Sabres vs. Maple Leafs - Mar. 30th, 7:00pm - SN, TSN 1050

[cw]

https://twitter.com/DI0Rdano/status/1774254911019987197

I derived some appreciation for McMann's headlock ...

 

[Joe S.]

Only the 9th player all time with multiple 60 goal seasons. Guy is unreal

Looking forward to all the comments (not here) that this is no big deal and the ?Toronto centric? media is blowing this out of proportion.

 

[Bullfrog]

Sometimes it's good to put things in perspective, like 500 goals. I hear some people talking like it's no big deal. But there's only been 47 players who've hit that mark.

Only 20 with 600+
Only 8 with 700+
Only 3 with 800+

Matthews is only 26 years old and currently sits at 149th in all-time goals. (probably around 140th when season is over)

Not this is in dispute, but Ovechkin's 848 should easily put him in the conversation as one of the greatest athletes of all time. It's incredible.

.... and Matthews is on the same pace.

 

[herman]

https://x.com/mapleleafs/status/1774471762534605110
Gio lol

 

[cw]

Only the 9th player all time with multiple 60 goal seasons. Guy is unreal

Looking forward to all the comments (not here) that this is no big deal and the ?Toronto centric? media is blowing this out of proportion.

That negative chatter won't last long.

Currently Matthews' goals per game is higher than Ovechkin's (he has a long way to go to keep that up but he's flirting with it to underscore how special he is ..)

Look at this list of NHL 60 goal scorers:
https://records.nhl.com/records/skater-records/scoring-plateaus/most-60-or-more-goal-season
Look at the names of all those who only did it once. Pretty good HoFers in there.
Only 8 other players in NHL history did it twice or more like Matthews and they're all in the Hall of Fame.

Matthews is about to be only the 2nd player (after Ovechkin) to win the Rocket 3 or more times.
Below is the list of NHLers who lead the league in goals three times or more
Alexander Ovechkin 9
Bobby Hull 7
Phil Esposito 6
Wayne Gretzky 5
Gordie Howe 5
Maurice Richard 5
Charlie Conacher 5
Babe Dye 4
Pavel Bure 3
Teemu Sel?nne 3
Mario Lemieux 3
Brett Hull 3
Auston Matthews 3 (about to win for a 3rd time)
All the others are Hall of Famers except Ovechkin who obviously will be

Matthews passed Bobby Clarke last night for 146th in goals scored by a player in NHL history. He's 114th all time in adjusted goals.
https://www.hockey-reference.com/leaders/goals_adjusted_career.html
He's probably less than halfway into his career.
He doesn't have to play much longer to be among the greatest of all time in those stats.

There's a decent chance he will pass Sundin for most goals by a Leafs player in 100+ year Leafs history next season

Anyone denying Matthews special goal scoring excellence will look like an idiot.

 

[princedpw]

Any time your team has the undisputed best goal scorer in the league, you should be happy. With 32 teams, and assuming perfect rotation of best goal scorers in the league, one might expect to have the best goal scorer once every 32 years.  But since best goal scorer title tends to persist for a few years, one might expect to have a best goal scorer for only one stretch of time every 100-150 years. ie, the leafs are right on target.

Having said that goal scorers tend to peak early and crash early. This has been said before but it?s Ovechkin?s longevity at a high level rather than his peak that makes him so very exceptional. So while Matthews peak is similar to Ovechkin?s (and hence already legendary), it is still extraordinarily unlikely that his excellence will last like Ovechkin?s has. Matthews has already had too many injuries to key parts that wear down (back, shoulders).  So I?d give him almost no chance whatsoever to come close to Ovechkin?s total goals. Here?s hoping I?m wrong!

 

[David Brent]

Any time your team has the undisputed best goal scorer in the league, you should be happy. With 32 teams, and assuming perfect rotation of best goal scorers in the league, one might expect to have the best goal scorer once every 32 years.  But since best goal scorer title tends to persist for a few years, one might expect to have a best goal scorer for only one stretch of time every 100-150 years. ie, the leafs are right on target.

Having said that goal scorers tend to peak early and crash early. This has been said before but it?s Ovechkin?s longevity at a high level rather than his peak that makes him so very exceptional. So while Matthews peak is similar to Ovechkin?s (and hence already legendary), it is still extraordinarily unlikely that his excellence will last like Ovechkin?s has. Matthews has already had too many injuries to key parts that wear down (back, shoulders).  So I?d give him almost no chance whatsoever to come close to Ovechkin?s total goals. Here?s hoping I?m wrong!

I've book marked this so I can bump it in 11 years time

 

[ZBBM]

prince has a good point.  Matthews hasn't had wrist problems this year, but when he has ... he only scores 40 goals instead of 60.  :0

 

[cw]

prince has a good point.  Matthews hasn't had wrist problems this year, but when he has ... he only scores 40 goals instead of 60.  :0

Reminded me of the Crosby v Ovechkin debate as they were coming into the league.
I felt because of Ovechkin's more physical style, he was likely to be injured more frequently and therefore, would not last as long. Starting the same season due to the lockout, Ovechkin has played 154 more games than Crosby (who hits roughly 1/game).

Ovechkin has delivered 2,500 more hits than Crosby and he's still hitting this season. Ovechkin is 4th in the league in hits all time (since they started keeping those stats '97-98). I realize the hitting stats leave something to be desired in terms of accuracy but we've all seen his physical play. Once again, the crystal ball has some real limits. Another very special player.