Toronto Maple Leafs: Can Auston Matthews catch Rick Vaive?
Auston Matthews has 34 goals this season with 35 games remaining. Lately, Matthews has been on a tear which has put the 50 goals mark in reasonable view. Only three players in Maple Leafs history have reached this point. Can Auston Matthews be the fourth?
One of the most surprising stats about the Toronto Maple Leafs is that they have been around for just over 100 years now and have only had three players to ever reach 50 goals. Not to mention, it took the first 65 years to go by before reaching their first in Rick Vaive.
Vaive scored 54 goals in the 1981-82 season to become the first player in Maple Leafs history to reach 50. He simultaneously passed Frank Mahovlich‘s franchise record of 48 goals in one season by a Maple Leaf. Vaive would put together two more seasons back-to-back of 51 goals and 52 goals.
It wasn’t until five years later that the Maple Leafs would see another 50 goal scorer in Gary Leeman, who potted 51 goals in the 1989-90 season. Leeman, who played 667 games in the NHL, was only able to reach this mark once more after recording his previous career-high of 32 goals the season before.
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The third and final player to reach 50 goals in the blue and white was Dave Andreychuk. He played 1,639 games in his NHL career and had many seasons with at least 30 goals well before he came to the Maple Leafs in the 1992-93 season. The Leafs knew they were getting a goal scorer and it only took him until his second season with the team to reach 53 goals in 1993-94.
Today, we have Auston Matthews who arguably has the best chance in recent history to be the fourth player to reach the 50 goals mark in a Maple Leafs uniform.
To say Matthews burst onto the NHL scene is an understatement. Four goals in a game at any point in a player’s career is incredible, but to do it in your first NHL game is unprecedented. Since that game in Ottawa, the Leafs knew they had a special player on their hands.
Fast forward to today, after a couple of seasons in a row with injuries, and Matthews is finally looking prime to play a full 82 game season and we will get to witness his full goal-scoring potential. Currently, Matthews is on pace to hit about 54-56 goals this season. If he was to get there, he will tie or surpass Rick Vaives’ record of 54 goals.
Of course, health plays a major part in that projection, but so far there is no reason to believe he can’t reach that. Mix in a couple more hat-tricks, as he did against the lowly Devils the other night, and we might have to start talking about 60. Of course, you always have to play the games out and then projections get tossed out the window.
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It will definitely be something to track as the season winds down and if Matthews does reach the 50 mark and the Leafs make the playoffs, it would be hard to ignore Matthews as a Hart Trophy candidate.
Agree or disagree? Let me know what you think in the comments below. Follow me on Twitter @WriterGiovanni and check out my podcast on YouTube FaceOff Hockey Podcast