Auston Matthews Discussion Thread

[CanadasTeam]

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Matthews being featured today March 22 at 6PM.

The Leaf: Blueprint - Auston
[Auston Matthews on his love for the city, his family & his teammates]

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[Stephen]

A lot of speculation and concern about the ongoing wrist injury floating around this week.

 

[Faltorvo]

His shot is gone ,,what ever is going on with him,,his elite shot is gone,,for now

 

[34]

A lot of speculation and concern about the ongoing wrist injury floating around this week.

That is not good for us.

His shot is gone ,,what ever is going on with him,,his elite shot is gone,,for now

He is definitely not himself. Hopefully he works through this. We need him bad, he is our best weapon. Hopefully he is saving it for the playoffs.

 

[CanadasTeam]

His shot is gone ,,what ever is going on with him,,his elite shot is gone,,for now

During OT as he drove the net, he'd normally tuck that up under the crossbar but something's amiss.

 

[Martin Skoula]

If he finds new ways to be dangerous and gets his shot back by the playoffs, I'm not complaining.

 

[CanadasTeam]

If he finds new ways to be dangerous and gets his shot back by the playoffs, I'm not complaining.

I won't complain either but I'm thinking along the lines of what if he can't play in the playoffs.

Fact is during games there's a higher probability of his wrist getting more banged up. I'm just speculating that it would heal completely if rested rather than constantly aggravating it further.

 

[Canadian Finn]

continues to be a league best when he's uninjured.

my brother said to me yesterday "he's not injury prone, he just gets injured a lot".

Oh Kay.

 

[Calderon]

How did AM look against the Sens? Still nursing that hurt wrist? What about Marner? Are they in force to keep smashing the Oilers?

 

[Atomos2]

How did AM look against the Sens? Still nursing that hurt wrist? What about Marner? Are they in force to keep smashing the Oilers?

Not really. Guess it depends if the Oilers’ tender has a vezina-like performance which seems to be the growing trend against the Leafs recently.

 

[the squared circle]

 

[MattySnipes]

 

[MSZ]

 

[PromisedLand]

Love you Papi but freakin Bieber? come on man.....

 

[Sypher04]

So, even with the slump included, Matthews has scored 22 goals in 31 games played so far this season. We've got 22 left as a team. If he plays every game, he's still pacing for 40 goals, which would be the equivalent pace of 58 goals in a regular length season.

 

[shaner82]

His shot is gone ,,what ever is going on with him,,his elite shot is gone,,for now

It's far from gone. That slapper that hit Smith in the catcher was a rocket. Smith just had good positioning and it hit him. That was a typical AM shot. I do agree though that he doesn't have it as consistently right now. It's clearly something that he's fighting. Perhaps there's some pain when he shoots so the body naturally flinches/hesitates in anticipation.

Either way, the shot is still there, we've seen it. He just needs to get it back more consistently, which he will.

What I want to see is him take over games more often. He does it occasionally, but not often enough. I want to see him be more selfish sometimes and just take on the defenders. Sometimes he'll beat them and sometimes he'll give up the puck. That's the nature of the game, but he has the ability to win those battles more often than not. He's a very selfless player though, but every now and then, he gets a fire lit under his ass and he tears through the other team. I want to see it more often

 

[MapleLeafs77]

Last night was the first game where he looked normal again. Thought he played well and could have had 5 goals. He lost his finish a bit.

He will get it again

 

[Stephen]

I think he's back...

 

[robertmac43]

Even with the hurt wrist, he is still such a dynamic player. So lucky to have this kind of talent in town.

 

[IPS]

I hope that half the posts in the GDT aren't about Matthews' wrist anymore. He was ripping the puck last night.

 

[Pinto]

I think he's back...

I dunno, he definitely looks better than he did before we had those two 4-day breaks.

But he’s still trying to set Marner up, and he’s still not playing in his normal spots, and he’s still not consistently using his shot the way he normally would.

 

[123offtheglass]

Get him healthy for the playoffs (not to mention beyond this years playoffs); whatever that takes.

 

[MattySnipes]

 

[Pi]

I dunno, he definitely looks better than he did before we had those two 4-day breaks.

But he’s still trying to set Marner up, and he’s still not playing in his normal spots, and he’s still not consistently using his shot the way he normally would.

Yeah, it's crazy how much of the PP also goes through him. It's no coincidence that the PP starts to suck right at the time Matthews is being picky about shooting.

Even then, he's got so many posts in the last 5-6 games. Think he's really close to feeling 100% there but not quite yet.

 

[GBLeaf]

He's unbelievable isn't he.

Elite skill, his compete is amazing and he's becoming underrated in what he does at the other end of the ice.

Best of all, he is the definition of 'clutch'.

He made the goal in the overtime winner vs Ottawa with some unreal skill.

I desperately hope the Leafs can win a cup with him to give him an incentive to stick around, then extend his deal. He should be a lifer.