Toronto Maple Leafs: Matthews Can Join NHL’s Most Exclusive Club

Toronto Maple Leafs franchise player Auston Matthews is the best goal scorer in the NHL.

Ever since he entered the league, the Toronto Maple Leafs best player has scored more goals on a per/minute basis than anyone else in the NHL at 5v5.

Being the league’s best 5v5 scorer makes him the best scorer, period.  The only things that have been suppressing his totals are ice time and injuries.

There should be no doubt that at this point in their respective careers, that Matthews has passed Ovechkin as the league’s best scorer.

60 Goal Club

Despite the per/minute numbers, the fact is, if you want to be considered the best my anyone besides nerds, you’ve got to win a goal scoring title.

But if you truly want to be enshrined as one of the best goal scorers of all-time, you’ve got to hit the magic number of 60 – something that is nearly impossible to do.

In fact, the NHL has only ever seen 39 60 goals seasons, and those 39 seasons were accomplished by just 20 players.

Even crazier, the feat has only been accomplished twice since the year 2000. Once, by Steve Stamkos in 2011-12 (60) and once by Alex Ovechkin in 2007-08 (65). (Goal stats from quanthockey.com).

Needless to say, but Auston Matthews would be the first member of the Toronto Maple Leafs to ever score 60 goals.

When Wayne Gretzky scored his 92 goals teams were averaging eight combined goals per game, and now it’s about six (hockey reference.com). That means that someone scoring 93 goals is probably never going to happen.

The last season average seven goals per game was 1992-93, and since then, only Ovechkin and Mario Lemieux (69) have topped 65.  So even if Matthews is one of the all-time greats (and I think he probably is) then it’s still a long shot that he could score 60 goals.

But then you watch a game like Wednesday’s season opener, and you find yourself convinced he could score at least once per game.

I mean, realistically, he could have had six goals that game. In addition to the two he scored, and the empty netter he just missed, there was a laser that Craig Anderson just got his shoulder on, a wrap around, and one that hit the cross bar.

That’s just off the top of my head, he could have had even more grade A scoring chances than I am remembering.  Naturalstattrick.com says he had eight shots and six individual scoring chances.

Not bad.

Granted the Ottawa Senators are pretty bad, but still… opposing coaches are forced to choose between putting their best guys against Tavares or Matthews, and that probably gives him a little more room to maneuver than most guys of his skill level.

If everything went right for him, I think 65 goals is doable.  Who knows? He could be the first 70 goal player of the Century.