The most prolific American-born scorer in NHL history has nearly three times as many goals on his resume than Auston Matthews.
And you are already listening to the footsteps coming from Toronto.
“I don’t see anything stopping him from getting there,” Mike Modano said Friday night.
You still can’t call it a sure thing, not with all the unknowns built into every record that requires longevity. But it’s hard to overlook the fact that Matthews is going to hit the 200-goal milestone in 100 fewer games than Modano took.
His next goal gets him there and he’ll get there a lot faster than Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl hit that mark earlier this week too.
It’s a reminder amid the noise of a new season of what Matthews has been building. It really is a unicorn. A center that scores goals at a rate unmatched by any of his teammates other than Alex Ovechkin.
“Great hands, great pitch,” Modano said. “He’s able to do it quickly and he has some speed. Those are two good little assets if you can get it out fast and in tight areas, and you have an idea of where it’s going. “
No US-born player has scored at a rate close to that of the Leafs star raised in Scottsdale, Arizona. Matthews’ mark of 0.59 goals per game is well ahead of Pat LaFontaine (0.54), Joe Mullen (0.47) and Modano (0.37).
Even as Matthews’ production begins to slow down over time, which you would expect from any player with offensive talent, he has been put on a ridiculous trajectory. Modano, who leads the way among his compatriots with 561 career goals in 1,499 games, feels he will eventually congratulate Matthews on taking the crown, just as he expects a similar trade with Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane, who shows no signs. falling while trailing Modano on points, 1,374-1,093.
This is the cycle of a sporting life.
Matthews was the first American to lead the NHL in goals last season since Keith Tkachuk in 1997, and even after a summer that included surgery on his left wrist, there is no reason to predict a decline.
He celebrated his 24th birthday last month and will be the youngest Leafs player in history to reach the 200 goal mark. Only Charlie Conacher in the 1930s and Rick Vaive in the 1980s will have made it faster as members of the organization.
Matthews is poised to become the Leafs’ 14th player and the 54th American to score 200 goals in the NHL. It’s kind of crazy to see the storied company he already maintains at the start of his sixth NHL season. He has scored more goals like Leaf than Phil Kessel, Nazem Kadri and Doug Gilmour. Among American-born players, he is already surpassing Chris Chelios, Ryan Callahan, Mark Howe and many others.
The real chase with Modano is several seasons away, but Minnesota Wild’s executive adviser sees what’s coming. He passed Phil Housley for the all-time points record among American players and surpassed Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick and Mullen in goals.
In the later stages of his career, Modano found this to be a great source of motivation.
“There was nothing really positive in my last years in Dallas,” he said. “There was a change in ownership and in the judicial administration and the NHL running our team and two or three coaches in a couple of years and interim general managers. Everything went south fast in my last years there. For me, that was my little goal … to chase those numbers. And then you always think about adding something to them and making it a little more difficult for the next one, that’s for sure. “
Part of him wonders how different the benchmarks would be if it weren’t for the roughly 120 games lost to crashes.
Matthews could point to similar breaks in his own career, starting with the 70-game season when COVID-19 first struck and then the 56-game season shortened by the pandemic earlier in the year, where he scored 41 times in 52 games.
The young center didn’t like his performance against San José during Friday’s 5-3 loss, but he’s not in the habit of spending nights together. That consistency has made him one of the most dangerous scorers in the NHL.
This is also why Modano watches him from afar and assumes that he will continue his rapid rise up the goal list. They are separated by a wide margin in terms of professional lenses, but the objects in the rear view mirror appear closer than they appear.
“A lot of things have to line up for you to get there,” Modano said. “The pace that Auston has, he should be able to do it if he stays healthy and plays a little bit more.
“It shouldn’t be difficult to catch up, but hockey is weird. Weird things happen and there are many ups and downs. “
Modano is certainly not betting against Matthews. Neither do the rest of us.
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