Whether or not Sheldon Keefe turns out to be a coaching sage — and so far he’s making a compelling case he has a bit of a gift — it clearly didn’t take a hockey genius to unspool one of his best moves.

Ever since the Maple Leafs coach tossed together Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner in the third period of a Dec. 21 win against the Red Wings, the results have been exactly what you’d expect — nothing short of electric. Matthews has 15 goals in 15 games. He and Marner have 22 points apiece. And contrary to Mike Babcock’s doomsaying concerns about the defensive ceiling caving in on the duo, Toronto has dominated puck possession when Matthews and Marner have been on the ice together. The team boasts a plus-10 goal differential over the span. They’re 9-3-3 in the standings, a 117-point pace. And as for Babcock’s salient fear about stacking his two best offensive players on one line — that thing about maintaining depth through the lineup — the resultant duo of John Tavares and William Nylander has combined for 35 points over those 15 games. Which is to say, Kyle Dubas devoted 50% of the salary cap to those particular four guys for a reason. It’s the coach’s job to maximize them. So pick your poison, opponents.

Now, let’s not get too excited. The new-car smell is overpowering here. Maybe some of the early Matthews-Marner jump comes from two stars overjoyed to be rid of a coach they clearly considered a hindrance. And no doubt Babcock could enjoy the last laugh if the immature version of the Leafs — the one Keefe called out before the all-star break after blowout losses to the Panthers and Blackhawks — should re-emerge at a make-or-break moment in the coming 31-game push toward the playoffs.

But let’s just consider the significance of Toronto’s potent offence finally, truly being unleashed — and specifically, what it means to have its two best talents creating together alongside the tireless Zach Hyman without the constant worry that Babcock would break them apart at the first hint of a questionable on-ice decision.

It has conjured something we haven’t seen enough during years and years of relatively low-scoring hockey in Toronto and beyond: a bona fide run at a significant franchise record. Rick Vaive’s 54-goal run in 1981-82 still stands as the greatest goal-scoring season in the century-plus history of the club. But it might not stand for long. Matthews, heading into Saturday’s home game against the Senators, has 36 goals in 51 games, on pace for 58 goals. His drive for 55, the strive to top Vaive, will be fun. And who’d bet against him doing it?

But here’s the thing: The way this season is going — the way the goals have been coming since Keefe took over — the franchise record ought to be a secondary matter to the prize Matthews is surely eyeing.

Matthews has found himself in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy. Boston’s David Pastrnak is currently leading the Rocket charge with 37 goals. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin sits a goal behind Matthews in third place with 35. And, yes, given Ovechkin’s status as an eight-time winner of the award, including six of the previous seven, Pastrnak and Matthews are considerable underdogs. Still, it’d be a seismic moment in Toronto franchise history if Matthews could pull it off.

That’s not to say breaking the franchise record wouldn’t be stellar and that ripping off the rare double, leading the league while reigning over the franchise record book, wouldn’t be the obviously superior scenario.

But as much as the Leafs love fluffing up their status as a heritage institution with a storied lineage of bronze-statue-worthy stars, this particular franchise record needs to be put into perspective.

Rick Vaive’s career resumé is immense. He’s one of 20 men who can lay claim to three career 50-goal seasons. And his watershed 54-goal season saw him become the first Leaf to breach the 50-goal barrier. I was at Maple Leaf Gardens the night he got his 50th. I remember the roar. I got caught up in the excitement.

But I also remember, even as a kid, thinking that it didn’t seem right that the vaunted Maple Leafs were celebrating their first 50-goal scorer while that dude named Gretzky was en route to scoring 92 goals in the same season. Don’t get it wrong. In the year Vaive got 54, he finished fifth in the league. He was excellent. But the Leafs missed the playoffs in an era in which 16 of 21 teams made it. Mike Bossy of the Cup champion New York Islanders scored 64 goals in the regular season.

Fifty-four goals is a big number, sure. But there have been 74 individual seasons in NHL history of 55 goals or more.

Which is to say, Matthews beating Vaive’s record would be big, considering how much harder it is to score goals today than it was in the early 1980s. But leading the league would be way bigger. A Maple Leaf hasn’t led the league in goals in the post-1967 era. Heck, history tells us it’s been eons since a Leaf led the league in anything of significance if you don’t count assistant GM Brandon Pridham inventing salary-cap loopholes.

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This week Rick Bowness, the Dallas Stars coach, popped a trivia question on the Toronto media: Who was the last Leaf to lead the league in scoring? That’d be Gordie Drillon, an old family friend of Bowness who topped the NHL points list in 1938. Only real historians know the answer to the obvious followup. Who was the last Leaf to lead the NHL in goals? That’d be Gaye Stewart, with 37 goals in 50 games in 1945-46. Now, Stewart was a great player. He won two Stanley Cups and had his name butchered on one of them (they engraved it as Gave). But Stewart played so long ago that most of today’s observers are too young to know his name, let alone spell it correctly.

In other words, it’s been a long, long time since a Toronto fan could brag about one of their guys being the best at a skill as fundamental as putting pucks into a net. Seeing Matthews win such a major trophy would mark a massive shift in outlook for a franchise whose checkered history has always been bereft of superlative talents. And judging from the team’s win-loss record since Keefe put Matthews and Marner together, it might just maximize Toronto’s chances at turning this season into something even more meaningful.

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