SI:AM | Auston Matthews’s Gretzky-Like Goal Numbers

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Are you as ready as I am for the 12 NBA games on the schedule tonight?

In today’s SI:AM:

???? The last GOAT standing

???? NBA power rankings

???? Where does Kirk Cousins fit best?

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He’s on a tear

Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews isn’t just leading the NHL in goals, he’s scoring at a pace not seen in nearly three decades.

Matthews had two goals in the Leafs’ 6–3 win over the Arizona Coyotes last night, giving him 51 on the season in just 54 games played. That’s the fewest games to reach the 50-goal threshold since Mario Lemieux did it in his first 50 games of the 1995–96 season. The record for fastest player to 50 goals is held by Wayne Gretzky, who needed just 39 games in ’81–82.

The game was extra special for Matthews because it came in his hometown of Phoenix.

“He means everything,” linemate Matthew Knies, also an Arizona native, said after the game. “You know, when I was growing up, he was someone to look forward to. He’s a big inspiration for a lot of kids growing up. I’m sure he is a big reason as to why a lot of kids picked up a hockey stick. He’s [instrumental] to Arizona hockey, and he means a lot to this community.”

Matthews has been among the best players in the league from the moment he made his debut as a 19-year-old in 2016. He had 40 goals as a rookie, tied for second in the NHL, and led the league with 32 even-strength goals that year. He led the league in goals in back-to-back years in the ’20–21 and ’21–22 seasons and is well on his way to doing so again. There’s an enormous gulf this season between him and the guy in second place, Sam Reinhart of the Florida Panthers, who has 39 goals.

Matthews isn’t just in position to lead the league in goals, he has a chance to turn in a historic season. He’s currently on pace for 76 goals, a number that has not been reached since Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selänne each scored 76 in the 1992–93 season.

Even if he falls short of that lofty number, Matthews is in prime position to record one of the best offensive seasons in recent memory. Since Pittsburgh Penguins teammates Jaromír Jágr and Lemieux each surpassed 60 goals in the ’95–96 season, only five players have scored at least 60 in a single season. One of them is Matthews, who had 60 in the 2021–22 season despite only playing 73 games.The other four played 82 games in their 60-goal seasons. Last season, Connor McDavid had 64 goals and David Pastrňák had 61. Steven Stamkos had 60 in the ’11–12 season and Alex Ovechkin had 65 in ’07–08. Matthews is poised to pass all of them.

With 27 games left in the season, Matthews should have no trouble scoring nine more goals to reach 60 for the second time in his career. Only eight players in NHL history have recorded multiple 60-goal seasons, and no one has done it since Lemieux.

Even with Matthews, the Maple Leafs haven’t been a juggernaut. They’re currently in third place in the Atlantic Division with 70 points, eight points behind the second-place Panthers and five points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who hold the top wild-card spot. If the playoffs started today, Toronto would face Florida in the first round and the Panthers would have home ice advantage. That’s not a terrible position to be in, but the Leafs need all the help they can get in the postseason.

The franchise’s recent string of playoff failures is well-documented. Though they’ve reached the postseason in each of the past seven years, last season was the first time since 2013 that the Leafs won a playoff series. One series win was it, though, as they were bounced by the Panthers in five games in the second round. The Leafs hoisting the Stanley Cup, not accomplished since 1967, seems increasingly daunting, requiring an almost superhuman effort. Good thing they have a superhuman centering their top line.

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• Two-time X Games gold medal-winning motocross star ​​Jayo Archer died after an accident in training.
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• There’s another problem with MLB’s new Fanatics-produced uniforms: The pants are completely see-through.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Penn State fans rushing the court after the Nittany Lions’ dramatic comeback win over No. 12 Illinois.

4. Travis Konecny’s coast-to-coast goal.

3. All 18 of Tyler Kolek’s school record 18 assists for Marquette.

2. Tyrell Ward’s buzzer beater to lift LSU over No. 17 Kentucky.

1. Lionel Messi dribbling over a player who was on the ground injured.

SIQ

John Reid, known as the “Father of American Golf,” founded the United States’ oldest golf club when he demonstrated the sport for a few friends on this day in 1888 on a cow pasture in what state?

• Florida
• Massachusetts
• New York
• South Carolina

Yesterday’s SIQ: Hall of Fame shortstop Alan Trammell played his entire 20-year MLB career with the Detroit Tigers. What number did the team retire in his honor in 2018?

• 1
• 3
• 6
• 11

Answer: 3. Trammell wore No. 42 when he debuted with the Tigers as a September call-up in 1977 but switched to No. 3 when he won the starting shortstop job the following year.

Trammell was a six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner with the Tigers and was part of Detroit’s last World Series team in 1984. He retired with 2,365 career hits, which ranks eighth all-time among players who played at least 90% of their games at shortstop.

Trammell retired as a player after the 1996 season but returned to the franchise to manage the team in 2003. The Tigers were among the worst teams in baseball history that year, going 43–119, only one loss shy of tying the modern MLB record set by the 1962 New York Mets. Detroit was better in Trammell’s two other seasons in charge (72–90 and 71–92), but he was fired at the end of the 2005 season.

Trammell never received much Hall of Fame support in BBWAA voting, topping out at 40.9% of the vote in 2006, but he was elected by the Veterans Committee in ’18. In August of that year, about a month after his Hall of Fame induction, the Tigers retired his number.