CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Rick Vaive wouldn't mind seeing his nearly 40-year-old Toronto Maple Leafs’ record broken.
The right-winger was the team’s first 50-goal scorer when he tallied 54 times during 1981-82 to break Frank Mahovlich’s record of 48, which stood for two decades.
“It’s going to happen sooner or later. I mean it’s been 38 years,” Vaive told The Guardian recently. “This year was setting up to be the perfect year for (Auston) Matthews to do it. He was very close.”
Matthews, 22, is third in the NHL this season with 47 goals, which put him on pace for 55. Toronto had 12 games remaining in the regular season when the season was halted due to the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic.
“If you think about it, it’s a great story for the franchise, for him, for me. Here you got two 22-year-old kids that score 50-plus goals, 38 years apart,” Vaive said. “I remember when I broke Frank Mahovlich’s record of 48. He was there the next day to congratulate me and take pictures.
“I remembered that fondly, so I would have liked to be there to congratulate (Matthews), if he did it.”
Vaive surpassed the 50-goal plateau three straight seasons, tallying 51 in 1982-83 and 52 in 1983-84. Dave Andreychuk, 53 in 1993-94, and Gary Leeman, 51 in 1989-90, are the only other Leafs to break the 50-goal mark in a season.
The 54-goal mark is not the biggest deal for Vaive.
“But the fact that you were the first player to ever do it, with a franchise that has been around for so long, was pretty special.”
