“Matthews is the first player on this list for which some projection is likely factored in, consciously or not. What he’s already done should land him in the Hall of Fame, to be clear: he’s a three-time Rocket Richard winner, a Hart winner, and he’s only player this quarter century to deliver multiple 60-goal seasons. His 69 last season stand as the highest single-season total this quarter century. But the fact he’s pacing ahead of Ovechkin’s all-time goal-scoring rate through the same number of games likely influenced the vote. We know Matthews will be looked back on as one of the two greatest goal scorers of the past three decades – and maybe a top-two pure sniper ever. To climb higher on this list, however, he would’ve needed more than one playoff series win with the Toronto Maple Leafs.”