Pastrnak, MacKinnon, McDavid are all better but ok

Amazing the things Leafs fans get themselves excited about. Guess that's what happens when you haven't won a cup in over 50 years. Surprised OP didnt want to say that Matthew's is the greatest to ever play the game and the entire NHL should retire his number.

I didn't even know you could declare a favourite team, thanks for the information. As for my favourite team a quick look at my post history should show clear favoritism towards the Flames as Jamiepo said above. I'm not quite sure what your location has to do with your team of preference but I live in the GTA and have always cheered for the red sweaters in Alberta.

As for stats there is no doubt in my mind that Matthews is an elite goal scorer. However, there are many very solid goal scorers in the NHL under 25 keeping up pace with him. The difference is Matthews is yet to have a down season (which will certainly happen at least once), or took an extra year to develop, or started on a questionably skilled team.
-Eichel is literally the entire Sabres driving force.
-2 years ago Draisaitl's contract was considered bad because he had 9pts in his fist season (only 37 games though), 55pts in his 2nd (77 games), and 77pts in his 3rd (82 games), now he is almost certainly going to be a 100 point player for what seems like many seasons to come.
-McDavid's not as much of a goal scorer but he's all around the best player in the league without question
-When MacKinnon joined the league he was the team only really had Landeskog. He took a couple years to develop to where he is now and for the team to be built around him but he is also certainly an elite goal scorer and playmaker.
- Pastrnak is like Draisaitl it took him a couple years to develop but you cant ignore the fact that he's on pace for 60 goals right now

Yes Matthews is an amazing goal scorer and its fine making an appreciation post but this is a post literally designed to cause controversy by your question in the description. Hell I still think Laine challenges that spot but he's changed his game up this year to lead to his team having more success overall.

From my memory Hughes was a disappointment last year at both World Juniors and IIHF in the spring and that's what made the whole debate between Kakko vs Hughes a thing. I'm actually surprised Kakko isn't producing more. However Laf is already built and should realistically be rookie of the year next year. WJIIHF showed that Byfield, even though he will still probably go 2nd OA, still needs about 1 more year before he hits that projected level.

Pasta- 164 in 364... nope
McKinnon 181 in 504... nope
Mcdavid 152 in 332... nope
Matthews 142 in 257... yup

He said today. Leon is better today. 18-20
How about best goal scorer under 23? I think most people forget that he is only 22.

Those 3 players are all amazing players but they are not scoring goals at Matthews pace. And no where near his 5v5 goal pace.

So would it not be safe to assume that the best is still to come for Matthews since you just listed several players you didn't hit their stride until a few seasons in? Probably not though right? Cause other players can get better as they enter their prime but Matthews won't he'll have down years because reasons unknown.

I feel like you've never heard of a late bloomer before. As for down years, everone has them, in 11/12 Ovi only had a 65 point season, in 16/17 only 69 points. Kane only had 66 points in 11/12 as well. As for best goal scorer outside of Ovie, Matthews actually sits slightly bellow Stamkos in goals per game in his first 4 seasons but sure.

It's Auston Matthews btw. Learn to write the players name before you extol him to up and beyond everything lol.

As for his goal scoring prowess, I think he's TOP5 in the league, possibly TOP3.

Matthews trails only Ovie in goals since he entered the league and has played less games.

How do you measure "best goal scorer"? Here are a several ways:

Goals per game since Matthews entered the league (2016-17 season):

1. Matthews: 0.5525
2. Ovechkin: 0.5482
3. Pastrnak: 0.52
4. Kucherov: 0.49
5. Marchand: 0.48
6. McDavid: 0.47
7. Tavares: 0.46
8. Malkin: 0.4538
9. Stamkos: 0.4537
10. Draisaitl: 0.4495
11. Laine: 0.4480
12. Crosby: 0.4466
13. Kane: 0.4464

Total goals since Matthews entered the league (2016-17 season):

1. Ovechkin: 159
2. Matthews: 142
3. Pastrnak: 139
4. McDavid: 136
5. Kucherov: 135
6. Draisaitl: 129
7. Marchand: 129
8. Kane: 129
9. Tavares: 128
10. Laine: 125
11. MacKinnon: 122

Shooting percentage since Matthews entered the league (100 GP minimum):

1. Scheifele: 19.3
2. Pettersson: 19.0
3. Connolly: 18.9
4. Oshie: 18.8
5. Barbashev: 18.7
6. Byron: 18.4
7. Draisaitl: 17.7
8. Point: 17.6
9. Marchand: 17.0
...
16. Matthews: 16.0

I think Matthews is the best goal scorer among the U25 group since he's entered the league*, although there are several that are in the conversation for sure. If you look at the past 1.5 years, Pastrnak is the leader in G/GP (overall) while MacKinnon and McDavid are tied for the lead in total goals scored (in U25, Ovechkin is the overall leader). It depends on how you look at the numbers, but Matthew should always be in the top-3 best goal scorers conversation.

*I'm using that time-frame because it's relevant to the thread topic

Well under Babs he was never given much freedom to do his thing and didn't get near enough PP time until last season and even at that still was only allowed to be on the ice for half the time he should have been which artificially deflated his numbers. If you look at 5v5 goal scoring and 5v5 goal scoring per minute since Matthews entered the league, its not even close. He's the best 5v5 goal scorer in the game. And he's 22, hes only going to get better.

It's the safest way to say it yeah and on any given year someone can have an outlier and look really good. The consistency from Matthews and his 5v5 numbers are why I say he's the best. At least at 5v5. Pasta for example does so much of his damage on the PP. Same with Draisaitl.

I do think McKinnon is the 2nd best player in the game behind McDavid but he isn't as good a goal scorer as Matthews.

How does this relate to anything I said though?

Another factor I didn't include was empty net goals. While they still count like any other goal, they don't do anything to prove goal scoring ability, so I've shown them on the list below in brackets.

Total goals since Matthews entered the league (2016-17 season):

1. Ovechkin: 159 (10)
2. Matthews: 142 (1)
3. Pastrnak: 139 (6)
4. McDavid: 136 (8)
5. Kucherov: 135 (5)
6. Draisaitl: 129 (5)
7. Marchand: 129 (9)
8. Kane: 129 (11)
9. Tavares: 128 (8)
10. Laine: 125 (8)
11. MacKinnon: 122 (8)

Another factor I didn't include was empty net goals. While they still count like any other goal, they don't do anything to prove goal scoring ability, so I've shown them on the list below in brackets.

Total goals since Matthews entered the league (2016-17 season):

1. Ovechkin: 159 (10)
2. Matthews: 142 (1)
3. Pastrnak: 139 (6)
4. McDavid: 136 (8)
5. Kucherov: 135 (5)
6. Draisaitl: 129 (5)
7. Marchand: 129 (9)
8. Kane: 129 (11)
9. Tavares: 128 (8)
10. Laine: 125 (8)
11. MacKinnon: 122 (8)

That makes Matthews numbers even more impressive. It is really hard argue against Matthews just being better than all but Ovie.

Pastrnak has scored a 3rd of his goals on the PP as well. And I think when we are talking about the best goal scorers in the league, the guy who's scoring far more at 5v5 is the better goal scorer and that is Matthews. The deeper you dig into the numbers, that harder it is to put anyone other than Ovie in the same sphere as Matthews. Laine for example is very far behind Matthews when you take away PP goals. Same with Pastrnak and most of the others. Imagine if Matthews starts scoring on the PP at the same rate as Pastrnak? He'd have 40 already!

Over the past 3.5 years, yes. But more recently Pastrnak has been scoring at a higher pace than Matthews.

Maybe, but he's never been a big PP scorer relative to his 5v5 scoring. You'd think if you were the best goal scorer at 5v5 you'd be the best on the PP too, right? It shows that scoring goals consistently is more complex than that.

Not even close if you look at 5v5 and currently has 1 more goal in total than Matthews. A 3rd of Pastrnak's goals come with the man advantage and that is easier to do then at 5v5.

Is it easier though? Technically EN goals are the easiest, and yet Matthews has only scored 1 in his entire career. I get that there are opportunity-based reasons why Matthews hasn't scored on the PP as much, but my point is that the mechanics of PP scoring aren't the same as 5v5 scoring. You can't just discount it outright.