3. Auston Matthews will reach 50 goals in a season
We have been talking about Auston Matthews chasing a milestone for years on this site. If last season had been a full 82 game schedule, there is no doubt that he would have scored 50 goals for the first time in his career. It seems like it is just a matter of time until Matthews reaches that magic number.
Last season, Matthews tucked 41 pucks past goaltenders in just 52 games. That’s an incredible scoring clip of 0.79 goals per game. If he were to continue to score at that rate and play a complete 82 game season, Matthews would have been on pace to pot 64 goals.
The rate of 0.79 seems very difficult to repeat, so let’s assume that Matthews regresses back to his 2020 goals per game rate of 0.67. That would give him nearly 55 goals if he played every game. However, to break 50 at that rate, Matthews wouldn’t need to play all 82 contests. He would only need to compete in 75 games to ensure that he reaches the milestone. Matthews would actually finish with exactly 50 goals. (all stats by naturalstatrick.com).
Rick Vaive, Gary Leeman, and Dave Andreychuk are the only Toronto Maple Leafs to have ever eclipsed the half-century mark. Matthews should be in a great position to add his name to the very short list next season. There is also the possibility that he can break a franchise record and score the most ever goals in a single season by a Leaf. The current record belongs to Vaive who had 54 goals in 1981-82.