Auston Matthews and Alex Ovechkin share a few common traits: they’re both NHL forwards and they’re both born on September 17. The commonalities extend far beyond their shared birthday and occupation.

Aside from Ovechkin, nobody is really very close to Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record. Great as they are, Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos are just too far away. I’ll be comparing Matthews and Ovechkin to a few other talented NHL forwards who have built long careers from having a hot zone.

Ovehckin is 41 goals away from tying Gretzky’s goals record. The 38-year-old finished last season with 31 goals after a very slow start to the season. It’s not completely crazy to think that his age-39 season would be something along the lines of LeBron James’ age-39 season — James turns 40 this December and isn’t doing too badly for himself as the U.S. Olympic team flag-bearer.

Although it would be slightly surprising, not too many people would be shocked if Ovi finished this coming season as the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer. Ovechkin’s 2023-24 season was quite really a tale of two halves. Through the end of January, Ovi had a dismal nine goals on the season. After the All-Star break, he found the back of the net seven times in February — scoring in the first five straight of 11 games, 10 times in March over the span of 15 games and five times over nine games in April. He only needs 41 goals – to surpass the Great One’s record, a record that until recently seemed impossibly out of reach.

Ovechkin has made a long career out of being a proficient scorer from the left faceoff circle – the half closer to the goal. This season, the Russian sniper scored 10 times from that area. This area provided him with 12 goals the previous year. In 2021-22, he finished with 15 goals in the same half-circle. All that to say, given the chances, it’s likely that Ovechkin finishes the 2024-25 season with more goals than No. 99 finished with.

Ovechkin is not the only NHL player to have an on-ice office. Steven Stamkos has built a long career as a finisher from the same half-circle on the left side. This past season, Stammer netted 13 goals from his office. The previous year, Stamkos finished 10 times from here. 2021-22 saw him finish with a respectable eight goals in his wheelhouse. It will be interesting to see if he sets up shop in the same zone as a member of the Nashville Predators now.

Conversely, Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers is known as a prolific finisher from almost anywhere he chooses. That said, he prefers a tighter angle on goal. His hot zone is the outside half of the right faceoff circle. With in close and further away in this circle, the German finished 2023-24 with 19 total goals from this half-circle. In his 52-goal season the previous year, these areas account for 15 of his markers. The year previous, 13 of his 55 tallies were from the tighter angles of the right side.

Stamkos’ now former-teammate Nikita Kucherov also really enjoys being in the right faceoff circle. The whole circle provided him with 21 of his 44 goals this past year. The year before, he finished 12 of his 30 goals from the right circle. In 2021-22, he finished with 25 goals and 10 of them were from this same right circle.

Bringing this all back to how it relates to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews is quite familiar with the right faceoff circle as well. This past season saw him finish one tally shy of 70. 17 of his goals came from that right faceoff circle. 2022-23 saw him only finish twice from that circle, but 12 times from the left side. The year prior, he scored 60 total goals: 12 from the left circle and six from the right.

Matthews’ scoring is interesting when seen from this perspective. He seemed to have found his groove on the right side after a few seasons being a scoring threat from the left.

Who’s to say he can’t finish 2024-25 with 15 or 20 goals from the right faceoff circle?