Should we be looking for a longterm 2c/3c instead of splitting up Matthews/Nylander?

[Wendelstache]

Matthews/Nylander is the best line in world... eye test and metrics wise.

Are we stunting Nylander if we keep him at wing though???

Babs even hinted that Nylander is a Centre a few times already.

 

[Morgs]

Brown is good on Matthews wing.

Untrue.
2016-17:

Matthews-Nylander-Hyman:
xGF% -55.33
rel.xGF% - +5.83
PDO - 98.67 (unlucky)

Matthews-Brown-Hyman
xGF% - 47.15
rel.xGF% - (-3.94)
PDO - 103.88 (very lucky)

With Brown, he got more points per, but it was luck it happened. Matthews without Nylander is a player we wouldn't be considering one of the best in the league already. This shtick of yours that Nylander-Matthews should be split up is tired.

 

[grapes55]

I think that Nylander will end up moving to centre but putting him on matthews line would be the "nuclear option" kinda like how Jeff Carter is used in LA. We have plenty of centre men who could potentially switch back and forth from the wings (aaltonen, brooks potentially)

 

[ponder]

Although Matthews/Nylander are great together, I think that Matthews/Marner could also be a terrific pair, which would free up Nylander to centre the 2nd line. I think Nylander's talents would be maximized as a centre, carrying his own line. Having a Matthews/Nylander/Kadri lineup down the middle would just be so strong, IMO we have to give it a legit shot at some point - that's basically a superstar C (Matthews), a legit 1C (I believe Nylander could become that good with time), and a legit 2C (Kadri is there already).

 

[Liminality]

Was thinking about this when they won it in OT last night. Their chemistry is really apparent and I'm not sure if Babcock is willing to break up his best line anytime soon.
Kadri's a decent #2 and we can replace Bozak with maybe a FA vet or someone who won't cost the Leafs all that much. For now, I think they stay on the same line.

 

[Raym11]

Matthews/Nylander is the best line in world... eye test and metrics wise.

Are we stunting Nylander if we keep him at wing though???

Babs even hinted that Nylander is a Centre a few times already.

I always see Nylander taking draws half the time on that line, and he seems to win most just from memory.

There is nothing wrong with having them both on the line, as they tend to play it unorthodox and dynamically in the sense that sometimes Matthews will position like a winger or Nylander will. They cover and skate around the ice so cohesively that we basically have 2 centers and 1 winger on that line.

That being said, I think Kadri excels at his position now and i would rather move Nylander to 2c over attempt to place Kadri in a bigger scoring, which might actually mess with his own playstyle. He creates more offense by not actively trying to create it, if that makes sense.


Matthews-Nylander is near unbeatable 5v5. You can't change that just because Nylander would be a great center on his own line, not when it's this effective. So maybe we do look for another center when Bozak is gone. Our 2nd line doesn't even need a high scoring C, 2/3 is interchangeable, they just have to play two-way and let Marner/winger do the rest. Marleau probably has played too much wing over the last few years to be a decent stop gap unfortunately if it comes to it

 

[Morgs]

Just some stats to look at to compare the line to the rest of the league:
* using lines that have skated over 30 minutes 5v5 together (49), brackets meaning rank relative to league
** Keep in mind, the lines we're comparing to have only played 3-5 games, meaning this is a crazy small sample size.

CF60 - 74.96 (1st)
CA60 - 44.1 (19th)
CF% - 62.96% (6th)
---
FF60 - 57.31 (5th)
FA60 - 31.96 (11th)
FF% - 64.2% (6th)
---
xGF60 - 7.21 (1st) [2nd place has 4.67!!!!!! This is crazy... ]
xGA60 - 2.71 (34th)
xGF% - 72.64% (2nd) [Hudon-Plek-Lehkonen are first]
---
oiSH% - 9.53% (27th)
GF60 - 4.09 (16th)
GA60 - 0 (1st - tied with 6 other lines)
---
OZS% - 17.65
DZS% - 31.37
NZS% - 50.98

Just crazy how good this line has been so far this season.

 

[Trapper]

The nice thing is that we have options.
How can you not like Matthews and Nylander together? And at the same time how can you not like the depth down the middle of Matthews/Nylander/Kadri. Even though we have yet to see Willy there long term.
At present I'd much rather find a solid 2 way center to play with Marner and leave the top line alone. Matthews/Nylander, the Kadri matchup line and a reconfigured Marner line. I wish Gauthier had more speed or slightly more offense because he would have been the type of center I'm looking for. Then I would have groomed Brooks in the mold of a young Moore,Kelly for that 4th line.

 

[-DeMo-]

we wont have the cap room to afford another good 2c if Nylander stays on the wing, so in the event we choose to keep Nylander on Matthews wing Kadri would have to be our 2c(which is perfectly fine), and needing to find that 3c weather it be someone young and cheap from the farm or a vet on a cheaper contract.

 

[thewave]

Untrue.
2016-17:

Matthews-Nylander-Hyman:
xGF% -55.33
rel.xGF% - +5.83
PDO - 98.67 (unlucky)

Matthews-Brown-Hyman
xGF% - 47.15
rel.xGF% - (-3.94)
PDO - 103.88 (very lucky)

With Brown, he got more points per, but it was luck it happened. Matthews without Nylander is a player we wouldn't be considering one of the best in the league already. This shtick of yours that Nylander-Matthews should be split up is tired.

Makes even more sense to play them together. He is a C anyways (Nylander) but if Babcock wants those two to drive up their values to 9m and 13m have at it. They probably will while Bozak dogs it up.

What do I know though.

 

[Morgs]

Makes even more sense to play them together. He is a C anyways (Nylander) but if Babcock wants those two to drive up their values to 9m and 13m have at it. They probably will while Bozak dogs it up.

What do I know though.

Man, your only argument for them not to play together is "their prices will go up". Yes, let's make our team worse because of contractual issues that haven't happened yet and we don't know are going to happen!!!

 

[thewave]

Man, your only argument for them not to play together is "their prices will go up". Yes, let's make our team worse because of contractual issues that haven't happened yet and we don't know are going to happen!!!

That's not the way it works. What happens is line 3 becomes better because you dump pos Bozak finally and each player maybe takes a 10% hit but as a team they probably become far better.

You have to learn to understand line time. L1 can only be awesome 18m a night. A better L3 gives us an extra 16-17m of quality play instead of the trash you stand witness to now.

 

[96]

Nazem just scored 32 goals, he's a solid 2nd line center.

Matthews - Kadri is a strong 1-2.

 

[thewave]

If you want to chase down a rocket for Matthews keep him with Nylander. If you want to chase down a cup, let Nylander fix L3

 

[saffronleaf]

If we have Matthews - Nylander - Kadri down the middle we'd arguably have the best depth in center.

Nylander wants to play center and we should let him thrive in that role. He could be a Backstrom. He's a superstar in his own right and we should respect that.

Our depth in the wings isn't bad with Hyman, JvR and Marleau on the left and Marner, Brown and Kapanen/Komarov on the right.

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
JvR/Marleau - Nylander - Brown/Kapanen
JvR/Marleau - Kadri - Brown/Kapanen

We've got goal scorers, playmakers and puck retrievers on each line.

 

[thewave]

If we have Matthews - Nylander - Kadri down the middle we'd arguably have the best depth in center.

Nylander wants to play center and we should let him thrive in that role. He could be a Backstrom. He's a superstar in his own right and we should respect that.

Our depth in the wings isn't bad with Hyman, JvR and Marleau on the left and Marner, Brown and Kapanen/Komarov on the right.

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
JvR/Marleau - Nylander - Brown/Kapanen
JvR/Marleau - Kadri - Brown/Kapanen

We've got goal scorers, playmakers and puck retrievers on each line.

Exactly

 

[Magic16Mitch]

Hi guys, been reading here for years, but figured it would be nice to have an account.

I do believe Nylander will be leading his own line as a C in the long run. I dont know about you, but I have a feeling that we will see 2 of Matthews, Nylander, Marner, Kadri, Brown and Kapanen in each of our first 3 lines in the near future, maybe next season? For example:
????-Matthews-Marner
????-Nylander-Kapanen
?????-Kadri-Brown

I have faith Kappy will be a really good player, the question is if we can afford all of them?
With this lineup, I do believe the question marks could be filled out with cheaper players and all three lines would still be damn good.

At the moment though, I do enjoy watching Matthews-Nylander

(Sorry if bad english, not from North America)

 

[Trapper]

If we have Matthews - Nylander - Kadri down the middle we'd arguably have the best depth in center.

Nylander wants to play center and we should let him thrive in that role. He could be a Backstrom. He's a superstar in his own right and we should respect that.

Our depth in the wings isn't bad with Hyman, JvR and Marleau on the left and Marner, Brown and Kapanen/Komarov on the right.

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
JvR/Marleau - Nylander - Brown/Kapanen
JvR/Marleau - Kadri - Brown/Kapanen

We've got goal scorers, playmakers and puck retrievers on each line.

True but if we had a center in the mold of J. Staal, Couturier, etc. On that 3rd pair we'd be equally strong.
Matthews/Nylander
Kadri/Brown
Center/Marner (now this line is more defensively sound)
Either configuration will be hard to contain.

 

[Christ]

What if Nylander wants his own Line ?

And what if Nylander likes playing with Matthews?

 

[Oskar The Groucho]

John Tavares

 

[Kiwi]

John Tavares

Has the salary cap ceased to exist? Or is he going to take a "home town discount" because he's a good Toronto boy?

 

[Legion34]

I bet we sign bozak again for 4.2 x4 front loaded.

I don’t see the point of padding willy stats this year if the long term plan is him at C.

Then we bump up Marner and pad his stats for his RFA. The next year. Not to be a finnatic conspiracy theorist, but If the goal is 2nd line C, let him play there before you pay him based on Mattys wing

 

[Canada4Gold]

I bet we sign bozak again for 4.2 x4 front loaded.

I don’t see the point of padding willy stats this year if the long term plan is him at C.

Then we bump up Marner and pad his stats for his RFA. The next year. Not to be a finnatic conspiracy theorist, but If the goal is 2nd line C, let him play there before you pay him based on Mattys wing

Being perceived as a center can reap you more money in negotiations because the position holds more value. Having McDavid on the same team was an obvious factor with Draisaitl, but he got a LOT more money than Pastrnak who's numbers weren't that far off. A big part of that was he was viewed as a center(even though he still played a fair bit of time with McDavid). If Nylander doesn't play a second of time at center this year there really isn't a way he could go into RFA looking to be paid like a center. Even if he puts up 75 points. A 75 point winger might get less than a 65 point center.

 

[MJ65]

Finding that "C" that we are talking about is not an easy task - not many options available

 

[Mintoregano]

I really hope they can make a trade around jvr for galchenyuk