Is Auston Matthews a "generational goal scorer"? A deep dive.

[Mess]

Matthews is the definitely the best pure goal scorer in the league taking over the reigns and have the torch from an aging Alex Ovechkin.

 

[Le Cobra]

No they haven’t. Per NHL Twitter, no one has done this in the last 20 years. Bure was the last time like 22 years ago.

Matthews is the best goal scorer to enter the league since Mario. Babcock being a terrible coach slowed him down a bit, but he’ll top 800 career goals and I’m a believer in him having the potential to break Gretzky’s record.

Gretzky scored over 90 goals, over 200 points, and an AVG P/GP of 2.69 in one season. With all due respect, I dont think anyone comes close to those numbers ever again in human history.

Edit 1: In all fairness to Matthews, if he remains healthy and has a long career, he has a great chance at cracking the top 25 all time goal scorers.

Edit 2: Matthews has a fair chance at cracking the record for most total goals scored. Ovechkin is very close to Gretzky's total, so I think Matthews can catch up. Gretzky's achievements, monstrous as they are, his goal production slowed down significantly later in his career.

 

[Dave92]

Gretzky scored 100 goals in a season. With all due respect, I dont think anyone comes close to that ever again in human history.

No, he did not score 100 goals.

 

[Mats13]

Gretzky scored over 90 goals, over 200 points, and an AVG P/GP of 2.69 in one season. With all due respect, I dont think anyone comes close to those numbers ever again in human history.

Edit 1: In all fairness to Matthews, if he remains healthy and has a long career, he has a great chance at cracking the top 25 all time goal scorers.

Edit 2: Matthews has a fair chance at cracking the record for most total goals scored. Ovechkin is very close to Gretzky's total, so I think Matthews can catch up. Gretzky's achievements, monstrous as they are, his goal production slowed down significantly later in his career.

Lmao oh he scored 90 goals against those spectacular goalies from the 80s. How impressive!!!

Do you know how easy it was to score then? Not a single one of those goalies could stop even the most pedestrian shot from Matthews. Gretzky would not produce anywhere near the same in today’s league.

The greatest goal scorer ever is Ovechkin at the moment. Not Gretzky.

 

[Dale Gribble]

Anyone else remember when we were constantly told that Laine was just as good if not better than Matthews ?

 

[Aashir Mallik]

Anyone else remember when we were constantly told that Laine was just as good if not better than Matthews ?

I read a thread were, initially it started out as comparing Laine and Lemieux’s size and playstyle. Which is absurd in and out of it self. But to make things worse, by the halfway point of the thread, some guys were saying he could be like Lemieux. It had me dying of laughter.

 

[Stephen]

Anyone else remember when we were constantly told that Laine was just as good if not better than Matthews ?

Frankly we were told the same thing about Eichel as recently as January 2021. For some reason people look at Laine’s booming shot from distance or Eichel’s smooth mechanics and they seem to be awarding style points or something. Matthews has them both beat in volume and style and cementing a Rocket will go a long way to distancing himself from those pretenders.

 

[Sypher04]

It's sad that Matthews, 5 seasons into his NHL career, has had 4 seasons cut short. 2 by injury, 2 by pandemic. That's not unique to him obviously, but how many more goals along would he be by now.

Nevermind, the way he was used by Babcock.

Still though 198 goals in his first 332 games played is pretty remarkable

 

[saltming]

Lmao oh he scored 90 goals against those spectacular goalies from the 80s. How impressive!!!

Do you know how easy it was to score then? Not a single one of those goalies could stop even the most pedestrian shot from Matthews. Gretzky would not produce anywhere near the same in today’s league.

The greatest goal scorer ever is Ovechkin at the moment. Not Gretzky.

I think it would have to be Lemieux. If he didn't get sick and retire early who knows what totals he would have had.
Lemieux .75 goals per game, Ovechkin .61 goals per game

 

[Dale Gribble]

Lmao oh he scored 90 goals against those spectacular goalies from the 80s. How impressive!!!

Do you know how easy it was to score then? Not a single one of those goalies could stop even the most pedestrian shot from Matthews. Gretzky would not produce anywhere near the same in today’s league.

The greatest goal scorer ever is Ovechkin at the moment. Not Gretzky.

Kind of similar to what we're seeing right now with the NHL though. A lot less physical today, and easier to score than say the 90's.

 

[Sypher04]

So Ovechkin scored definitely more goals through his first 5 NHL seasons than Matthews, but it's interesting to note, due to the 2005-06 lockout Ovechkin missed his first eligible year making him 20 when he began. So, while Ovechkin is still more goals in slightly less games at the same age as where Matthews is now, Matthews is only about ~20 goals behind where Ovechkin was. Premature currently, but if Matthews can play a long time and have anything like the kind of year over year consistency Ovechkin has had he could end up with some pretty gaudy career goal totals himself. whether he could challenge goal records who knows. It's so early for him and Ovechkin isn't done yet obviously either

 

[Arthur Morgan]

In 2004 OV was not considered Generational, neither was Matthews. Would you trade OV for Sid in 2009? Or Matthews for McDavid now? The answer is no. It is not possible to be a Generational talent unless you are unanimously considered to be the best player in the NHL

There have been 5 Generational Talents at their draft year

LaFleur
Mario
Lindros
Sid
McDavid

Those are the only 5 names that should show up on discussion about Generational Talents.

I dont think you understood the question. it's is he a generational scorer?
has nothing to do with trading for Crosby or McDavid.

 

[Stephen]

In 2004 OV was not considered Generational, neither was Matthews. Would you trade OV for Sid in 2009? Or Matthews for McDavid now? The answer is no. It is not possible to be a Generational talent unless you are unanimously considered to be the best player in the NHL

There have been 5 Generational Talents at their draft year

LaFleur
Mario
Lindros
Sid
McDavid

Those are the only 5 names that should show up on discussion about Generational Talents.

Actually, in 2004 and 2005, there was a lot of debate and anticipation surrounding Ovechkin, Malkin and Crosby whether they would become generational talents. That's when the term started being bandied about all over the place, whether or not they would be able to distinguish them from the likes of Kovalchuk, Lecavalier, Thornton, Spezza, Heatley and other young making their mark.

In terms of whether Auston Matthews is a generational player or not, the question is answered over the course of a career and not on the draft floor.

 

[Mats13]

I think it would have to be Lemieux. If he didn't get sick and retire early who knows what totals he would have had.
Lemieux .75 goals per game, Ovechkin .61 goals per game

Lemieux I can get behind tbh. I personally think it’s Ovechkin but that’s a fair take. GPG isn’t a fair metric across eras tho as the game has changed so much.

 

[Mats13]

Kind of similar to what we're seeing right now with the NHL though. A lot less physical today, and easier to score than say the 90's.

Disagree. Goaltending is exponentially better than the 80s. Watch some highlights.

Shots that are routine saves today went right through goalies back then.

 

[saltming]

Lemieux I can get behind tbh. I personally think it’s Ovechkin but that’s a fair take. GPG isn’t a fair metric across eras tho as the game has changed so much.

That's fair too. There is a score adjusted for era stat but that's beyond my scope

 

[saltming]

Disagree. Goaltending is exponentially better than the 80s. Watch some highlights.

Shots that are routine saves today went right through goalies back then.

Equipment is the big difference pun intended

 

[Mats13]

Equipment is the big difference pun intended

It’s more than just that tho

I think goaltenders in general have improved so much. These days they catch Ovechkin and Matthews snipes through a crowd.

In the 80s weak backhanders went five hole.

 

[Teeder Keon]

AM is a great young elite hockey player
We are fortunate to have him
He is currently the best goal scorer
He’s becoming a real 200 foot player and could be the best
Period !

 

[saltming]

It’s more than just that tho

I think goaltenders in general have improved so much. These days they catch Ovechkin and Matthews snipes through a crowd.

In the 80s weak backhanders went five hole.

Yes the butterfly became a standard and that was a revolution, but the pucks through traffic is a 50/50 split with style and size.

When Smaller Is Better: Goalie Equipment Changes And The NHL Scoring Surge. — broncofan99 on Scorum

 

[Teeder Keon]

Yes the butterfly became a standard and that was a revolution, but the pucks through traffic is a 50/50 split with style and size.
View attachment 431927

When Smaller Is Better: Goalie Equipment Changes And The NHL Scoring Surge. — broncofan99 on Scorum

Great colours uniforms and mask from the seals
One of my favourites

 

[saltming]

Great colours uniforms and mask from the seals
One of my favourites

A friend of mine still has a jersey and wears it all the time

 

[authentic]

Lmao oh he scored 90 goals against those spectacular goalies from the 80s. How impressive!!!

Do you know how easy it was to score then? Not a single one of those goalies could stop even the most pedestrian shot from Matthews. Gretzky would not produce anywhere near the same in today’s league.

The greatest goal scorer ever is Ovechkin at the moment. Not Gretzky.

Based on talent it's Lemieux pretty easily. Dude put up 35 goals in 43 games in 2001 when he was 35 after being retired for 3.5 years, and also scored 69 goals in 70 games against 1996 goalies which weren't as good as today but still much better by that point than the 80s.

 

[authentic]

It's sad that Matthews, 5 seasons into his NHL career, has had 4 seasons cut short. 2 by injury, 2 by pandemic. That's not unique to him obviously, but how many more goals along would he be by now.

Nevermind, the way he was used by Babcock.

Still though 198 goals in his first 332 games played is pretty remarkable

His only full season he was a 19 year old rookie who played 17:38 per game and only 2 on the powerplay and still finished 2nd in goals, playing only with other rookie wingers and none of them were Marner.

 

[authentic]

Kind of similar to what we're seeing right now with the NHL though. A lot less physical today, and easier to score than say the 90's.

Scoring in the 90s didn't get harder until 1996-97, so for most of the 90s it was way easier to score than today. 1992-93 had the most 100 point scorers in NHL history.