Around The NHL 2018-2019 Edition: Part I

[The Zetterberg Era]

larkin's contract looks like a steal these days. Matthews just got 11.6 AAV for 5 years.

Yeah hes a better player but hes not twice as good lol

He is the second best player in the league and yes twice as good as Larkin... The gulf between the top 10 league talents and those that fall outside is actually large in terms of the difference in caliber in my opinion. I mean yes we are talking the 2% difference in terms of teams and the margin for error for the whole league but yes there is a big difference between Yzerman and Roenick if you will in my opinion.

Matthews wrist shot is comparable to Sakic and Semin, I actually think it is better in that it is even heavier while carrying the same devastating release. He has dominated the league when healthy which is the only thing that gives me pause on his contract, is his health. But he is underpaid for me. The top 10 talents in the league are actually hurt by the salary cap. With no cap Matthews crests 15 million without much of a thought, the guy is amazing. Really the biggest problem right now for Matthews is Babcock in Toronto, well he now has his contract lined up to outlast him we will see where that goes... His usage is ridiculous for a player with his track record and output despite him being curiously limited in ways no #1C is or should be. He has lead the league in even strength goals since he entered it. Guy is a marquee player and the face of Team USA's 2022 Olympic team for a reason, he is fantastic.

 

[Ulysses31]

look at that matthews contract. Red Wings made out like bandits on Larkin.

 

[Pavels Dog]

He is the second best player in the league and yes twice as good as Larkin... The gulf between the top 10 league talents and those that fall outside is actually large in terms of the difference in caliber in my opinion. I mean yes we are talking the 2% difference in terms of teams and the margin for error for the whole league but yes there is a big difference between Yzerman and Roenick if you will in my opinion.

Matthews wrist shot is comparable to Sakic and Semin, I actually think it is better in that it is even heavier while carrying the same devastating release. He has dominated the league when healthy which is the only thing that gives me pause on his contract, is his health. But he is underpaid for me. The top 10 talents in the league are actually hurt by the salary cap. With no cap Matthews crests 15 million without much of a thought, the guy is amazing. Really the biggest problem right now for Matthews is Babcock in Toronto, well he now has his contract lined up to outlast him we will see where that goes... His usage is ridiculous for a player with his track record and output despite him being curiously limited in ways no #1C is or should be. He has lead the league in even strength goals since he entered it. Guy is a marquee player and the face of Team USA's 2022 Olympic team for a reason, he is fantastic.

2nd best in the world... lol. Never topped 70 points. Pace and per-game or x/60 stats are nice but let him prove it for a full season at least once before putting such labels on him.
Paying him almost like McDavid is ridiculous.

 

[gretskidoo]

He isn't even top 10 in PPG this year while being 22nd and 29th the 2 years prior. No way is he the 2nd best player in the league yet. Potential to be, definitely.

 

[InjuredChoker]

2nd best in the world... lol. Never topped 70 points. Pace and per-game or x/60 stats are nice but let him prove it for a full season at least once before putting such labels on him.
Paying him almost like McDavid is ridiculous.

i don't think he's the second best player in the league but mcdavid was the best player in the game before he had even topped 50 points.

the money on this deal is fine, the term is not. leafs caved badly on that.

 

[Heaton]

He isn't even top 10 in PPG this year while being 22nd and 29th the 2 years prior. No way is he the 2nd best player in the league yet. Potential to be, definitely.

He was injured for like a month.

 

[Tatar Shots]

I would try and leverage Kapanen out of Toronto this summer. Do the same thing Calgary did to Boston with Hamilton. Offer up a 2nd + 3rd in this draft while stating we will offer sheet him for 4 million and the compensation will be a 2nd in next years draft.

 

[ricky0034]

He was injured for like a month.

which is the reason his PPG is even as high as it is

notice how it's dropping now after he's been back for a while just like it was dropping right before he got injured

 

[Pavels Dog]

i don't think he's the second best player in the league but mcdavid was the best player in the game before he had even topped 50 points.

the money on this deal is fine, the term is not. leafs caved badly on that.

I don't know that I'd agree with that, but McDavid is a much higher caliber of talent than Matthews is so it's not really comparable. McDavid had 70 assists in one season, Matthews has 81 total in his career. There's just such a monumental gap between the two that even if you want to make the case for Matthews as the 2nd best in the world, there's still no way he should be paid so similarly to McDavid.

 

[InjuredChoker]

I don't know that I'd agree with that, but McDavid is a much higher caliber of talent than Matthews is so it's not really comparable. McDavid had 70 assists in one season, Matthews has 81 total in his career. There's just such a monumental gap between the two that even if you want to make the case for Matthews as the 2nd best in the world, there's still no way he should be paid so similarly to McDavid.

i wasn't comparing them as talents. mcdavid is a tier above everyone else. maybe crosby is in the same tier. matthews is in the tier after that. mcdavid was the best player in the game before had had even one of those 70 assists he had that season. he's paid closer to eichel in % of the cap at the time of the signing. that's the real comparable here which made things tricky for the leafs, but eichel signed the max term. i think the term is bigger issue but with that term, the money should've been lower.

 

[ricky0034]

i wasn't comparing them as talents. mcdavid is a tier above everyone else. maybe crosby is in the same tier. matthews is in the tier after that. mcdavid was the best player in the game before had had even one of those 70 assists he had that season. he's paid closer to eichel in % of the cap at the time of the signing. that's the real comparable here which made things tricky for the leafs, but eichel signed the max term. i think the term is bigger issue but with that term, the money should've been lower.

before he had even one of those 70 assists?

McDavid was not better coming off a 48 points in 45 game rookie season than Kane coming off a 106 point season where he won the Art Ross by 17 points or Karlsson coming off leading the league in assists as a Defenseman,that's just absurd

 

[Peiskos]

Yup...Now when you add Matthews/Marner new contracts there won't be much cap space left for Gardiner, and others who are looking for a pay raise.

Also signing Marleau was simply a dumb move as well, and he's got 1 year left that eats up $6.25 million of cap space.

The Leafs will soon be the Blackhawks minus the 3 Cups.

Its very common to see Leafs fans saying its better for Gardiner to walk, Muzzin allows the Leafs to absorb losing Gardiner now, who still needs work defensively at many times.

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

He is the second best player in the league and yes twice as good as Larkin... The gulf between the top 10 league talents and those that fall outside is actually large in terms of the difference in caliber in my opinion. I mean yes we are talking the 2% difference in terms of teams and the margin for error for the whole league but yes there is a big difference between Yzerman and Roenick if you will in my opinion.

Matthews wrist shot is comparable to Sakic and Semin, I actually think it is better in that it is even heavier while carrying the same devastating release. He has dominated the league when healthy which is the only thing that gives me pause on his contract, is his health. But he is underpaid for me. The top 10 talents in the league are actually hurt by the salary cap. With no cap Matthews crests 15 million without much of a thought, the guy is amazing. Really the biggest problem right now for Matthews is Babcock in Toronto, well he now has his contract lined up to outlast him we will see where that goes... His usage is ridiculous for a player with his track record and output despite him being curiously limited in ways no #1C is or should be. He has lead the league in even strength goals since he entered it. Guy is a marquee player and the face of Team USA's 2022 Olympic team for a reason, he is fantastic.

Saying Matthews is the second best player in the league is a real hot take, TZE.

 

[Ezekial]

It's hard for me to call him the second best player in the league yet, but TZE hit the mark completely on his shot. He's perfected that release with his high hand positioning, makes his wrist shot atomic - then the way he changes the angle just adds to it. He's a monster. His health though.

Mitch Marner is my guy, just a complete hockey player who excels at every facet of the game. If it were realistic to get him on the wings I would do almost anything. No chance he isn't a Leaf, though, Dubas will give him the 11 million.

They have the same PPG right now: 1.21

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Saying Matthews is the second best player in the league is a real hot take, TZE.

I believe he is. I get Kucherov and Johhny Hockey in there right now maybe even Marner for those arguing that. But Matthews is a center and centers do have more importance and value for me.

 

[Frk It]

I believe he is. I get Kucherov and Johhny Hockey in there right now maybe even Marner for those arguing that. But Matthews is a center and centers do have more importance and value for me.

He’s probably 3rd for me after Kucherov, but he’s up there. If he was healthy that could well change it. He’s going to score 50+ goals in his sleep and win a boatload of Rocket Richard trophies.

Toews making more than Crosby is ridiculous. Matthews making close to what McDavid does isn’t the worst thing going on in the league as far as contracts go.

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

I believe he is. I get Kucherov and Johhny Hockey in there right now maybe even Marner for those arguing that. But Matthews is a center and centers do have more importance and value for me.

I think it’s clear that McDavid is 1, everyone in the world can agree with that. I think there’s a whole tier of guys after that that can make a case, and Matthews is certainly in there, so it’s not as far-fetched as the folks who were contending that Toews was the second best player in the world when Chicago was regularly winning cups, but I don’t think he’s proven that’s in that top part of that tier yet to be considered number 2. Frankly, I’m not convinced he’s the best player on his team yet.

 

[Ingvar]

Wow, there’s a lot of Matthews fanboys in this thread. He isn’t close to being second best player in this league. He isn’t a player of of Malkin tier, he isn’t even on the level MacKinnon right now - maybe he’ll get better but right now he isn’t and comparisons with McDavid doesn’t make sense at all. I haven’t yet seen anything from him that suggests that he will be better than Stamkos in the long run - and Stamkos’s contract had a similar length but much smaller percentage of cap.

 

[izlez]

There's this guy named Crosby that suddenly isn't even in the discussion for 2nd best player in the world??

 

[Dotter]

There's this guy named Crosby that suddenly isn't even in the discussion for 2nd best player in the world??

Meh, he's old news - like dinosaur old. Bring in the shiny new toy that never hit 70 points and proclaim him 2nd best in the world!!!1111!

#HFhockey

 

[Ezekial]

Meh, he's old news - like dinosaur old. Bring in the shiny new toy that never hit 70 points and proclaim him 2nd best in the world!!!1111!

#HFhockey

He's drifting away from that position for sure. There's 11 players ahead of him in ppg and 7 of them are 25 and under and not named Connor McDavid.

 

[Dotter]

He's drifting away from that position for sure. There's 11 players ahead of him in ppg and 7 of them are 25 and under and not named Connor McDavid.

"he's drifting away from that", LOL! He only played 472 games the last 5 seasons, won back to back cups and has been top 15 in scoring despite all that. He's also played 1,075 games in his career not far off from overtaking Zetterberg. It's going to take one partial season to convince me Crosby is NOT a top player in the WORLD!

While those who proclaim Auston Matthews is a top 3 (or whatever) fail to mention that he was only top 20 one (1) uno time in scoring ever in his CAREERRrr.......... meanwhile Crosby won a Stanley Cup at a younger age than Auston Matthews is now, derp. derp.

I'll give you McDavid is #1, then I'm calling Crosby (while he's not playing with fire, rather playing like a guy that has played more hockey the past 13 years than any other player currently in the NHL) is #2.

Matthews is not in the conversation unless we're talking about generational salary.

 

[Ezekial]

"he's drifting away from that", LOL! He only played 472 games the last 5 seasons, won back to back cups and has been top 15 in scoring despite all that. He's also played 1,075 games in his career not far off from overtaking Zetterberg. It's going to take one partial season to convince me Crosby is NOT a top player in the WORLD!

While those who proclaim Auston Matthews is a top 3 (or whatever) fail to mention that he was only top 20 one (1) uno time in scoring ever in his CAREERRrr.......... meanwhile Crosby won a Stanley Cup at a younger age than Auston Matthews is now, derp. derp.

I'll give you McDavid is #1, then I'm calling Crosby (while he's not playing with fire, rather playing like a guy that has played more hockey the past 13 years than any other player currently in the NHL) is #2.

Matthews is not in the conversation unless we're talking about generational salary.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!


It's not one partial season, this will be the third in a row Kucherov will have been a better producer.

I never claimed anything other than a changing of the guard is happening and he is no longer an island.

 

[Dotter]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!


It's not one partial season, this will be the third in a row Kucherov will have been a better producer.

I never claimed anything other than a changing of the guard is happening and he is no longer an island.

"changing of the guard". With very little time to prove that to be true. That's like saying John NotScott leading NHL scorer in the first 5 games of random season is "changing of the guard". LOL!

Meanwhile, Crosby recently won back to back cups like 20 months ago. "Changing of the guard". derp. derp.

 

[Ezekial]

"changing of the guard". With very little time to prove that to be true. That's like saying John NotScott leading NHL scorer in the first 5 games of random season is "changing of the guard". LOL!

Meanwhile, Crosby recently won back to back cups like 20 months ago. "Changing of the guard". derp. derp.

LOL DERPDERP

k.