The Toronto Maple Leafs and fans can rest easy for four more years as Auston Matthews has re-signed to a four-year, $13.25 million AAV deal. While some think this is an overpayment, many don’t care as long as the elite centerman is sticking around. He has already started his career off at a very high level and will be able to shoot past a number of team records by the end of the deal, even more if he re-signs again.
While more success will come if he continues to be surrounded by strong talent, it isn’t realistic to think that the Maple Leafs won’t do everything they can to have the best players and try to win every year Matthews is on the team. This will make him want to stay even longer if they do have a winning group. So, now let’s look at the all time Maple Leafs records Matthews can break in the next five seasons.
Goal Related Records
Matthews already ranks fifth in Maple Leafs history in goals with 299 and he only has 122 goals to go before he takes over number one. That’s just 24 goals per season, meaning he can get that done in half of the time in less than 3 years. Mats Sundin holds Toronto’s goal record with 420 and Matthews would average 57 goals per season over the past four seasons if they were 82 games.
The next goals record Matthews is very likely going to break soon is even-strength goals. He sits just 51 ESG out of first. This only entails him to get just over 10 per season. He scored 44 in 2021-22 and 63 over his past two seasons. This will be one of his easiest tasks since he is one of the best even-strength goal scorers in NHL history.
Power-play goals don’t come as often for Matthews as goals at even strength, but he still puts up good numbers. The Maple Leafs’ power play is strong and he’s averaged over 10 PPG per season for the past five years. He needs just 48 to take over first in Maple Leafs history and can easily accomplish this as well.
Matthews sits fourth in game-winning goals for Toronto all time at 53 and just needs 26 to pass Sundin again for the most. He has 30 GWG over the past three seasons and only needs about five per year to break the record on this contract. He is an elite scorer and will just rack these up over time.
Other Maple Leafs Records
Matthews sits 11th on the all time Maple Leafs points list, and actually trails linemate Mitch Marner by 12 points, but Matthews has 26 fewer games played and was drafted one year later. Marner only has two years left and can’t sign a contract until next offseason, so that will have to wait until we have a clearer picture of if Marner will be around to actively compete with Matthews.
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The Maple Leafs’ elite goal-scorer sits 446 points out of first, held by Sundin (987 points), meaning Matthews just needs 89 points per season to break that. In six of his seven seasons in the NHL, he has played at over a point-per-game. Health is the only concern. If he played 82 games per season over those seven years, he would have recorded over 92 points per season. Over the past four years, Matthews has recorded 1.25 points-per-game, calculating to nearly 103 points per season if he were to play 82 games. Even if he misses 5-10 games each season, I think it’s very doable.
