Auston Matthews will face a challenging 2025–26 NHL season following the departure of Mitch Marner. The Toronto Maple Leafs forward will not only aim to lead the franchise to greater success, but will also compete with a star teammate of Connor McDavid from the Edmonton Oilers for an achievement that only a select group of players in league history has reached.
The Maple Leafs closed out the 2024–25 season with a solid 82-game campaign in which Matthews led the team with 33 goals and 45 assists for 78 points in 67 games, placing him among the top ten in offensive production across the league.
Had Matthews delivered a stronger playoff performance, he might have already reached the milestone. However, the truth is that next season, he’ll be engaged in a quiet statistical battle with one of the Oilers, and it won’t be captain McDavid.
The milestone Matthews is chasing
Next season, Matthews will be playing to enter the elite group of 100 players with the most goals in NHL history, competing for that spot against Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl, who finished as the league’s top goal scorer last season.
Leon Draisatl of the Oilers
Matthews currently ranks 110th all-time in NHL history with 401 goals in just 629 games, leaving him just 12 goals shy of breaking into the top 100. Draisaitl, the Oilers standout, sits just behind him in 111th place with 399 goals, but in 790 games.
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Who holds the 100th spot?
Matthews is chasing former Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel, who sits at 100th on the all-time list with 413 goals in 1286 games, exactly a dozen more than the current Toronto captain. McDavid, meanwhile, is further down the list with 361 career goals in the NHL.
