Redder Winger
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- May 4, 2017
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SIMMONS: Are Babcock and Matthews on same page? Maybe, maybe not
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Kypreos: Babcock lost Matthews, there was no trust anymore - Sportsnet.ca
Kypreos gets Babcock screwy ways.
I love it
Matthews yearns to be great, yearns to be a difference maker, and sometimes is held back by Babcock’s egalitarian ways. He doesn’t treat Matthews the way Anze Kopitar gets treated in Los Angeles or Aleksandr Barkov gets treated in Florida or Sean Couturier gets treated in Philadelphia.
They play the most among forwards in the National Hockey League. Matthews ranks 71st among forwards in ice time in the NHL. That isn’t where he sees himself, or where he wants to be. He won’t say anything about it because that’s not who he is.
It’s worse with the man advantage, which is a mystery that cannot be explained.
Matthews is the best five-on-five scorer in hockey. A better scorer than Alex Ovechkin at even strength. Ovechkin plays four minutes and 12 seconds a night with the man advantage, most in the NHL. Matthews plays just over two minutes a night on the Leafs power play — or less power-play time than 177 NHL forwards. That defies hockey logic in almost every conceivable way.
Kypreos: Babcock lost Matthews, there was no trust anymore - Sportsnet.ca
Kypreos gets Babcock screwy ways.