Top 10 Toronto Maple Leafs Goal Scorers of the Past 30 Years
By Mike Jack
John Tavares
John Tavares has been with the Toronto Maple Leafs for three seasons so far since joining the team before the 2018-19 season. He previously spent nine seasons with the New York Islanders where he was drafted first overall in 2009.
The main reason why John Tavares finds himself in the #5 spot on this list is because of his phenomenal debut season with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018-19 where he led the team with a career high 47 goals. John Tavares also had a four goal game that season.
Not only did John Tavares lead the Toronto Maple Leafs in goals in 2018-19, he was ranked third in the league that season (behind Alex Ovechkin and Leon Draisaitl). The 47 goals also ties him for the second most goals scored by a Toronto Maple Leaf in the last 30 years (with Auston Mathews) and is tied for the 7th most goals scored in a season in Toronto Maple Leafs history (with Matthews and Lanny MacDonald).
John Tavares also scored 26 goals in 2019-20 and 19 goals in 2020-21 (both short seasons). He had four seasons where he scored 30 goals or more with the New York Islanders and another five where he scored 20 goals or more. He has scored at least 20 goals in all of his 12 NHL seasons except for last season (where he scored 19 in a short season).
Seeing this next player score was certainly a “thrill”: