Player Discussion Auston Matthews Discussion

[Sypher04]

Simply put, you don’t get to the level Matthews is without being highly highly competitive.

 

[Stephen]

MacKinnon pushing his diet on his teammates is not leadership, it is being a control freak.

I think we could use a little more anti social tendencies in the room cause super friends ain’t cutting it.

 

[WillNy29]

If you view that as a negative then I dunno what to say, especially in comparison to this group


Have you heard about the insane competitiveness between Sid and Nate though? Mac's interview on Spittin Chicklets talked about it. I highly doubt McD and Matthews push each other the way those 2 do

I don't know if they do but people who worked with them or know them said they try to learn off of each other and try things the other does. They're good friends but i think they aim to one up each other. Sid and Nate might actually by psycopaths if not for hockey lol.

I think Matthews has that gear in him i've seen it in spurts (Boston 2019, Tampa Bay last year especially game 4 and game 6 and 2022, game 2 against Boston this year and still taking the body on one leg with the flu in game 7), I think it needs to be more consistent and for that I think he needs a line like the domi-bert or domi-knies with him rather than someone who floats around and defers like Marner. I think when he's driving his line he is an entirely different beast.

 

[hamzarocks]

lmao imagine thinking being out in the second round is some kind of success; they're failures i dont care if its round 1 or 2 or getting swept in the conference final twice like another super star. Matthews is also 3 seasons younger than MacKinnon and could potentially be nominated for Hart this year as the only rocket winner to be nominated for selke in like 50 years.

2019 vs Bosotn Matthews had 5 goals in 7 games and the coach decided Marleau needed the critical minutes in game 7 when Matthews had been cooking the bruins that series not sure you have the right series here. Mackinnon himself has a couple of series where he was kind of average. Matthews had wrist surgery after the habs series but I agree he should have done more. After Tampa last year and game 2 this year he looked primed for a break out and then got some kind of Mono mixed with a knee injury so ill cut him the slack. I think this team is flawed and doesnt play with speed and when it did play with speed Matthews goal scoring caused playoff teams problems (4 goals in 6 games versus Washington, 5 goals in 7 versus Boston, 9 goals in 13 games against Tampa. He's proven he can score in the playoffs and not shy away from playing dirty and hard. I do want to see the team play with a structure that includes puck moving from the backend because we wont generate offense otherwise.

1. Matthews will be a distant 3rd if he gets the hart nomination though most likely goes to Mcdavid

2. Regular season matthews is the 4th or 5th best player on the league since 2021. Not an issue with his regular season play for the most part

3. Matthews has proven without a doubt he CANT score in the playoffs

55 games, 23 goals and 25 assists

Per 82 games:

34 goals and 37 assists

His absurd drop off cone playoffs shows he doesnt have the ability to have sustained dominance vs tougher defensive teams and he hasnt figured out how to counter playoff trap hockey yet

 

[hamzarocks]

We had 5mil sitting on the bench in Brodie. Nichushkin makes 600k more than Bertuzzi and he put up more points in 52 games while being more physical and much better defensively. Probably let’s start with the guys making middle class money giving us trailer park production and then go from there.

Nuke and Towes cost less than Bert + Brodie this year, they’re not even remotely in the same league as players.

Nuke is a lucky case where everything worked for him and he broke out getting a long term cheap deal

Dubas didnt target playera like this while he was here, and went after jarnkroks, kampfs, kerfoots

Treliving is a medicore GM as well so doubt he even knows what high upside guys who can be kept longterm are

Leafs had chances to get Weegar, McCann (let him go), Bennett (didnt deal for him), Marchment (didnt give him an extended look) Schmidt, etc

We kept on being dumb and settling fir cheaper alt/washed up options instead

Bad management decisions dating back to 2017 summer have led to this point

 

[Gabriel426]

Can’t believe people are comparing Mack to AM.
There is no comparison at this point bc Mack is clearly the better player. No doubt I think if AM switches spot with Mack, AM would probably won a Cup. But I am quite certain that having Mack instead of AM on the Leafs means more than ONE round of playoffs victory in 8yrs.

 

[647Hockey]

If Matthews was willing to waive and we could get the same/more value, he should be on the market, his playoff stats are:

1st to 32 g/60 season to post season
10g in last 25 elimination games (70 goal scorer turns into a 30 goal scorer)
0 goals in his 6 game 7s

I'm sorry but for 14 million this doesn't cut it, not even f***ing close.

If it wasnt for a nice lob pass from Domi which lead to the GWG breakaway goal, AM would have zero goals vs Boston. Even David Kampf scored a goal.

 

[JKG33]

Simply put, you don’t get to the level Matthews is without being highly highly competitive.

I mean you can say that about any player that even makes the AHL

Can’t believe people are comparing Mack to AM.
There is no comparison at this point bc Mack is clearly the better player. No doubt I think if AM switches spot with Mack, AM would probably won a Cup. But I am quite certain that having Mack instead of AM on the Leafs means more than ONE round of playoffs victory in 8yrs.

I'm not so sure. Does Matthews sign for a cheap contract like Mac was on when they won the cup?

 

[Squiffy]

Can’t believe people are comparing Mack to AM.
There is no comparison at this point bc Mack is clearly the better player. No doubt I think if AM switches spot with Mack, AM would probably won a Cup. But I am quite certain that having Mack instead of AM on the Leafs means more than ONE round of playoffs victory in 8yrs.

Mack isn’t on a fundamentally flawed roster construction of a team. Guys, it’s not AM. He’s the single greatest asset they have

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

Seriously?

lol he doesn't know what he was sick with? What a joke. The series is over and the NHL is still trying to will viruses out of existence by forbidding anyone to speak of them like they're demonic entities or something.

 

[Sypher04]

I mean you can say that about any player that even makes the AHL


I'm not so sure. Does Matthews sign for a cheap contract like Mac was on when they won the cup?

Mac’s deal was only cheap because he had a slow start to his career

 

[JKG33]

Mac’s deal was only cheap because he had a slow start to his career

Does Colorado win a cup if they have to pay Matthews double what Mac was making? Probably not

 

[Jojalu]

Can’t believe people are comparing Mack to AM.
There is no comparison at this point bc Mack is clearly the better player. No doubt I think if AM switches spot with Mack, AM would probably won a Cup. But I am quite certain that having Mack instead of AM on the Leafs means more than ONE round of playoffs victory in 8yrs.

Mack just flat out has way more speed than Matthews. It allows him to do so much more.

I rewatched game 7 and saw Matthews compete hard along the boards quite a bit. He just doesn't have the ability to blow by guys.

They are just completely different players

 

[Aashir Mallik]

Mack isn’t on a fundamentally flawed roster construction of a team. Guys, it’s not AM. He’s the single greatest asset they have

I mean, Even when Mackinnon was on the rantanen-less and Makar-less Avs, he still dominated when he made the playoffs

Matthews has been over a point per game 2 times in his career.

AM is our greatest asset, it just might be that our asset isn’t that great relative to others

 

[tuckerintensity]

Mac’s deal was only cheap because he had a slow start to his career

You ain't kidding. It took Matthews to January 6 of his second year to equal Mackinnon's goal total from his first three years. Out produced him overall by 34% in the first three years, as well. His next hit isn't cheap, either. Boy got paid, as he should, and took no discounts, as he shouldn't have to.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

You ain't kidding. It took Matthews to January 6 of his second year to equal Mackinnon's goal total from his first three years. Out produced him overall by 34% in the first three years, as well. His next hit isn't cheap, either. Boy got paid, as he should, and took no discounts, as he shouldn't have to.

He took a huge discount. His 8-year contract starting in 2023 is only 100k more per year than McDavid's 2018 8-year deal. Meanwhile, Matthews 4-year contract that starts in 2024 is worth 650k more per year than Mackinnon. Matthews isn't close to Mackinnon's level, and never will be. Non-Leaf God knows what his next cap hit looks like. With leaders like this, who needs opponents?

 

[tuckerintensity]

He took a huge discount. His 8-year contract starting in 2023 is only 100k more per year than McDavid's 2018 8-year deal. Meanwhile, Matthews 4-year contract that starts in 2024 is worth 650k more per year than Mackinnon. Non-Leaf God knows what his next cap hit looks like. With leaders like this, who needs opponents?

Huge discount? Much like Nathan Mackinnon, that's rich.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

Huge discount? Much like Nathan Mackinnon, that's rich.

Yes, huge discount. Time to change the channel to the real teams once in a while,

 

[Maple Leaf]

Does Colorado win a cup if they have to pay Matthews double what Mac was making? Probably not

that is why Leafs gms are dumb

 

[647Hockey]

MacK had a slower start to his career than AM, but NM is clearly better in the playoffs.

MacK had 10 pts in his first playoff year. It took AM till his third playoffs to surpass 10 pts total.

NM has much better goals and pts / game than AM in playoffs even though AM is supposed to be a sniper.

 

[DarkKnight]

Matthews not even top 3 for Hart, surprised.

 

[saffronleaf]

heartless and hartless

 

[Leafidelity]

Matthews not even top 3 for Hart, surprised.

69 goals and a Selke nominated season but no Hart nomination is wild to me.

 

[NVious]

He took a huge discount. His 8-year contract starting in 2023 is only 100k more per year than McDavid's 2018 8-year deal. Meanwhile, Matthews 4-year contract that starts in 2024 is worth 650k more per year than Mackinnon. Matthews isn't close to Mackinnon's level, and never will be. Non-Leaf God knows what his next cap hit looks like. With leaders like this, who needs opponents?

He's such an amazing human being, only getting paid 13.5 million a year, what a thoughtful man.

 

[BraveCanadian]

69 goals and a Selke nominated season but no Hart nomination is wild to me.

The Selke nomination is a big stretch and the Hart finalists show it.

Not surprised Matthews isn’t up for the Hart.. the other three are a whole step up offensively this year as far as driving the play.

People will say but goals.. but apparently the voters don’t care.