SIMMONS SAYS: Matthews’ 50-goal season is like nothing the Leafs have seen before – Toronto Sun

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When Rick Vaive became the first 50-goal scorer in Maple Leafs history, he finished no higher than fifth in the NHL in goals in 1982, some 41 behind the leading scorer, Wayne Gretzky.

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In the three seasons in which Vaive managed 50 or more goals in Toronto, 25 different players reached the 50-goal mark. Sure, it was wonderful to score 50, it just wasn’t unusual the way it is now.

The same was true when Gary Leeman scored his 51 for Toronto, followed by the 53 that Dave Andreychuk managed in 1994. Andreychuk was one of nine 50-goal scorers that season; Leeman was one of eight in 1990.

By comparison, there have been eight 50-goal scorers in the past 12 NHL seasons. That’s all. And most of them are named Ovechkin. While there used to be eight almost every season, there haven’t been more than three since 2006.

All of which makes Auston Matthews’ numbers — this season, last season, the season before that — all the more breathtaking. He is scoring more than any Toronto player in history at a time when scoring is terribly difficult.

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Matthews hit the 50-mark on Thursday night against Winnipeg — with 15 games to go — and had the past two seasons not been shortened by the pandemic, this would likely be his third straight 50-goal campaign.

And frankly, nobody, not even Alexander Ovechkin, is doing that anymore.

There was a time when Gretzky scored 92 goals and Brett Hull scored 86 and Mario Lemieux potted 85. That was before goalie equipment grew and butterfly goaltending became almost mandatory. No one will get near those numbers again.

Contextually, what Matthews is accomplishing now is both record-setting and engrossing. And nothing at all like the previous 50-goal men in Leafs history.

THIS AND THAT

Matthews is a strong candidate for the Hart Trophy as most valuable player in the NHL. But the field is deep, especially now with defenceman Roman Josi leading the NHL in scoring in March; with Connor McDavid getting hot again and sitting 15 points ahead of Matthews in scoring (he was one point behind Josi last month); with Jonathan Huberdeau leading the NHL in scoring in December and January and being one point back of the lead in November; with Johnny Gaudreau having been on the ice at even strength for 11 more goals than McDavid and 19 fewer against. The only candidate who seems to be slipping out of the Hart conversation is goalie Igor Shesterkin, who had his worst statistical month of the season in March … Some consider Matthews a strong candidate for the Selke Trophy as well, which goes to the NHL’s best defensive forward. I don’t. He’s on the ice for too many goals against with 67 heading into Saturday night. And he doesn’t kill penalties. By comparison, the annual staple that is Patrice Bergeron of Boston has been scored on just 25 times this season. Joel Eriksson Ek of Minnesota has been scored on 34 times. Sasha Barkov of Florida has allowed 33 against. Elias Lindholm of Calgary has been scored on just 37 times. Not sure how you include Matthews on a Selke ballot against forwards of that quality who are that stingy defensively … How hockey is this? When Marc Bergevin was in charge of the Montreal Canadiens, rookie star Cole Caufield was instructed to be as bland as possible and hide his personality when doing interviews. Now that Bergevin is gone and Caufield is back scoring, the Habs have encouraged him to share his thoughts and emotions and share his infectious personality. And you have to wonder: How many NHL teams are forcing their stars to hide their personalities and asking them to major in boredom?

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HEAR AND THERE

Much will be said about Kyle Lowry’s return to Toronto on Sunday, but understand this: He chose to leave. His decision. Not sure I understand these emotional returns from athletes who have chosen to play elsewhere … It reminds me a little of the late Roy Halladay, who asked out of Toronto and then signed a one-day contract with the Blue Jays when his career came to an end. But when Halladay was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, his family selected a Philadelphia Phillies cap for the Halladay bust. Nothing is quite as meaningless as the one-day contract Lowry wants to sign with the Raptors at the conclusion of his career … How do you honour Lowry eventually? You retire his number. He deserves that. You don’t build a statue for him, as some have suggested. There’s a Michael Jordan statue in Chicago. There’s a Bobby Orr statue in Boston. I know Lowry: Great player, great teammate, a good person to scrap with, but he’s no Jordan or no Orr … ESPN talks about basketball all day long and if you didn’t know better, you wouldn’t think the Raptors play in the NBA. They get no talk at all. Pascal Siakam scored a career-high 40 points on Monday and came back Wednesday with a career-high 13 assists and ESPN talks about the Lakers. Siakam is playing at a level never before seen: And each night you don’t know which Siakam you are going to get because the possibilities seem endless. Might be worth mentioning on occasion … Maybe the biggest surprise in this surprising Raptors season is the development of Precious Achiuwa, who was part of the Lowry deal with Miami. Achiuwa came here full of energy and seemingly lacking in basketball acumen. But in a short six months, he has developed into a quality defender, he has learned to channel his energy and, the biggest surprise, he has become a three-point shooter of some quality.

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SCENE AND HEARD

Not sure I understood the contract extension for Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo. To me, it should be rather basic with Montoyo. If the Blue Jays make the playoffs, he gets his extension. If the Jays don’t make it, he gets fired. This is the first of several make-it-or-break-it seasons for these powerful Jays … The MLB Network has rated Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as the eighth-best player in baseball. Those ahead of him on the list: Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, and National Leaguers Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, Mookie Betts and Jacob deGrom (before the injury). If Vladdy Jr. has another season like the last one, he’ll be in the top three next year … Other Jays rated by MLB Network: Bo Bichette 32; George Springer 33; Teoscar Hernandez 65; Kevin Gausman 74; Matt Chapman 83 and Opening Day pitcher Jose Berrios 97 … Looking forward to seeing the new instant replay in-stadium rules involving umpires in baseball. That’s surprising progress for a sport that used to be so stagnant and suddenly is adopting all kinds of new rules … It may not make sense for the Ottawa Senators, in need of some kinds of ownership clarification now that Eugene Melnyk has passed away, to play some games in Quebec City next season and into the future. But it does make sense for the Arizona Coyotes or the Buffalo Sabres or other teams that can’t sell tickets to look to Quebec for five games or more each season … Is there a tougher team in sports right now than the Boston Celtics? … When you write for a wire service like Canadian Press, you often do so rather anonymously. Your byline doesn’t appear anywhere very often. Your profile may be limited. For years, Neil Stevens wrote hockey, figure skating and lacrosse, and just about every other sport for CP. All of it well. As low-key as he might have been, he was talented enough to be inducted into both the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Stevens passed away on Friday and all of us who knew him and admired him and laughed with him and loved his company, especially on the road, are feeling a little bit lost right now.

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AND ANOTHER THING

No one has influenced Canadian sport in recent times the way John Herdman has. He developed the women’s national soccer team into Olympic medal winners and contenders. He then took on the impossible, building the Canadian men’s team in a sport that has been fraught with division over the years, and they are going to the World Cup of Soccer. Who has done anything comparable? … The talk after the World Cup draw came out on Friday: How did Canada make out? Here’s my rather simple non-soccer expert view: There is no bad draw. They are in the freakin’ World Cup. That’s the draw. The rest, who they happen to play, is gravy … If Wayne Simmonds can’t pick up his game between now and the end of the regular season, you can’t expect him to be dressing for games in the playoffs with the Leafs … Last Sunday, Canada played soccer and the Leafs played Florida and I missed Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Academy Awards. This Sunday, Lowry returns, which means I miss the Grammy Awards and Wrestlemania and Stone Cold Steve Austin slapping Kevin Owens: Life was way more fun when I had Sundays off … April used to be the best of sporting months. The NCAA basketball tournament concludes. The Masters is played. The NHL and NBA playoffs get going, as does Major League Baseball. It’s still pretty good — even if we have to wait until May for this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs … The leading scorers by month in the NHL this season: October, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl; November, Nazem Kadri; December, Huberdeau; January, Huberdeau; February, Mitch Marner; March, Josi … What a race for MVP in the NBA: Last year’s winner, Nikola Jokic is in contention for a second straight award, alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, who won the previous two MVPs, and Joel Embiid, who has yet to contend but is an excellent choice this time around … The Sabres don’t do a lot of things right. But the honouring of longtime play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret was touching and spectacular … If the struggling Philadelphia Flyers don’t think there’s a place in their lineup for ironman Keith Yandle, then they should sit him out. That’s their prerogative. Yandle became the NHL’s ironman with 989 games not because of any record, but because whatever team he was on believed he could help them win. If that’s not the case anymore, this isn’t about being sentimental. This is about building your team properly now and for the future … Coming soon to an ironman record near you: Phil Kessel, who has hardly been part of the Gary Roberts summer conditioning program … Happy birthday to Pascal Siakam (28), Bernie Parent (77), Steve Ludzik (61), Chad Owens (40), Charlotte Flair (36), Eddie Murphy (61), Reggie Smith (77), Pete Incaviglia (58) and Rodney Hampton (53) … And hey, whatever became of John Farrell?

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JAYS HOPING WALKER CASE GOES AWAY

Everybody likes Pete Walker. All you have to do is spend a minute or two around the Blue Jays to understand what Walker means to the franchise and how highly he is regarded by those he works with and those he works around.

It’s nice right now that everybody likes Walker and respects him, and that the club and some media members have kind of circled the wagons on his behalf, but it’s also rather irrelevant considering the circumstances of last weekend. Walker was arrested in Florida and charged with speeding allegedly under the influence of alcohol.

He was driving the equivalent of 60 km/h over the speed limit — driving 132 km/h in a 72 km/h zone. He refused to take a breathalyzer, as is often the case. He was observed by the arresting officer as being intoxicated. He will plead not guilty in court — but even that doesn’t matter much right now.

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What matters is what do the Blue Jays about Walker? Do they suspend him? Do they fire him as pitching coach? There is plenty of precedent for both of those actions in professional sports in recent years. Do they do nothing?

The Jays made a rather innocuous statement after the arrest, claiming “the club is currently gathering more information and out of respect for the legal process, there will be no further comment at this time.”

Translated, that essentially says, ‘we need Walker, he’s a terrific pitching coach, we don’t need distractions, we can’t adequately replace him and we’re a contender this season — so we’ll hide behind the legal jargon and blah, blah, blah, be thankful that no one was killed or injured in this reckless act.’

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And they will hope that this rather messy incident will go away without much notice.

BE CAREFUL WHICH BETTING SITES YOU BET ON

On your mark, get set, gamble.

Monday is the day when sports gambling essentially becomes legal in Ontario. If you’ve turned on your television set or radio lately, you can’t help but trip over the ads. They are everywhere. There is Wayne Gretzky pushing one gambling outfit. There is the comedian Gerry Dee and Susie from Curb Your Enthusiasm pushing another outfit. There is Auston Matthews doing commercials for another group.

You go online and you’re overwhelmed with possibilities. You check your e-mail and everyone and their grandmother wants you to be their customer.

A few even asked me to Tweet on their behalf.

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Legalized individual sports gambling should have happened decades ago. But it took this long to push the law through federally and it has taken this long to get going in Ontario.

Everybody in this brand new business thinks they’re going to get rich here. And some will. But this reminds me of the hysteria when marijuana became legal and everybody thought the stock they were purchasing was going to turn into Apple. A few made it big. A lot of companies disappeared. A lot of people lost money. That’s what’s likely to happen here.

In New York State, when legalized sports gambling began in January, the first month was rather stunning. More than $1.6 billion was bet legally. This is rather remarkable considering that most gamblers who wanted to bet previously would have found a way to do it when necessary. So that essentially was $1.6 billion of new betting money.

If anything like that happens in Ontario, no one will be happier than the provincial government, which will have found a source of revenue they should have discovered years earlier.