When the Toronto Maple Leafs’ season began earlier this month, it was just a matter of when, not if, John Tavares would join the National Hockey League’s elite scoring club.
It took him 1,195 games over 17 seasons, but in Columbus, Ohio, at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday, Tavares notched his 500th regular season goal. With the Maple Leafs down 6-1 in the third period against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Tavares’ wrist shot found its way past goalie Elvis Merzļikins at 15:45 to bring the score to 6–2. Toronto would tally one more goal before the final buzzer, coming out on the losing end of a 6–3 game with their Eastern Conference foe.
With Tavares’ 6th goal in 11 games this season for Toronto, the Mississauga, Ontario, native became the 49th player in NHL history to reach the 500 goal mark. Nicholas Robertson and Matthew Knies assisted on Tavares’ historic score.
Tavares is one of almost 50 players in NHL history who have scored 500 or more goals. Tavares’ next goal will land him in 48th place—one past Hockey Hall of Famer Lanny McDonald.
This past Saturday at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, Tavares tallied his 499th goal against the Buffalo Sabres. Tavares’ overtime score came at 1:28, with an assist from Knies, to give the Maple Leafs the 4–3 victory. With the Wednesday match, Toronto is 5–5–1, good for 5th place in the Atlantic Division.
On July 1, 2018, after nine seasons as a center for the New York Islanders, Tavares, an unrestricted free agent, signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with the Maple Leafs. This past June, skating for his favorite childhood hockey team, Tavares left money on the table by re-signing with Toronto. After putting up an impressive 74 points (38 goals and 36 assists) in 75 games in 2024 and 2025, Tavares inked a four-year, $17.52 million deal to remain a part of his hometown team.
The Maple Leafs, who last won a Stanley Cup championship in 1967, has surrounded Tavares with exceptional teammates, including William Nylander, who has skated 509 games with Toronto as Tavares’ teammate in the past eight seasons, and captain Auston Matthews. Like Matthews, the top selection overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, great accomplishments were expected of Tavares when he, at 19 in 2009, was the NHL’s top draft selection by the New York Islanders.
From 2009–2018, Tavares was the face of the Islanders. During his time in New York, the Islanders never reached further than the second round of the Stanley Cup postseason, and for seven seasons didn’t qualify for the playoffs. Since signing with the Maple Leafs, Tavares has appeared in the NHL postseason for seven years consecutively.
Tavares, 35, now has 1,128 points (500 goals 628 assists). Since joining the Maple Leafs eight seasons ago, Tavares has 228 goals.
Individual accomplishments remain exciting for players and fans alike to follow, however, a team’s victories remains the ultimate marker of success. Last season, the Maple Leafs finished atop of the Atlantic Division at 52–26–4, with 108 points.
In the postseason, the Maple Leafs began on a positive note by winning the opening round over the Ottawa Senators, four games to two in the best-of-seven series. In the second round of playoffs, Toronto lost four games to three to the Florida Panthers, who would go on to win a second consecutive Stanley Cup championship.
Collecting his historic 500th goal on Wednesday didn’t come as a surprise to those who have been following Tavares’ career. Since entering the NHL, Toronto’s center is averaging 29 goals per season.
Serving as the Maple Leafs’ captain from 2019 through 2024, Tavares is hoping to be a part of a team that returns the Stanley Cup to Canada. Not since 1993, when the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings for the NHL championship, has a Canadian-based franchise captured the Stanley Cup.
Maple Leafs Coach Craig Berube, who guided the St. Louis Blues in 2018 and 2019 to the Stanley Cup championship after eight seasons with the franchise, is in his second campaign overseeing Toronto’s roster. A solid offensive season turned in by Tavares, along with other high-powered scorers with Toronto, offer Berube another solid opportunity to earning a Cup ring.
All factors considered, although early in the NHL season, are pointing to a successful campaign for the Maple Leafs—thanks to an engaged Tavares on offense.
