Auston Matthews vs Steven Stamkos

[Maplebeasts]

Assuming Matthews stays healthy, him. Stamkos post injury was never the same player. Still great but not at the same level. FYI over his last 82 games, Matthews is pacing for about 60 goals.

 

[jetsforever]

Depends on health as others have said

 

[bobholly39]

Stamkos after 5 seasons had goal finishes of 1,1,2,2. Even if Matthews wins a mickey mouse rocket this year, he'll have finishes of 1,2,3. Now consider that Stamkos was neck and neck with 25 year old OV, but Matthews in a normal season can't beat 35 year old OV. Also doubt Matthews has a better goal scoring year than Stamkos' 11/12.

Lol this is such a horrible post.

"neck and neck with 25yr old Ovi, but Matthews can't beat 35 yrs old OV".

Cool. You do realize Ovechkin had the worst season of his career at 25 yrs old right? Only 32 goals. And then Ovechkin had one of the better goal-scoring seasons of his career at 35 yrs old. Don't blame Matthews for Ovi doing better at 35 than 25.

Matthews likely will end up the much better goal-scorer than Stamkos, because although Stamkos looked great in his first few years, he slowed down significantly due to injuries and hasn't been the same since. Odds are, Matthews has better luck with health, and outdoes him.

 

[ER89]

edit: nvm read stats wrong lol.

The season isn't a Mickey Mouse season and if Matthews wins the Rocket it's a legit win. With that said though it doesn't mean he's performing at the same level as Stamkos thus far in his career. Could of, would of, should of=hasn't and didn't.

And that is a perfectly fair take.

 

[Mats13]

high GPG is significanty less impressive and easier to have when you play less games. It's Stamkos

Lmao we’ll see who ends their career with more goals and more rockets

You can keep believing what you want

 

[NiL8r87]

Matthews definitely looks like the superior even strength scorer so far and I think he's more multi-faceted offensively than Stamkos is.

That being said Matthews has never been money like Stamkos has been on the powerplay with his one-timer which is arguably as good or better than even Ovi's in my opinion. If Matthews (and the Leafs to a large degree) can figure out how to make him a better weapon on the PP I think Matthews will surpass him goals-wise. Health is also a factor as well.

Overall they look pretty even so far.

 

[These Are The Days]

It took the guy who could've broken Gretzky's scoring record were it not for so many works stoppages to find a more gifted scorer than a healthy Stamkos in the modern era. Matthews is an amazing talent but he has nothing on a guy who would've cracked 700 goals if it wasn't for about 4 freak injuries in the prime of his career. Remember that if Matthews ever one day comes out on top in the discussion.

 

[pcruz]

It took the guy who could've broken Gretzky's scoring record were it not for so many works stoppages to find a more gifted scorer than a healthy Stamkos in the modern era. Matthews is an amazing talent but he has nothing on a guy who would've cracked 700 goals if it wasn't for about 4 freak injuries in the prime of his career. Remember that if Matthews ever one day comes out on top in the discussion.

Wait.

Since when has Stacks been older than Ovechkin?

 

[authentic]

Matthews definitely looks like the superior even strength scorer so far and I think he's more multi-faceted offensively than Stamkos is.

That being said Matthews has never been money like Stamkos has been on the powerplay with his one-timer which is arguably as good or better than even Ovi's in my opinion. If Matthews (and the Leafs to a large degree) can figure out how to make him a better weapon on the PP I think Matthews will surpass him goals-wise. Health is also a factor as well.

Overall they look pretty even so far.

Other than the powerplay thing I agree, though not saying Matthews is as good as Stamkos there at scoring goals but honestly he's not as far off as you would think. Take a look at the powerplay time he has received in his career, he's well below what Ovi and Stamkos had.

 

[authentic]

It took the guy who could've broken Gretzky's scoring record were it not for so many works stoppages to find a more gifted scorer than a healthy Stamkos in the modern era. Matthews is an amazing talent but he has nothing on a guy who would've cracked 700 goals if it wasn't for about 4 freak injuries in the prime of his career. Remember that if Matthews ever one day comes out on top in the discussion.

Do you realize Matthews just had an 82 game stretch where he scored over 60 goals while playing a great two-way game and not getting close to 5 minutes on the powerplay per game like Stamkos?

 

[These Are The Days]

And The Great One has 56 empty net goals. It doesn't matter how anyone gets them. If you wanna argue about PPG's let me show you 48 goals at even strength all during the fabled "1-3-1 offense" era of the Lightning with 12 PPG's to boot




Matthews is not at this level. And this wasn't even Stamkos' best season. That honor belongs to the year his leg was broken in Boston. Well... before it happened anyway

 

[sepHF]

impossible to say. Matthews could definitely surpass him but there are alot of variables to consider.

Stamkos had a 51 goal campaign and a 60 goal campaign + multiple mid 40 seasons.

Matthews can do it if he can stay healthy. But everyone player is different who knows what Mattews drop off will look like.


Stamkos getting 60 was very impressive though, can't be overstated.

 

[Dekes For Days]

I see no reason why Matthews won't continue being the better goal-scorer.

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

A lot of goal scorers peak around the age Matthews is - I imagine he’ll have 1-2 more seasons as a top goal scorer and trail off.

The thing is, due to injuries/pandemics/etc, Matthews hasn’t even put up a 50 goal season, let alone a 60. Stamkos has.

This has to be Stamkos

 

[82Ninety42011]

I think this will be Matthews only because of the injuries to Stamkos. Stamkos did his damage in a lower scoring league and pre-injury scored at a pace that Matthews hasn't matched yet. If Matthews stays healthy this is his for the taking but he's no lock to stay healthy either and Stamkos is still gonna put up goals for years to come. Two shoot first centre's one had St Louis setting him up the other Marner nice duo's. One thing to consider though is Matthews is a bigger guy will he age as well as someone smaller? Just a thought will be fun to look back on this in 5 years.

 

[6ix]

Stammers peak with Marty St. Louis on his line was just insane. I would say he had the better goal scoring peak as he hit 60 goals. He did slow down quite a bit though, and when it’s all said and done I think Matthews will be considered the better goal scorer but close. These shortened COVID seasons also don’t help as Matthews easily hits 50+ last year and this year if it’s a full 82.

 

[Plural]

Lol this is such a horrible post.

"neck and neck with 25yr old Ovi, but Matthews can't beat 35 yrs old OV".

Cool. You do realize Ovechkin had the worst season of his career at 25 yrs old right? Only 32 goals. And then Ovechkin had one of the better goal-scoring seasons of his career at 35 yrs old. Don't blame Matthews for Ovi doing better at 35 than 25.

Matthews likely will end up the much better goal-scorer than Stamkos, because although Stamkos looked great in his first few years, he slowed down significantly due to injuries and hasn't been the same since. Odds are, Matthews has better luck with health, and outdoes him.

I agree.

One thing to note though, goal-scorer historically tend to be very streaky and see their scoring prowess almost vanish overnight. That's why Ovechkin is such a rare beast, what he's doing is practically unprecedented (Bobby Hull and Maurice Richard were the only two who had similar longevity in their scorin. Gordie Howe almost too. Lemieux probably would have without injuries).

Matthews does make scoring look so effortless that I think he has the best chance of today's players to keep up with his scoring and have great longevity. But, all it takes is one minor injury and his scoring could plummet. It might be something as minor that it doesn't affect him in any other way than take away 5% of his shooting ability and he regresses to a 25-35 goal guy. He might still be able to put up 90-100 point seasons, but his goal totals could never break 35 again. Not saying it will happen, just that usually it does.

 

[Regal]

I agree.

One thing to note though, goal-scorer historically tend to be very streaky and see their scoring prowess almost vanish overnight. That's why Ovechkin is such a rare beast, what he's doing is practically unprecedented (Bobby Hull and Maurice Richard were the only two who had similar longevity in their scorin. Gordie Howe almost too. Lemieux probably would have without injuries).

Matthews does make scoring look so effortless that I think he has the best chance of today's players to keep up with his scoring and have great longevity. But, all it takes is one minor injury and his scoring could plummet. It might be something as minor that it doesn't affect him in any other way than take away 5% of his shooting ability and he regresses to a 25-35 goal guy. He might still be able to put up 90-100 point seasons, but his goal totals could never break 35 again. Not saying it will happen, just that usually it does.

Yea goal-scoring seems like such a precarious thing. You can still be a great player if something slips but it's often hard to maintain that goal-scoring. Still, Matthews seems like the type most likely to buck trends. His positioning, his shot quality, his shooting arsenal, his anticipation, etc. He has so many things going for him I think he can be elite even with some things regressing, unless a major injury takes away his shot.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Matthews, most likely.
He is just a goal-scoring machine, can do it from almost any angle. He's on a 50-60 goal pace this season, for 82 games.
Thank goodness Ottawa can shut him down occasionally, expecting that tonight.

 

[Plural]

Yea goal-scoring seems like such a precarious thing. You can still be a great player if something slips but it's often hard to maintain that goal-scoring. Still, Matthews seems like the type most likely to buck trends. His positioning, his shot quality, his shooting arsenal, his anticipation, etc. He has so many things going for him I think he can be elite even with some things regressing, unless a major injury takes away his shot.

Fully agree.

Players who tend to have one particularly strong asset for scoring are vulnerable. Selanne is a good example of this. He scored 183 goals in 305 games in the beginning of the DPE. He then lost his speed and managed to score 16 in in 78 games before the lockout. He rehabilitated his knee and followed up the next two seasons with 40 and 48 goals. Before the lockout he scored 73 goals in 242 games. He was 31-33 years old. After the lockout, he scored 127 goals in 250 games. While being 35-38 years old. All it was, that he lost his speed in which he relied so heavily.

Matthews does seem like he has the positioning, good enough skating, great shooting arsenal, hand eye, the full works. He should be able to still contribute good amount of goals even if one aspect takes a hit. Though, I'd say his shot (wrist shot to be more precise) is by and far his most important tool. If he can't use his shot to full potential, it might have a pretty big impact on him. But still, he should be able to net good amount of goals by the virtue of other traits he has.

 

[authentic]

And The Great One has 56 empty net goals. It doesn't matter how anyone gets them. If you wanna argue about PPG's let me show you 48 goals at even strength all during the fabled "1-3-1 offense" era of the Lightning with 12 PPG's to boot




Matthews is not at this level. And this wasn't even Stamkos' best season. That honor belongs to the year his leg was broken in Boston. Well... before it happened anyway

Matthews this season is a better player than Stamkos before he hurt his leg.

 

[authentic]

A lot of goal scorers peak around the age Matthews is - I imagine he’ll have 1-2 more seasons as a top goal scorer and trail off.

The thing is, due to injuries/pandemics/etc, Matthews hasn’t even put up a 50 goal season, let alone a 60. Stamkos has.

This has to be Stamkos

That's quite the imagination you got there.

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

That's quite the imagination you got there.

It’s going to shock and frustrate a lot of Leaf fans but almost all of the top goal scorers in NHL history repeat the process

 

[BHD]

Hard to say. Stamkos scores ~40 now when healthy, but missed some of his prime due to injury. Meanwhile, Matthews still scores 30+ goals during seasons where he's out of the lineup.

 

[authentic]

It’s going to shock and frustrate a lot of Leaf fans but almost all of the top goal scorers in NHL history repeat the process

Lemieux, Bure and Ovechkin all lead the NHL in goals or goals per game multiple times after 25.