LeBrun: Brett Hull on 70-goal seasons and Auston Matthews' pursuit of history — 'Love seeing it'

Brett Hull couldn’t believe it.

When informed that Auston Matthews was the first player to score 66 goals or more in a season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96, the Golden Brett replied, “Really? Like, Ovi hasn’t?”

Nope. Alex Ovechkin’s best was 65, I informed Hull.

“Wow,” Hull replied, chatting over the phone with The Athletic from Nashville on Wednesday, a day after Matthews got to 66.

“It’s nice to see what Matthews is doing,” Hull added. “Because that’s part of the game that I love. I love seeing it. I love how he enjoys doing it.”

High praise from a former 86-goal scorer who three times reached 70 or more goals in a season (still crazy to think about).

What impresses Hull the most is how Matthews is getting it done.

“He does it in a lot of different ways,” Hull said. “You can look at me and Ovi, we were kind of set in our ways. It worked, which was nice.

“But Auston does it in a myriad of ways, which is probably why he’s getting those kind of totals.”

It’s absolutely true. No. 34 has found ways to score from all over the offensive zone, which has made him nearly impossible to defend. But especially impressive has been how he’s willing to pay a price in traffic to get the tougher goals, too.

“That’s what you have to do if you’re going to be a goal scorer,” Hull said. “Anyone who wants to listen, I tell them, ‘You’re going to get some goals from the outside, but if you want to get a lot of goals, you’ve got to get dirty. You’ve got to take a beating in front.’

“And it’s worth it at the end.”

The added bonus for Hull is seeing a fellow American finally join him in this rare club of 65-plus goal scorers. Until now, Hull was the only one.

“Especially (Matthews) doing it in Toronto as a U.S.-born kid,” Hull said with a chuckle.

Hull had three magical seasons with the Blues that are still hard to comprehend: 72 goals in 80 games in 1989-90, 86 goals in 78 games in 1990-91 and 70 goals in 73 games in 1991-92.

Ridiculous by any measure.

“It was surreal,” Hull said, looking back. “I remember my 86-goal year, I felt like I was scoring every shift. That’s what it felt like. And then to come up six short of Wayne (Gretzky’s 92-goal record), I can’t imagine what he felt.

“He only had 120 assists to go along with those 92 goals,” Hull laughed.

Still, Hull scored 228 goals in 231 games over those three seasons. What a feeling.

“Those three years, it was incredible,” Hull said. “You did a lot of things to work and score goals for yourself. But there were times where it was so bizarre how all of a sudden the puck would just go in the net. Like, whether you’re just dumping it in on a change from center and the goalie would miss it — I’d be like, ‘What?’ — or you tip one in from way out high by accident and it would go in.

“I remember one night on Long Island, I was way out at the blue line, and a guy for absolutely no reason at all came out at me and slid like Rod Langway. I had nowhere to go because it was so unexpected, so I just grabbed it and fired it and made sure I got it over him, which was way high. If you remember, the glass on Long Island was so hard. The puck went over the net, off the glass, back over the net, off the goalie’s back and in.

“I’m like, ‘What the hell?’ So, along with the work you put in to score, you also need good breaks to throw those numbers up.”

Not to mention, amazing teammates who help make it happen, Hull added. He pointed out that Matthews certainly has those in Toronto.

“You really can’t do it on your own,” Hull said. “You need quality teammates and linemates to score that many.”

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NHL 70-goal seasons

Top U.S. career goal scorers

(Photos of Brett Hull and Auston Matthews: Bruce Bennett and Patrick Smith / Getty Images)