Dylan Guenther’s rapid rise could put him on a collision course with Nathan MacKinnon and the NHL’s top goal scorers for the Rocket Richard Trophy.
Dylan Guenther is coming.
The Utah Mammoth forward has taken a major step forward as a goal scorer, and after scoring 40 goals last season, it’s fair to wonder how high his ceiling really is.
Guenther has improved his goal total in each of his last three NHL seasons.
He scored 18 goals in 2023-24, followed that up with 27 in 2024-25, and then exploded for 40 last season.
Guenther added nine goals from his first season to his second, then increased his total by another 13 goals last season. If he takes another significant step, a 50-goal season suddenly doesn’t look unreasonable.
In fact, adding just 12 goals to last season’s total would put him at 52.
Of course, there are plenty of factors that could get in the way. Staying healthy will be important, as will maintaining his role, ice time and offensive opportunities. Scoring 40 goals once is impressive, but doing it again while pushing toward 50 is an entirely different animal.
Still, Guenther has already proven something important.
He can score and he can explode down the ice as soon as he gets his hands on the puck.
And there’s another player Guenther could soon reel in to contend for a prestigious award.
Nathan MacKinnon finally won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy last season after scoring 53 goals. The Colorado Avalanche superstar finished with 127 points and claimed the NHL’s goal-scoring title for the first time in his career.
If Guenther can reach the low-to-mid 50s, he could find himself competing with MacKinnon and some other other top scorers in the league.
At this point, calling Guenther a Rocket Richard favorite would be premature.
Calling him a dark horse is much more reasonable.
A 52-goal season might sound ambitious right now. But considering Guenther’s progression from 18 to 27 to 40 goals, it may not be as far-fetched as it sounds.
