"I just look at the guys around the league, and he's a guy that kind of stands out in terms of consistently scoring goals," Stamkos
told Sportsnet
in remarks published Saturday. "If there's a guy, he's at the top of the list for 50, 60 every year, you'd think."
Stamkos is the last player to score 60 in an NHL season, when the Tampa Bay Lightning forward scored that many in 82 games in 2011-12. Matthews' NHL career-high is 47, which the Toronto Maple Leafs forward scored in 70 games in 2019-20.
Matthews has scored eight goals in his past nine games to give him 33 in 46 games this season, a 56-goal pace. The Maple Leafs visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; BSOH, SNO, ESPN+, NHL LIVE).
"I think he can be a guy that can score 60 goals pretty easily," Stamkos said. "So it's fun to watch."
With 41 goals in 52 games last season, Matthews has scored 74 goals in his past 98 games, a 61-goal pace for an 82-game season.
"His ability to just get the shots that he does. And his wrist shot is, I think, second to none. His release is amazing," Stamkos said. "You see a lot of goals that he scores on that quick release. I kind of look back at my 50-goal and 60-goal seasons, and some of those wrist shots ... to have that release where goalies think that they're ready for it, and they're not, is pretty special. And he has that."
Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl leads the NHL with 35 goals in 50 games, on pace for 57.
There have been 39 60-goal seasons in the NHL, with Wayne Gretzky holding the record of 92 goals in 1981-82.
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is the only other active NHL player to have one (65, 2007-08). Prior to Ovechkin, it had not been done since 1995-96, when Mario Lemieux (69) and Jaromir Jagr (62) each reached the mark for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Stamkos, who scored 51 goals in 2009-10, has not scored more than 45 since scoring 60. He scored at least 30 in a season three times in the nine seasons prior to this one, although in five of those seasons he played fewer than 60 games. This season, he is on pace for 38, having scored 23 in 48 games.
Matthews has never scored fewer than 34 in his previous five seasons.
"The hardest thing to do in hockey is score, right?" Stamkos said. "You've got to be healthy, you've got to play with some really good playmakers, you've got to be put in a good position. I think [Auston has] kind of got all that with the lineup they have in Toronto."
