Player Discussion Auston Matthews Discussion

[Arzak]

Being streaky does not mean you are disengaged.

It's kind of silly that people post that the Leafs players are always disengaged everytime they don't put up points.

Nylander would be the only one who seems to check out now and again, but even that is overblown.

Matthews does a tonne of little things night in/night out when he is struggling to find the back of the net.

I agree with the bolded, but in my opinion, he is streaky and at times disengaged. I never said the two equals.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Keon himself said the best team doesn’t always win the Cup.

"Best" is a nebulous concept and can change from week to week. It's never been about being the best, it's about winning the Stanley Cup.

 

[ACC1224]

Being streaky does not mean you are disengaged.

It's kind of silly that people post that the Leafs players are always disengaged everytime they don't put up points.

Nylander would be the only one who seems to check out now and again, but even that is overblown.

Matthews does a tonne of little things night in/night out when he is struggling to find the back of the net.

Good point.
They all check out at times, Marner the least followed by Matthews and Nylander.
The first two out distance Nylander by a bit.

 

[Confucius]

"Best" is a nebulous concept and can change from week to week. It's never been about being the best, it's about winning the Stanley Cup.

Hahaha well there is league champions and playoff champions (Stanley Cup). My own feeling is league champions prove the better team. Although Stanley Cup does earn more respect and is more desired. Maybe as you say because teams can go all out over a shorter period of time. As a comparison who is the best runner in the world. The majority say the 100 meter Champ. Personally I think it’s the marathoner. Difference of opinion again maybe? lol!

I see how it is, indeed easy for fans to downplay league champions after all after a month or two the majority of the fans see it won’t be their team, so who cares. I get it.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Hahaha well there is league champions and playoff champions (Stanley Cup). My own feeling is league champions prove the better team. Although Stanley Cup does earn more respect and is more desired. Maybe as you say because teams can go all out over a shorter period of time. As a comparison who is the best runner in the world. The majority say the 100 meter Champ. Personally I think it’s the marathoner. Difference of opinion again maybe? lol!

I see how it is, indeed easy for fans to downplay league champions after all after a month or two the majority of the fans see it won’t be their team, so who cares. I get it.

I know how you feel but like I said, there is no such thing as "best". You say it's the Presidents trophy but that's not what the players care about so how does it make sense to say that whoever gets something almost nobody cares about is the "best"? Also, rosters change during the season, sometimes they change a lot so it's not even the same guys playing all season so which team/roster is best? If it's a thing for you and you want to say that the Presidents Trophy is it, go right ahead, nobody can prove you wrong, just like you can't prove you're right. The reality is that there is no "best", there is the Presidents Trophy which hardly anyone cares about, and there is the Stanley Cup which almost everyone cares about and that's that.

Many fans know before the season even begins that they have no shot at the cup so that's pretty similar. It's not a matter of "downplaying" anything, the "league champions" just isn't even in the conversation to begin with. It's an afterthought that you and maybe 18 other people in the world care about. There's been times when the President Trohpy is up for grabs with just a game or two left in the season and the coaches are resting their best players for the playoffs, that should tell you how little people care about "league champions". Another thing that should tell you something is that the Presidents Trophy didn't even exist until about 40. Nobody cares, period.

 

[Confucius]

I know how you feel but like I said, there is no such thing as "best". You say it's the Presidents trophy but that's not what the players care about so how does it make sense to say that whoever gets something almost nobody cares about is the "best"? Also, rosters change during the season, sometimes they change a lot so it's not even the same guys playing all season so which team/roster is best? If it's a thing for you and you want to say that the Presidents Trophy is it, go right ahead, nobody can prove you wrong, just like you can't prove you're right. The reality is that there is no "best", there is the Presidents Trophy which hardly anyone cares about, and there is the Stanley Cup which almost everyone cares about and that's that.

Many fans know before the season even begins that they have no shot at the cup so that's pretty similar. It's not a matter of "downplaying" anything, the "league champions" just isn't even in the conversation to begin with. It's an afterthought that you and maybe 18 other people in the world care about. There's been times when the President Trohpy is up for grabs with just a game or two left in the season and the coaches are resting their best players for the playoffs, that should tell you how little people care about "league champions". Another thing that should tell you something is that the Presidents Trophy didn't even exist until about 40. Nobody cares, period.

I watch the regular season for 7 months 82 games. I hope my team wins more than any other. When it appears they won’t, I continue watching hoping the players do well so at least I can take pride in we had a rocket winner, or a hart winner or an art ross winner maybe see a once in a lifetime game etc. At season’s end I focus on playoffs until my team loses, once eliminated it’s done I’ve only invested a few weeks on them and I don’t really care who wins. So the Cup doesn’t mean much to me at the end of the day.

If I didn’t care about winning the regular season, I wouldn’t watch, seriously why would I? Why would I get down after a loss or feel good after a win if it didn’t matter? If I only cared about playoffs I’d tune in when they started. I do that for basketball and baseball. I don’t even watch football probably because Toronto doesn’t have a team. So It all really comes down to where I’ve invested more time in that matters the most.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I watch the regular season for 7 months 82 games. I hope my team wins more than any other. When it appears they won’t, I continue watching hoping the players do well so at least I can take pride in we had a rocket winner, or a hart winner or an art ross winner maybe see a once in a lifetime game etc. At season’s end I focus on playoffs until my team loses, once eliminated it’s done I’ve only invested a few weeks on them and I don’t really care who wins. So the Cup doesn’t mean much to me at the end of the day.

If I didn’t care about winning the regular season, I wouldn’t watch, seriously why would I? Why would I get down after a loss or feel good after a win if it didn’t matter? If I only cared about playoffs I’d tune in when they started. I do that for basketball and baseball. I don’t even watch football probably because Toronto doesn’t have a team. So It all really comes down to where I’ve invested more time in that matters the most.

IMO every game matters. But whatever, if you think it matters only when you can win the title that's fine. To each his own.

 

[Deebo]

The regular season matters when they lose.

 

[Jojalu]

Interesting that there are only 9 active players that have ever scored 50 goals in the NHL.

Only 4 have multiple

Ovie 9
Drai 3
Matthews/Stamkos 2

I guess Hyman and Reinhart will soon make it 11. Possibly Kuch and Mack make it 13

 

[Mickey Marner]

Interesting that there are only 9 active players that have ever scored 50 goals in the NHL.

Only 4 have multiple

Ovie 9
Drai 3
Matthews/Stamkos 2

I guess Hyman and Reinhart will soon make it 11. Possibly Kuch and Mack make it 13

Pastrnak needs 6 more to join the multiple 50 goal club as well.

 

[Leaf Rocket]

 

[Confucius]

View attachment 840415

If we add 40 + goals there is only one man left standing

 

[pdson]

View attachment 840415

Really wow I could of swore I read on here he was lazy and didn't work hard ?

 

[authentic]

Interesting that there are only 9 active players that have ever scored 50 goals in the NHL.

Only 4 have multiple

Ovie 9
Drai 3
Matthews/Stamkos 2

I guess Hyman and Reinhart will soon make it 11. Possibly Kuch and Mack make it 13

Matthews has 3 seasons where he would’ve hit 50 before game 65

View attachment 840415

Add 40 goals and Matthews is the only one

 

[saffronleaf]

luckily managed to maintain his lead over hyman for now. but hyman will take over soon enough.

 

[keonsbitterness]

luckily managed to maintain his lead over hyman for now. but hyman will take over soon enough.

lol, no he won't.

 

[TIGERCOOL]

luckily managed to maintain his lead over hyman for now. but hyman will take over soon enough.

If Matthews could stand on the goal line while McDavid danced around on the powerplay trying to bounce the puck in off his shin he would have 100 goals this season

 

[ThrowDemTongs]

lol, no he won't.

Hyman is literally that snail that chases you forever and he's really slow but if he touches you you die but you get a bunch of money which makes sense because matthews gets hella bank

 

[Arzak]

"Best" is a nebulous concept and can change from week to week. It's never been about being the best, it's about winning the Stanley Cup.

I'd say the Stanley Cup is won by the best more than any other trophy. You need to win 4x best of 7.

Compare it to Superb owl, best of 1 is much more luck-prone.

 

[Sypher04]

58 goals in 68 games and only 1 into an empty net. 34 is nuts.

On pace for 108 points.

Here’s hoping for a win tonight foremost, but also #59 and #60

 

[Sypher04]

Not that it necessarily overly matters in the grand scheme but unless Matthews gets real hot these last 13 games I think the ship has most likely sailed on any legitimate chance of him winning Hart.

Kucherov - 141 pace
McDavid/MacKinnon - 139 pace
Matthews - 108 pace

Thats a big gap. That said, even despite the point separation I can still see him ending up a finalist for the 3rd time if he hits 70, which could certainly still happen.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

Not that it necessarily overly matters in the grand scheme but unless Matthews gets real hot these last 13 games I think the ship has most likely sailed on any legitimate chance of him winning Hart.

Kucherov - 141 pace
McDavid/MacKinnon - 139 pace
Matthews - 108 pace

Thats a big gap. That said, even despite the point separation I can still see him ending up a finalist for the 3rd time if he hits 70, which could certainly still happen.

Kucherov's IPP is also a whopping 82 compared to Matthews 78.

MacKinnon and McDavid are both around 80. League average for forwards is usually somewhere around 70. I think it's gone up the last few years as scoring has increased, so maybe to 72ish.

Either way, you can easily see who is more important to their team in terms of point production.

 

[Boxscore]

If Matthews didn't score another point this season and ended up with 58g and 91pts... but was key in getting the Leafs to the Cup Finals, his season would be considered a massive success. But, if he goes bananas in the next 3 weeks and ends up with 70g and 105pts... but the Leafs get bounced in 6 games in the 1st round, his season would be considered a massive failure.

It's literally "deep playoff run or bust" for Matthews and co. this year. What he does the rest of the regular season is 100% irrelevant. He already put up beefy numbers and will lead the NHL is goals.

 

[Stephen]

If Matthews didn't score another point this season and ended up with 58g and 91pts... but was key in getting the Leafs to the Cup Finals, his season would be considered a massive success. But, if he goes bananas in the next 3 weeks and ends up with 70g and 105pts... but the Leafs get bounced in 6 games in the 1st round, his season would be considered a massive failure.

It's literally "deep playoff run or bust" for Matthews and co. this year. What he does the rest of the regular season is 100% irrelevant. He already put up beefy numbers and will lead the NHL is goals.

Ideally we get the 70 goals, 100 plus points and a deep playoff run from Matthews and the Leafs... cause it's good to have it all. Not like we're forced to choose anything here. And in fact, if he's scoring 70 and hitting 100 points it'll mean he has more momentum going into the playoffs than hitting an incredible cold streak to stop where he is now.

 

[Boxscore]

Ideally we get the 70 goals, 100 plus points and a deep playoff run from Matthews and the Leafs... cause it's good to have it all. Not like we're forced to choose anything here. And in fact, if he's scoring 70 and hitting 100 points it'll mean he has more momentum going into the playoffs than hitting an incredible cold streak to stop where he is now.

Agreed. In actuality, we wouldn't want him getting zero points from here out. My point was more in regards to his current stats -- if someone told us heading into the season that Matthews would get 58g and 91pts plus carry us into the Cup, we'd all be gaga. But if they told us he'd get 70g and 105pts but we'd get nuked in the 1st round, we'd likely be apoplectic.

But, sure, considering he's already got the good stats, we don't want him to dry up heading into the playoffs.