After scoring during the Toronto Maple Leafs’ visit to the Columbus Blue Jackets, John Tavares recorded the 500th goal of his NHL career. As Auston Matthews and the Buds celebrate their former captain’s milestone, fans wonder how many of his tallies have been with Toronto.
Tavares has achieved several milestones with his tally against the Blue Jackets in the 2025-26 NHL season. First and foremost, he reached the 500-goal mark, a figure only 4 other active players have in their portfolio—Aleksander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, and Evgeni Malkin. Patrick Kane is next in line with 494 goals.
With the staggering number of 500 goals, Tavares cements his place as one of the best players in Maple Leafs history. With fans wondering how many goals the 35-year-old scored with Matthews and the Buds, on Bolavip we take a look at his numbers.
So far in his career in Toronto, Tavares has scored 228 goals with the Maple Leafs. The remaining 272 tallies were scored during his stay with the New York Islanders. With his 500th career goal, Tavares joined an exclusive list of players with 200+ goals for the Leafs and 500+ tallies in the NHL. Only three other stars have achieved that: Mats Sundin, Frank Mahovlich, and Lanny McDonald.
John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Just how fast the night changes
It seems like yesterday, Tavares became Long Island’s public enemy number one by signing with the Leafs as an unrestricted free agent. Yet, the truth is Tavares is now set to play more years in Toronto than he did in New York, as he signed a four-year, $17.5 million extension with the Buds this summer.
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In case someone’s been living under a rock, or hasn’t had the chance for a New York Islanders fan to put him up to date on Tavares’ NHL career. The Ontario-native hasn’t been in The Six ever since making it to the league. Instead, he was selected with the first overall pick in 2009 by the Islanders, who quickly took him as one of their own.
As painful as his decision to join his hometown club was for fans on Long Island, Tavares did give the Islanders plenty of joy. One of his most memorable moments came in Game 6 of the First Round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he scored twice—including a last-minute game-tying goal and the subsequent overtime, series-clinching winner against the Florida Panthers.
However, when Tavares packed his bags and signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with Matthews’ Maple Leafs in the opening day of free agency in 2018, he broke all the hearts in Long Island. The Isles have moved around different arenas since but one thing never changed: Tavares has been booed when facing New York on the road.
