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In a remarkable NHL season, Auston Matthews made history by scoring an impressive 69 goals last term, a feat achieved by no other US-born player. He also joined an elite group as the ninth player in league history to reach the 60-goal milestone. Notably, this marked Matthews' second 60-goal season with the Toronto Maple Leafs in just three years.
Auston Matthews' outstanding numbers earned him the prestigious Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the league's leading scorer. Recently, The Leafs Nation on X/Twitter conducted a poll, asking fans about their thoughts on Matthews potentially duplicating his 60-goal season in the upcoming season.
The Leafs fans are actively debating Matthews' shot at reaching this milestone for the second consecutive time. One tweeted:
"Depends how selfish he is"
Another chimed in and opined:
"Honestly I don't care. It's the playoffs where he needs to level up. It's all about the big show, not how many goals you get in regular season play."
One fan thinks Matthews will fall significantly short of that mark this season.
"He will score 40. Berube will carve the team into what they need to be to win though. You'll see Mitch hit 35 or more instead," opined another.
Meanwhile, some other fans don't believe Matthews will hit 60 goals again, and they expounded on why:
"Unless he starts being aggressive and using his size like Ovechkin did in his prime I can't see it," said one X user.
"I don't think so. I expect he'll land somewhere between 52 and 57 goals and come in 2nd place for the Rocket. I think we're going to see him put up more assists than usual," another commented.
"No He will have some where around 40 -50. He always has a normal season after a big season but on the bright side if he buys into Berube's way of thinking they might go further in the play offs and I'll take that everyday," opined another user.
Auston Matthews on scoring 60 goals
Matthews scored his 60th goal in a game against the Buffalo Sabres at the KeyBank Center in March. The Leafs won the game 3-0, and for the 26-year-old, it was a lively and enjoyable experience created by the Leafs fans in the stands.
Describing the moment, Auston Matthews said (via NHL.com):
"It means a lot obviously," Matthews said. "It's as much of a team accomplishment in my opinion as an individual one. It's always a fun atmosphere here with all the blue and white in the stands so it's definitely pretty cool."
Auston Matthews and the Leafs play their season opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 9 at Centre Bell Arena.
