Toronto Maple Leafs Duo Looking to Join Exclusive Franchise Club
The Toronto Maple Leafs fan base have never been able to see a group of players as skilled as what they have on the current team.
While the playoff success has not quite happened yet, scoring ability within the Toronto Maple Leafs core is undeniable.
Auston Matthews and William Nylander are attempting to do something that a duo has not been done in 29 years and only twice in franchise history.
The mark the two players are attempting to accomplish is have a pair of 40-goal seasons wearing the blue and white in the same campaign.
William Nylander sits with 36 goals which is a career high and ties him with the 43rd highest scoring season in team history.
With his two goals on Thursday night, Matthews climbed to 34 goals on the season, then scored another two Saturday night in a close loss to Carolina. He is attempting to notch 40-goals for the fifth time in his career which would give him the franchise record for most in team history.
Having a pair of teammates score 40-goals in a season has not happened since the 1993-94 season when Dave Andreychuk collected 53-goals and Captain Wendel Clark was able to notch 46-goals in just 64 games. Despite fighting injuries all season, Clark would have his career year and his pace over a full campaign had him flirting with 60-goals.
The only other season that a pair of Leafs players notched 40-goals in a season was 39 seasons ago when Rick Vaive had his third consecutive 50-goal season finishing with 52 goals and Bill Derlago had his career high 40 during the 1983-84 season.
Both of those seasons were in a higher-scoring era of NHL hockey, so what Matthews and Nylander are doing this year is even more impressive.
The Leafs could have accomplished this same feat in 18-19 when Tavares had 47 goals, but injuries cost Matthews 14 games and he finished with 37 goals. In fact, if not for injuries, Matthews would have 40 goals in in all seven of his NHL seasons.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs fan brain will typically lead to worrying about what the club hasn’t done which is have success in the playoffs, but you can appreciate what is happening right now and that is the club has a special group.
Heading into Saturday night’s game, Nylander is on pace for 42 goals, while Matthews is on pace for 40 goals. With 11 games to go, fans should get excited to cheer on Matthews and Nylander to join an exclusive club that consists of just two other pairs in franchise history.