[The Athletic] NHL99: Auston Matthews pourrait devenir le meilleur buteur que nous verrons jamais
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[The Athletic] NHL99: Auston Matthews pourrait devenir le meilleur buteur que nous verrons jamais
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Hot take
Basically, Matthews is a very good player that people didn’t expect to be as good before his draft, who scores a lot of goals at a very very good rate.
He is [very close](https://twitter.com/domluszczyszyn/status/1595066828027723777?s=20&t=MnFrqaT7rTRBtE-9sq5hLA) to Ovechkin’s trajectory at the same age, but would take some work to match/beat him due to needing to score at a similar rate after age 30.
He could definitely be a top 10 all timer, but even that would take insane longevity. GOAT goalscorer? Idk about that, GLOAT goalscorer? for sure.
The issue with discussions like this are that there are so many levels to it. I try and simplify it like this: Matthews is pacing to be a better goalscorer at around age 30 than what Ovi was. However, Ovi at 30 wasn’t even near the best goal scorer in league history as so many others had amazing 20-30 goal scoring campaigns. What separates Ovi from everyone else is how he continued in the long run. His longevity is something Matthews likely doesn’t match. I’d wager peak scoring Matthews already beats what we saw from peak Ovi: Matthews scored a higher rate on fewer shots against goalies with a higher SV% while also distancing himself from 2nd place in a larger rate than what Ovi did. If we truly are to argue Matthews as becoming the greatest goal scorer ever, he either needs to break that Rocket record (longevity) or do something outstanding over the next few seasons (insanely good short peak). Frankly, I don’t see him doing either. But that’s not taking anything away from him, he’s already done things that Ovi never did and is possibly the best even strength scorer in league history