Records Are Meant To Be Broken, And There's Still A Legitimate Chance That Auston Matthews Could Be The One To Break Ovi's Scoring Record
Patrick Smith. Getty Images.Yesterday was an incredible day for the sport of hockey. For decades, all we've ever heard was how Wayne Gretzky essentially locked out the history books. That his records would never be touched, and that every kid who laces up a pair of skates could only dream about one day becoming the 2nd best goal scorer in hockey history. Now obviously the points record still seems like something that nobody will ever even come close to sniffing again, but Alex Ovechkin proved that all records are meant to be broken one day.
If history has taught us anything, it's that we shouldn't be likely to see Ovechkin's record broken in at least 30 years. Gordie Howe held the record at 801 for 30 years until Gretzky broke it, and then Wayne held the record at 894 for 31 years until Ovi broke it. Chances are that there's some 8-year-old kid out there right now who doesn't even know he's going to become the first 1000 goal scorer in NHL history.
But what if we don't need to wait until we're all old and grey to see history shattered again. What if just as one chase ends, another chase begins? What if…there is another?
Everybody was sucking John Buccigross off yesterday for being the "only person" who thought Ovi would have a shot at breaking Gretzky's record a decade ago. Everybody talking about how big of a win this was for Bucci for sticking his neck out there and believing in the impossible. I'm sick of it. So now I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen again by staking my name to Auston Matthews getting the job done in 2036-37.
Auston Matthews is currently sitting at 398 career goals. He's 2 shy of 400, and could become the 6th fastest player in NHL history to hit that milestone as long as he gets it done this season. Ovechkin scored his 400th career goal in 634 career games, and Auston Matthews has currently played 623.
Let's just say he gets to that number by the end of the year. That'll be 400 goals in his first 9 seasons for Auston Matthews. Ovi had 422 goals in his first 9 seasons. Matthews is a little behind on the pace right now, but he's not too far behind to close the gap and make up the difference.
If his hairline is any indication, it's not like Auston Matthews has found a way to reverse the aging process. But let's just say he has another 11-12 years left on his career. He's already had multiple 60+ goal seasons, so he's probably going to need a couple more of those. He's going to need to stay right around that high-40, low-50 number for most of those years. And maybe there's a year where he can drop off in the high 30s. It's definitely not impossible, and that's just if he wants to keep pace with Ovi. If Matthews decides to randomly throw a 70+ goal season in there somewhere, then he's absolutely on pace to break the record.
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Let's just see where he's at by game 1487.