Auston Matthews becomes fastest Toronto Maple Leaf to reach 500 point milestone

Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews has hit the 500 point milestone with an assist during Tuesday night’s game against the St. Louis Blues.

Auston Matthews picks up career point #500 with secondary assist on Nylander goal.

— David Alter (@dalter) January 4, 2023

Matthews achieved the feat with the secondary assist on William Nylander’s goal in the second period to cut the Blues lead to 3-2. While he didn’t touch the puck with his stick, he got credit for the assist after a Mark Giordano shot deflected off his skate into the corner, where it was collected by Michael Bunting before he set up Nylander in the slot. It wasn’t the prettiest assist in his career, and it might actually be up there with his ugliest.

Matthews also scored a goal later in the second period of the game to cut the Blues lead again, this time to 5-4.

With that, Matthews becomes the fastest player in Leafs history to hit the milestone, achieving it in just 445 games. The record was previously held by Darryl Sittler, who had reached the milestone in 517 games. Matthews has 278 goals and 223 assists to get those 501 career points in those 445 games.

Matthews is also the fifth quickest active NHL player to hit 500 points, with just Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Alex Ovechkin, and Evgeni Malkin ahead of him.

Matthews hasn’t had quite as much buzz this season, but he’s still been very productive in 2022-23, with 19 goals, 25 assists, and 44 points in 38 games. He’s coming off a season where he scored 60 goals, along with 46 assists and 106 points in 73 games to win his first career Hart Memorial Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. If his current pace holds, it will be the first time in his seven year career that he’ll have more assists than goals in a season.

Matthews isn’t the only Leaf who could reach the 500 career point total soon, as Mitch Marner currently sits at 497 points. If he gets three points in the next 53 games, he’ll become the second fastest Leaf to hit the total, as he’s played 464 going into Tuesday’s game.