Ovechkin is well on his way to become the greatest NHL goalscorer of all time. Can Matthews replicate Ovi’s numbers in the league and challenge to break his records?
Matthews won’t be able to. Ovy is scoring at a 50 goal pace into his mid to late thirties, and he’s durable, he doesn’t miss many games. Matthews misses games every season.
Matthews won’t get close to Ovy and Gretzky
Commandant1
Part of Ovechkin’s greatness is that he has stayed remarkably healthy and he has defeated normal age curves. Matthews has been hurt quite a bit, and its unclear if he can beat the age curves the way Ovi has, so I doubt it.
CartelClarke
Matthews will probably end up #3 or (maybe) #2 on the American born goals list. Which is an amazing accomplishment on its own.
He won’t come close to Ovi, the man is an anomaly. Not only his goal scoring but he’s an extremely physical player who seems to be indestructible, he never misses games.
Matthews already seems to have a bit of injury history which is somewhat concerning this early into his career. Although, when you score 40 and it’s considered a “down year” I guess anything is possible. I just don’t see him having the durability or longevity to get close to Ovi.
mattcojo2
Matthews has too many injuries. Ain’t happening. He’s not scoring 50 at 35.
RickySpanish015
Even without the injuries Matthews doesnt have the goal scoring ability of Ovi.
Bug_Photographer
It took Matthews 7 seasons before he played those 481 games. In the same time span, Ovechkin played 553 games since despite being a way more physical player somehow still doesn’t get injured. In fact, in just six seasons, Ovie played 475 games.
If we for some reason disregard how odd it is for Ovie to be able to pull 50 goal seasons in his mid thirties and say Matthews will as well – with Matthews’ current pace, he will have played 13% less games which should mean 13% less chances to score points.
right-sized
Let’s see hits on that list too
xc2215x
Ovechkin looks more solid. Matthews is a great American hockey player though.
Lavs1985
Ovechkin has a ring because he didn’t disappear in the playoffs. Matthews is on a milk carton every spring. They are not the same.
dylanisbored
As a Leafs hater, Matthews plays way way better defense than ovi. Like it’s not comparable.
ShadowRealmDuelist
People really underrate how good of a playmaker prime Ovi was
Dennyg818
OV OV OV
Old_Mistake5816
Matthews numbers are seriously impressive and I’d hate to bring up the “era” conversation around again but it’s a thing. Low scoring vs high scoring eras tilts me into picking Ovi.
Ovi also has a cup so that’s something…
Ilkley_dipper
No he won’t reach that level but he’ll be respectably close, which is very impressive for a player that isn’t in the same pantheon as Ovechkin in terms of talent
amach9
That has about as good of a chance of happening as the Leafs have of winning a Cup anytime soon 🤣
15 Comments
Matthews won’t be able to. Ovy is scoring at a 50 goal pace into his mid to late thirties, and he’s durable, he doesn’t miss many games. Matthews misses games every season.
Matthews won’t get close to Ovy and Gretzky
Part of Ovechkin’s greatness is that he has stayed remarkably healthy and he has defeated normal age curves. Matthews has been hurt quite a bit, and its unclear if he can beat the age curves the way Ovi has, so I doubt it.
Matthews will probably end up #3 or (maybe) #2 on the American born goals list. Which is an amazing accomplishment on its own.
He won’t come close to Ovi, the man is an anomaly. Not only his goal scoring but he’s an extremely physical player who seems to be indestructible, he never misses games.
Matthews already seems to have a bit of injury history which is somewhat concerning this early into his career. Although, when you score 40 and it’s considered a “down year” I guess anything is possible. I just don’t see him having the durability or longevity to get close to Ovi.
Matthews has too many injuries. Ain’t happening. He’s not scoring 50 at 35.
Even without the injuries Matthews doesnt have the goal scoring ability of Ovi.
It took Matthews 7 seasons before he played those 481 games. In the same time span, Ovechkin played 553 games since despite being a way more physical player somehow still doesn’t get injured. In fact, in just six seasons, Ovie played 475 games.
If we for some reason disregard how odd it is for Ovie to be able to pull 50 goal seasons in his mid thirties and say Matthews will as well – with Matthews’ current pace, he will have played 13% less games which should mean 13% less chances to score points.
Let’s see hits on that list too
Ovechkin looks more solid. Matthews is a great American hockey player though.
Ovechkin has a ring because he didn’t disappear in the playoffs. Matthews is on a milk carton every spring. They are not the same.
As a Leafs hater, Matthews plays way way better defense than ovi. Like it’s not comparable.
People really underrate how good of a playmaker prime Ovi was
OV OV OV
Matthews numbers are seriously impressive and I’d hate to bring up the “era” conversation around again but it’s a thing. Low scoring vs high scoring eras tilts me into picking Ovi.
Ovi also has a cup so that’s something…
No he won’t reach that level but he’ll be respectably close, which is very impressive for a player that isn’t in the same pantheon as Ovechkin in terms of talent
That has about as good of a chance of happening as the Leafs have of winning a Cup anytime soon 🤣