There aren’t many NHL players who can score the way Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs scores. The 26-year-old has been one of the best scorers in the NHL ever since he entered the league in 2016 and he’s proving it again with a fast start to the new season – to the tune of six goals in two games.
Matthews entered the 2023-24 season with 299 career goals – one shy of 300. For those who figured it wouldn’t take long to pass that milestone, you were right – he scored his first goal of the year with five minutes left in the second period of the Maple Leafs’ season opener vs. the Canadiens on October 11.
He went on to score two more goals in the third period before winning the game 6-5 via a shootout – scoring a hat trick and getting a win is a pretty good way to start the new campaign. He followed that up with another hat trick against the Wild on Oct. 14 – bringing his career total to 305 goals in 483 games.
When Auston Matthews scored his 300th career goal on Oct. 11, he became the 10th fastest player in NHL history to do so, the fastest player in franchise history to do so, and the fifth Maple Leafs’ player to do so. His back-to-back hat tricks to start the season has only been done three other times in NHL history.
We saw a flurry of NHL players join the 300-goal club towards the end of last season. Leon Draisaitl did it on March 27, Evander Kane did it on March 28, Connor McDavid did it on March 30, David Pastrnak did it on April 9, and James Van Riemsdyk did it on April 11. The regular season ended three days later.
Matthews is the first to do it this season, but he won’t be the last. In fact, there are a number of active NHL players coming in right behind him and we could be just weeks away from the next player joining the club. With that said, let’s take a look at the active players who are closing in on 300 goals in their careers.
David Perron was drafted by the St. Louis Blues with the No. 26 overall pick (1st round) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 17th season in the league – second season with the Detroit Red Wings. As of October 19, he has 294 goals, 428 assists, and 722 points in 1,059 career games played.
Perron has scored at least 20 goals on seven occasions, including in four of the past five seasons – he has 118 goals between the 2018-19 season and 2022-23 season. He already has one goal through the first four games of the 2023-24 season, so he should be joining the 300-goal club by the end of the year.
T.J. Oshie was drafted by the St. Louis Blues with the No. 24 overall pick (1st round) of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 16th season in the league – ninth season with the Washington Capitals. As of October 19, he has 290 goals, 380 assists, and 670 points in 961 career games played.
Oshie has scored at least 20 goals on six occasions, including three consecutive seasons between 2018 and 2021. Production has slowed over the past two years and injuries have continued to pile up, but he should still have an opportunity to join the 300-goal club by the end of the season if he can stay healthy.
Nathan MacKinnon was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche with the No. 1 overall pick (1st round) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 11th season in the league – all of which with the Avalanche. As of October 19, he has 286 goals, 477 assists, and 763 points in 713 career games played.
MacKinnon has scored at least 20 goals in all but two of his seasons since entering the NHL in 2013 – he had a career-high 42 goals last season and had 41 goals during the 2018-19 season. He already has two goals, two assists, and four points through two games this season, so he’ll join the 300-goal club soon!
Jordan Eberle was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers with the No. 22 overall pick (1st round) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 14th season in the league – third season with the Seattle Kraken. As of October 19, he has 282 goals, 377 assists, and 659 points in 945 career games played.
Eberle has scored at least 20 goals on eight occasions, including five consecutive years between 2013-14 and 2017-18, and in each of the past two seasons since joining Seattle. He has yet to find the back of the net this year, but he’ll figure things out and should be joining the 300-goal club by the end of this season.
Nikita Kucherov was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning with the No. 58 overall pick (2nd round) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 10th season in the league – all of which with the Lightning. As of October 19, he has 280 goals, 455 assists, and 735 points in 649 career games played.
Kucherov has scored at least 20 goals in all but one of his seasons in the NHL – that being his rookie year, when he had 9 goals and 9 assists in 52 games. He has since eclipsed the 40-goal mark on two occasions and already has 4 goals, 2 assists, and 6 points in 5 games played during the 2023-24 season.
Jordan Staal was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the No. 2 overall (1st round) pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 18th season in the league – 12th season with the Carolina Hurricanes. As of Oct. 19, he has 276 goals, 373 assists, and 649 points in 1,178 career games played.
Staal has scored at least 20 goals on five occasions, but hasn’t done it since the 2015-16 season – he has 50 goals over the past three years, though. He has one goal through the first five games of the 2023-24 season, so he might need to return for a 19th season if he wants to join the 300-goal club.
Mark Scheifele was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets with the No. 7 overall pick (1st round) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 13th season in the league – all of which with the Winnipeg Jets. He has 275 goals, 375 assists, and 650 total points through 727 career games played, as of October 19.
Scheifele has scored at least 20 goals in each of the past eight seasons and is coming off a season that saw him score a career-high 42 goals in 81 games played. He already has 3 goals through the first 4 games of the 2023-24 season, so there’s a good chance we see him join the 300-goal club this season.
Vladimir Tarasenko was drafted by the St. Louis Blues with the No. 16 overall pick (1st round) of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 12th season in the league – first season with the Senators. He has 272 goals, 308 assists, and 580 points through 679 games played as of Oct. 19.
Tarasenko has scored at least 20 goals on seven occasions, including six consecutive seasons between 2013 and 2019. He split time with the Blues and Rangers last year and finished the season with 18 goals in 69 games and already has 2 goals through 4 games in 2023-24, so the 300-goal club is within reach.
9. Nicklas Backstrom – 271 goals
CAPS TODAY: Nicklas Backstrom's goal against the Penguins on Sunday marked his 250th career goal. He became the fourth player in franchise history to reach the mark (Alex Ovechkin: 711g; Peter Bondra: 472g; Mike Gartner: 397g). More and Caps Clips at https://t.co/HecIC0ECg1pic.twitter.com/4OQmTrbXjK
Nicklas Backstrom was drafted by the Washington Capitals with the No. 4 overall pick (1st round) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 17th season in the league – all of which with the Capitals. He has 271 goals, 761 assists, and 1,032 points in 1,100 career games played as of Oct. 19.
Backstrom has scored at least 20 goals on six occasions, but the last time he did it was in the 2018-19 season. In fact, he only has 40 goals in the past four years and just 13 goals in the past two years. With 0 goals through the first 3 games this year, he needs to step it up if he wants to be in the 300-goal club.
Chris Kreider was drafted by the New York Rangers with the No. 19 overall pick (1st round) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 112th season in the league – all of which with the Rangers. He currently has 269 goals, 213 assists, and 482 points in 737 career games played, as of October 19.
Kreider has scored at least 20 goals in 8 of the past 9 seasons and has scored 88 goals across the past two seasons – including a career-high 52 goals during the 2021-22 season. He already has 4 goals, 1 assist, and 5 points through the first four games of the season, so the 300-goal club is within reach.
Mika Zibanejad was drafted by the Ottawa Senators with the No. 6 overall pick (1st round) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 13th season in the league – eighth season with the Rangers. He has 268 goals, 343 assists, and 611 points in 771 career games played as of Oct. 19.
Zibanejad has scored at least 20 goals on eight occasions, including in each of the past six seasons. He scored a career-high 41 goals in 57 games during the 2019-20 season and came close to that number last year with 39 goals. He has yet to score this season, but he’ll make a push for that 300-goal club.
Taylor Hall was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers with the No. 1 overall pick (1st round) of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 14th season in the league – first season with the Chicago Blackhawks. He has 264 goals, 430 assists, and 694 assists in 826 career games played as of Oct. 19.
Hall has scored at least 20 goals on seven occasions, but has only done it once in the past five seasons – mostly due to injuries and trades. He has yet to score his first goal as a member of the Blackhawks, but it’ll come eventually. He might not join the 300-goal club this season, but he very well could next season!
13. Ryan O’Reilly – 258 goals
Ryan O'Reilly scored his 200th career NHL goal to give the @StLouisBlues a 3-2 lead.
He became the fourth player from the 2009 #NHLDraft class to reach the milestone: John Tavares (350), Matt Duchene (247) and Evander Kane (245). #NHLStatspic.twitter.com/cq9Osx3Qsc
Ryan O’Reilly was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche with the No. 33 overall pick (2nd round) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 15th season in the league – first season with the Predators. He has 258 goals, 448 assists, and 706 points in 996 career games played as of Oct. 19.
O’Reilly has scored at least 20 goals on seven occasions, including four straight years between 2015-16 and 2018-19. He split time with the Blues and Maple Leafs last year, but only scored 16 goals. Now with the Predators, he already has 2 goals through 5 games and will likely join the 300-goal club next season.
Gabriel Landeskog was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche with the No. 2 overall pick (1st round) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 11th season in the league – all of which with the Avalanche. He has 248 goals, 323 assists, and 571 points in 738 career games played as of Oct. 19.
Landeskog has scored at least 20 goals in 9 of his 11 seasons in the NHL, but he hasn’t played since the 2021-22 season – when he suffered a season-ending injury. A second surgery will require him to miss the entire 2023-24 season, so he won’t be joining the 300-goal club for a while – he’ll still get there, though!
Brent Burns was drafted by the Minnesota Wild with the No. 20 overall pick (1st round) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in his 20th season in the league – second season with the Carolina Hurricanes. He has 246 goals, 595 assists, and 841 points in 1,338 career games played, as of Oct. 19.
Burns has scored at least 20 goals on three occasions and at least 10 goals on 12 occasions – an impressive mark for a defenseman. He’ll have to play for at least four more years if he wants to join the 300-goal club, but that’s a tall ask for someone who’s already 38 years old – it’s possible, though!
Active NHL Players With the Most Career Goals
The players listed above are certainly on the rise and will continue to add to their career totals, but do you know which active NHL players have the most career goals? There’s one obvious name at the top and that’s Alex Ovechkin, who currently leads all active NHL players with 822 goals in his 19-year career.
Ovechkin is just 73 goals away from breaking the NHL’s all-time goals record – which is currently held by Wayne Gretzky at 894 goals across his 20-year career. Of course, we can’t forget about Sidney Crosby, who is closing in on the 600-goal club with 553 goals in his 19th season – he might need another year.
Outside of Ovechkin and Crosby, the active leaderboard includes Steven Stamkos (517 career goals), Evgeni Malkin (474 career goals), Joe Pavelski (451 career goals), Jeff Carter (431 career goals), John Tavares (428 career goals), Corey Perry (418 career goals), and Anze Kopitar (395 career goals).
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