that distinction belongs to Gretzky (and to think goalscoring is one of his not-so-good ability, he is far above anybody else on that region).

 

[10Ducky10]

Mike Bossy is/was the best.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Not even the best goal scorer in Leafs history.

 

[shaner82]

He's one of the greatest ever so far in his short career. To continue to be among the best ever, you have to keep it up throughout a long career. Odds aren't in his favour to continue scoring like he has so far, but time will tell. He doesn't rely on speed or any one particular method to score goals. He scores in so many different ways, so there's no reason why he should decline quickly.

 

[34]

Generational

 

[ORRFForever]

He's one of the greatest ever so far in his short career. To continue to be among the best ever, you have to keep it up throughout a long career. Odds aren't in his favour to continue scoring like he has so far, but time will tell. He doesn't rely on speed or any one particular method to score goals. He scores in so many different ways, so there's no reason why he should decline quickly.

I'd like to see how he does withOUT Marner, JT and Nylander feeding him well placed pucks all game. He's a wonderful scorer / talent, but he's also been blessed / surrounded by many top end playmakers his whole career.

 

[Sentinel]

7 pages?

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Ofcourse this goes to 7 pages and counting lol

 

[TheGreatOne11]

I think he needs to keep it up for at least 10 years before this question is even asked hypothetically, and longer than that for it to even be actually entertained. And I'm a Leafs fan.

He's an amazing goalscorer, no doubt. But consistency matters as much as raw talent and numbers, he needs to get a lot more rockets before this becomes real.

 

[VainGretzky]

Ovie,Gretzky,Both Hulls, Bossy, and Esposito Laugh with the exception of Bossy who just rolled over in his grave

 

[shaner82]

I'd like to see how he does withOUT Marner, JT and Nylander feeding him well placed pucks all game. He's a wonderful scorer / talent, but he's also been blessed / surrounded by many top end playmakers his whole career.

He did pretty good his rookie year without any of those things you mentioned

 

[ORRFForever]

He did pretty good his rookie year without any of those things you mentioned

That's fair / true.

 

[shaner82]

That's fair / true.

I see what you're saying, although that's part of what makes good players great. They know how to find open ice so their teammates can find them. Having a great passer like Marner sure helps, but an open guy is an open guy. If it's not Marner, someone else will find him, although perhaps not as quick or as often.

Matthews seems to get lost out there sometimes. It's something you can't teach. But still, father time is undefeated, so we'll see. The odds aren't in his favour to ever catch Ovi

 

[ORRFForever]

I see what you're saying, although that's part of what makes good players great. They know how to find open ice so their teammates can find them. Having a great passer like Marner sure helps, but an open guy is an open guy. If it's not Marner, someone else will find him, although perhaps not as quick or as often.

Matthews seems to get lost out there sometimes. It's something you can't teach. But still, father time is undefeated, so we'll see. The odds aren't in his favour to ever catch Ovi

I agree.

However, I don't think he scores as easy or as often without Marner on his line 5 on 5 and Marner, JT, Nylander, Reilly on his PP line - which is basically what you said. We'll see over time as JT retires and Nylander goes elsewhere(?).

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Maybe right now, but let's wait till he retires to say this.

But today I say Mike Bossy.

 

[Sykur]

Up to the age of 26 Matthews is just as good if not better than Ovechkin who’s considered the greatest goal scorer of all time… so you were saying?

Just about every great goal scorer in NHL history had stats as good as or better than Ovechkin up to the age of 26.

With two exceptions, regression occurs in the 30s. Come back to this thread when Matthews retires in 12 years and not a day sooner.

 

[MMC]

He’s no Frank Vatrano, that’s for sure

 

[JianYang]

This is more of a legacy question, which is not appropriate for a guy who is like seven years into his career.

We are about a decade early with this question.

 

[daver]

Bedard: 9 goals in his first 13 games

Matthews: 6 goals in his first 13 games

 

[filinski77]

Just about every great goal scorer in NHL history had stats as good as or better than Ovechkin up to the age of 26.

To be fair - pretty much all those players also played in higher scoring environments too. When comparing performance relative to his peers (10th/30th place goalscorers), Ovechkin's 2008-2010 3 year peak can go toe-to-toe with most 3 year goalscoring peaks in history (and is better than any 3 year period Matthews has done).

But overall you're right. Ovechkin's real goalscoring only peak was from age 27 to 34 where he won 7 rockets in 8 years.