Auston Matthews just 4 goals away from joining an elite list
Both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl reached the 300-goal mark this past week and etched their names in the record books for being one of the fastest active skaters to do so. Draisaitl scored goal number 300 against the Arizona Coyotes on the 27th of March in career game #630, while McDavid did so last night in career game #563.
Alexander Ovechkin is the quickest to do so amongst active players in 473 games, followed by Steven Stamkos at 550 games, then McDavid, followed by Sidney Crosby at 622 games, and Draisaitl then rounds out the top 5. However, Leaf and reigning MVP Auston Matthews is set to join the elite list soon enough and bump Draisaitl out of the top-5.
Matthews currently has 296 career goals in 474 games. He is 4 short of the 300-mark and should get there by the end of the season at the very least. He just narrowly missed out on edging the great Alexander Ovechkin but should be sitting pretty in the 2nd spot, well ahead of Stamkos, McDavid, Crosby, and Draisaitl.
Matthews has reached the 30-goal plateau in all 7 seasons, he has scored 35+ goals on 6 occasions, 40+ goals on 4 occasions, and 50+ once. He currently has 37 this season and if he were to reach the 300-goal mark he would also record yet another 40+ goal season - which would be his 5th in only 7 years.
The 25-year-old has been nothing short of brilliant since he stepped onto the ice as a 19-year-old in 2016-17, capturing the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year with his 40-goal performance. He has been consistent through and through and will be side-by-side with Ovechkin's records for years to come if he can continue to play the way he has shown that he can.
If he does get to 300 goals this season, he will also become the 7th youngest player to do so behind Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Dale Hawerchuk, Mike Bossy, Steve Yzerman, and Ovechkin, edging out players like Michel Goulet, Jari Kurri, Samkos, Jaromir Jagr, and McDavid.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 1 | 58 ANSWERS Auston Matthews just 4 goals away from joining an elite list How many games will it take Matthews to score the 4 goals he needs to hit 300? | ||
| 1-2 | 3 | 5.2 % |
| 3-4 | 28 | 48.3 % |
| 5-6 | 20 | 34.5 % |
| 7 or more | 7 | 12.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
