Auston Matthews Goal Pace; Rick Vaive was Doing this 40 Years Ago


Auston Matthews has 40 goals at the 20024 All-Star break. Exactly 40 years ago, another Maple Leaf sniper, Rick Vaive, also had 40 goals at the 1984 All-Star break (in 50 games played). There was talk of Vaive shattering his own Leaf record of 54 goals in a season as he sat second to only Wayne Gretzky in NHL goals.

At the All-Star game that season in New Jersey on January 31, 1984, Vaive was given the plum role of playing on Gretzky's Right Wing in lieu of Jari Kurri being injured and unable to play. Vaive responded with three assists, including one on Gretzky's only goal of the match. The following night, Vaive was back with the struggling Leafs for a 7-2 loss in Chicago. (there was no extended All-Star break back then, and the thought of a bye-week would have been laughable). Vaive was held scoreless as the Leafs lost their sixth game in a row. The Leafs were in such a rut (like usual during my childhood of the early 80's) that their captain Vaive had seemed to have had enough. During All-Star game interviews, Vaive went so far as to calling out his Leaf teammates over lack of effort, telling Al Strachan, "I think deep down, the player himself is the only guy who knows whether he's giving it his best shot or not...I'm sure that a few of them would come up with the answer that they are not."


Perhaps the pressure of pointing out the flaws of teammates was too much for Vaive, in the 12 games after the All-Star game he produced a mere 2 goals and 8 points. His season total was now 42 goals through 62 games. During the last of those 12 games, an 8-3 loss in Edmonton, Vaive was hit in the foot by teammate Jim Benning's shot. The resulting bruise would keep him out of the next two games. He returned to tally two goals in an 11-6 (!) loss at home to the Islanders. Vaive potted 6 more goals in the next 6 games to sit at an even 50 goals in 69 games played (Toronto's 72nd game). With eight games left, he had a terrific shot at getting to at least 55 goals and a new Leaf record.

Alas, Vaive potted only two more goals in the next seven matches and he missed the final game of the season with a bad back. He finished with 52 goals in 76 games, his third consecutive 50 goal campaign. This feat is nothing to sneeze at. In 1984, Only Gretzky and Mike Bossy had also three 50-goal seasons to their name by the age of 24. Even Auston Matthews has yet to accomplish three straight 50-goal seasons. However, it's probably a safe bet that Matthews will tally more than a dozen goals over the remaining 35 games and likely will best his own Leaf goal record of 60. We shall see.


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