Quoting: Barbs
There's like maybe 10 players in the league who can legitimately hit 40 goals in a single season. This one is 21 years old and can be acquired for *looks at proposal again* decent prospect, 2nd line veteran and a handful of maybes? Try again
Thirteen players got to 40 last year:
Ovechkin
Draisaitl
Tavares
Stamkos
P. Kane
McDavid
Point
Atkinson
DeBrincat
MacKinnon
Kucherov
Skinner
Guentzal
Several more would have if they had played 82 games:
Arvidsson (34 in 58 gp)
Pastrnak (38 in 66)
Matthews (37 in 68)
Pavelski (38 in 75)
That's 17 and we still haven't got to Laine. Here are some others that could legitimately hit 40:
Marchand (36, 34, 39 and 37 in the past 4 seasons)
Crosby (40+ twice in his career, 35 last year)
Tkachuk (34 as a 20/21-year-old)
Tarasenko (33, 33, 39, 40 and 37 in the past 5 seasons)
Seguin (33, 40, 26, 33, 37 and 37 in the past 6 seasons)
Forsberg (36 goal pace last year)
Hertl (37 goal pace last year)
Lee (scored 40 in 17-18)
Scheifele (scored 38 last year)
Karlsson (scored 43 in 17-18)
Malkin (scored 42 in 17-18, broken 40 3x in his career)
Hall (scored 39 in 17-18)
That's 12 more for 29. And it's not inconceivable for guys like Pacioretty, Kessel and Benn to hit the 40 mark either - all have come close in the past. And I've probably missed a few, too. What about young players who could hit the mark for the first time? Names like Pettersson, Dubois, B. Tkachuk, A. Svechnikov, Connor, Rantanen and Larkin come to mind. That's like 40 guys with a shot at scoring 40 next year. It's not really that rare.