Could a Toronto Maple Leafs Player Finally Win an NHL Scoring Title?

Known for their high-octane offence, the Toronto Maple Leafs are loaded with superstars that could pile up points at their will. With Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander leading the way, they have definitely made things difficult for the opposition to stop them.

So this bids the question, is it possible that a Toronto Maple Leafs player can finally win an NHL scoring title? Of course, anything is possible, but how probable is it is the question people should be asking.

After all, it has been over 85 years since the last Maple Leafs player accomplished the feat. We would have to go all the way back to the 1937-38 NHL season when Gordie Drillon scored 26 goals and 26 assists for 52 points for the boys in blue to lead the league that season.

So even with many former prolific Leafs superstars in Dave Keon, Darryl Sittler, Doug Gilmour, and Mats Sundin to name a few, they have all come up short in winning the NHL scoring title (also known as the Art Ross Trophy).

Could a Toronto Maple Leafs Player Finally Win an NHL Scoring Title?

So then could one of the “core four” finally do it for Toronto in the near future?

Looking back to recent times, the Leafs had both Marner and Matthews finish in the Top 10 in the NHL in scoring for two of the past three seasons.

The closest they probably have come was in 2020-21 when Marner and Matthews finished fourth and fifth respectively; however they were still well off the eventual leader in Connor McDavid, who had more than 40 points on either of the two.

As a matter of fact, other than two instances, McDavid has been on the top pedestal of the league in scoring ever since 2016, and each time usually by a wide margin from the second place finisher.

Together with his dynamic duo partner in Leon Draisaitl, they have practically owned the top of the leaderboard for much of the past seven seasons and don’t appear to be losing any steam any time soon.

So to respond to our question, it’s POSSIBLE, but highly improbable that a Leafs player will win a scoring title this year and in the near future, because with the presence of McDavid and Draisaitl most likely playing at the top of their game for the next decade, they will ensure that they will score enough points to leave many of the potential Leafs candidates behind in the dust.

(All stats from NHL.com)

But that’s okay, we don’t really need any Leaf to win the Art Ross Trophy. What we really need is the Leafs to finally win the Stanley Cup, and that’s the only goal that should really matter.