Auston Matthews Discussion Thread

[Jimmy Firecracker]

This guy. Jesus Christ.

 

[TopChedder]

Oh man I hope it's nothing too serious. We cannot lose this guy for any length of time. It would be like the Oil losing McDavid.

 

[The Beyonder]

What? He had 12 points?!?!

 

[MattySnipes]

El Magnífico

 

[horner]

A dirty check and we again we don't have anybody to stand up for Mathews.

I have never seen a leaf team with such little fight.

We really need someone other than Simmonds .

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

A dirty check and we again we don't have anybody to stand up for Mathews.

I have never seen a leaf team with such little fight.

We really need someone other than Simmons .

They've been like this since the Tucker/Roberts/Domi days. Seriously, I can remember one incident of a Leaf stepping in and fighting for a teammate in 15 years (Clarkson leaving the bench).

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

A dirty check and we again we don't have anybody to stand up for Mathews.

I have never seen a leaf team with such little fight.

We really need someone other than Simmons .

Simmons is a snake, not sure why you think he would stand up for Matthews. Not much it would help anyways seeing as noone reads him. Or do you mean Simmonds?

 

[supsens]

p60 actually happens on the ice.

we don't have to argue about it, really.

some of us predicted that exactly this would happen if Matthews and Marner were given superstar ice time.

while others predicted that ice time was irrelevant, and that it wouldn't make a difference.

and now we see the real life results of that argument happening on the ice in real time.

Do you honestly think these guys have not gotten better over the last couple of years?

 

[horner]

Simmons is a snake, not sure why you think he would stand up for Matthews. Not much it would help anyways seeing as noone reads him. Or do you mean Simmonds?

Fixed

 

[zeke]

Do you honestly think these guys have not gotten better over the last couple of years?

For some reason they instantly improved the moment Keefe took over.

Lucky Keefe I guess.

 

[Pi]

A dirty check and we again we don't have anybody to stand up for Mathews.

I have never seen a leaf team with such little fight.

We really need someone other than Simmonds .

I don't really understand the outrage. It was not a dirty hit, it might have been a tad bit late but Matthews shot created a rebound that went right by both Matthews and Andersson. He likely didn't want Matthews pouncing on that rebound.

 

[supsens]

For some reason they instantly improved the moment Keefe took over.

Lucky Keefe I guess.

Well most these young guys best years happen at their age. And you bet lucky Keefe he has the best duo in hockey and a second line that would be a top line on a lot of teams.
He has one of the best teams ever handed to a newb.

 

[zeke]

Well most these young guys best years happen at their age. And you bet lucky Keefe he has the best duo in hockey and a second line that would be a top line on a lot of teams.
He has one of the best teams ever handed to a newb.

They didn't look like the best duo or the best team in hockey.

Until the moment Keefe took over.

 

[supsens]

They didn't look like the best duo or the best team in hockey.

Until the moment Keefe took over.

Im fairly sure you can blame any bad players or underachievers on him also?
I guess all the work and effort Mathews and Marner spent a lifetime on means nothing its all Keefe
And if at the age of 19 they were the best duo they would be doninating with noone even close gretzky style

 

[zeke]

Im fairly sure you can blame any bad players or underachievers on him also?
I guess all the work and effort Mathews and Marner spent a lifetime on means nothing its all Keefe
And if at the age of 19 they were the best duo they would be doninating with noone even close gretzky style

Nope.

Matthews and Marner didn't magically improve instantly under Keefe.

But for some strange reason their counting stats did.

It's a real mystery.

 

[lipstickjunkie]

They didn't look like the best duo or the best team in hockey.

Until the moment Keefe took over.

Implying Keefe is the reason Matthews and Marner are awesome is...interesting. Matthews and Marner are awesome because Matthews and Marner were always going to be awesome. ANY coach with half a brain would have tried them together.

 

[supsens]

Nope.

Matthews and Marner didn't magically improve instantly under Keefe.

But for some strange reason their counting stats did.

It's a real mystery.

Ya in your world they have gotten no better from the age of 19 to 23
Mysterious indeed

 

[zeke]

Ya in your world they have gotten no better from the age of 19 to 23
Mysterious indeed

Lucky Keefe that suddenly matthews and marner both became 100+pt players the moment he took over.

 

[zeke]

Implying Keefe is the reason Matthews and Marner are awesome is...interesting. Matthews and Marner are awesome because Matthews and Marner were always going to be awesome. ANY coach with half a brain would have tried them together.

Lol.

I am saying the opposite of this.

All Keefe did was give them the minutes they always deserved but Babcock was too petty to give then.

 

[paulhiggins]

A dirty check and we again we don't have anybody to stand up for Mathews.

I have never seen a leaf team with such little fight.

We really need someone other than Simmonds .

By the time the playoffs are here, there won't be much left. Other teams see this kind of thing and drop their respect and restraint accordingly. It won't be long until Mitch is hobbling. There should have been bigtime payback. You can't fight a war with sharpshooters. You need warriors and guys covering your back. We should have half a dozen nasty guys somewhere in the system and fewer "sharpshooters". I know it was a close game but sometimes you have to prove a point even if it means taking a penalty or suspension. Hopefully the crap referees will even things out right after anyway.

 

[lipstickjunkie]

Lol.

I am saying the opposite of this.

All Keefe did was give them the minutes they always deserved but Babcock was too petty to give then.

Sorry my sarcasm detector must need to be calibrated.

 

[Clark4Ever]

Lol.

I am saying the opposite of this.

All Keefe did was give them the minutes they always deserved but Babcock was too petty to give then.

Reminds me of the Quinn era with Sundin. We had a lot of success under Quinn and he was a great old school coach, but he was also obsessed with balancing the lines. That's how Jonas Hoglund became a staple on Sundin's wing.

 

[zeke]

Reminds me of the Quinn era with Sundin. We had a lot of success under Quinn and he was a great old school coach, but he was also obsessed with balancing the lines. That's how Jonas Hoglund became a staple on Sundin's wing.

to be fair, Quinn didnt have a Tavares and Nylander to play on his 2nd line.

the lines that year:

Hoglund-Sundin-Thomas
Berezin-Korolev-Johnson/Tucker
Kristich-Perreault-Antropov
Valk-Adams-Domi
(King-McCauley)

 

[Stephen]

The way Keefe is using Matthews and Marner heavily is definitely the more satisfying deployment of the player, allowing them to pad the stats, drive the offense, dominate special teams. I think the frustration in previous seasons under Babcock is he wasn’t mirroring what Bruce Cassidy was doing with the Perfection Line.

That said, maybe the way Matthews is being used now wasn’t as feasible in the past? His conditioning seems to have gotten much better with the weight loss over the offseason and he’s moving more effortlessly than ever before. The other factor is he missed a lot of time to injury over the first few seasons so maybe a lighter work load made some sense then?

 

[Stephen]

to be fair, Quinn didnt have a Tavares and Nylander to play on his 2nd line.

the lines that year:

Hoglund-Sundin-Thomas
Berezin-Korolev-Johnson/Tucker
Kristich-Perreault-Antropov
Valk-Adams-Domi
(King-McCauley)

When these discussions come up I wonder if Mats had his peak flattened and prime prolonged. If they used him like they did in 1997 would he have had a more noticeable decline in the later 2000s.