Auston Matthews receives huge vote of confidence ahead of 2024-25 season

Back when Auston Matthews first touched NHL ice in 2016-17, it became apparent that he was going to be a special player. A 4-goal outing in his NHL debut against the Ottawa Senators had everyone talking, and the talk hasn't stopped for 8 seasons.

Coming into his 9th NHL season, Matthews already has 3 Rocket Richard Trophy wins to his credit, but FanDuel Sportsbook already has him earmarked for a 4th Rocket Richard Trophy in 5 seasons. His main competitors, according to FanDuel, are David Pastrnak, Leon Draisaitl and Kirill Kaprizov.

Matthews' goal scoring prowess rivals that of Alexander Ovechkin, who is currently focused on tallying 41 more goals for a share of Wayne Gretzky's iconic goal scoring record. He'll need 42 goals to set a new record, which appears all but certain at this point.

For Matthews, who is actually slightly ahead of Ovechkin for era-adjusted goals per 82 games, this is a record that he may one day chase, provided he can remain healthy enough and play long enough to make it feasible.

Matthews is coming off of a 69-goal season, and while he didn't hit the 70-goal mark, he is not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon and could finally top the 70-goal plateau in 2024-25.

Source for stats: HockeyDB
Auston Matthews stats and bio