Rousing Ovation for 2024 3rd Overall pick Beckett Sennecke (Via: Derek Lee) Toronto’s Auston Matthews has been the sports most elite goal scorer since the days of Alex Ovechkin during his prime. Since the 2019-20 season, Matthews leads the league in goals with 257 and is 35 goals ahead of second-best Leon Draisaitl, who had played 18 more games. What he has been able to do with the puck has been simply must-watch and begs the question of when we will see an off year from him? The Arizona native has grown into one of the league’s best overall players with his new found defensive prowess and his point numbers reflect that he hasn’t lost in scoring touch in the process. Despite subtle changes to his game over the years, he has remained the game’s best sharpshooter. He has averaged 46 goals-per-season since joining the league eight years ago and has a pair of 60+ goal campaigns over the past three seasons. His over/under for goals heading into next season is listed at 56.5 (-115 on Bet365). It certainly isn’t out of Matthews repertoire to score 57 goals but the challenge is doing it for the third time in the last four seasons. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHPSGZ6QK0I[/embed] This bet does get our stamp of approval however as there is one person who will great effect the outcome: Mitch Marner. The longtime Leafs winger enters a contract year and has made his money so far by feeding stellar passes to Matthews. The pair played with each other for a majority of last season and are projected to once again next year. Marner is top eight in assists since the 2021-22 season with 190 in 221 games, which has him ahead of names like Roman Josi, Cale Makar, Victor Hedman and Sidney Crosby. He enters this season with three straight near-60 assist seasons and will help Matthews keep his goal scoring talent at a high enough level that he can hit the over. Matthew Knies should also play a factor as the young 21-year-old is continuing to develop and getter better every season. He scored an impressive 15 goals and dished 20 assists for 35 points in his rookie season. Knies should improve and get up to 40-50 points next season while helping Matthews score more goals. Click here [https://thehockeynews.com/betting/futures] to check out more offseason stories on future bets before it’s too late and odds change.
