News Article: "Matthews denies rift with Babcock, wants to play with Marner more"

[Liminality]

Why does it have to be a cult that has to support Babcock? There are people who are fine with Babcock and people who are clearly not. Don't need to keep going into childish generalizations if you can't make accurate points.

All I know is Babcock has got this team from last place to 14th place to 6th place even with all of his "stubborn" line up changes. That doesn't seem like a coach who has had the game pass him.

 

[Throw More Waffles]

Given what I saw this post season, Matthews must have been playing so injured that he’ll require off season surgery. That’s the only possible worthy excuse for how he played all seven games.

In fact, I’d still be disappointed if it’s just one surgery. Given the way he played against Boston, I’d expect him announcing 7 or 8 surgeries this offseason.

He payed that poorly.

Anything less than 7-8 surgeries, then I fear he’ll be a Thornton type playoff player. He showed no heart or even effort this postseason. A shit attitude probably won’t change. But he can heal from many surgeries.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

Hopefully next year he plays with Marner, they would be perfect together. It seems odd that they haven't played a lot of time together but I guess Babcock just wanted them to acclimatize to pro game beforehand. I think next season the time will be right and they will be a dynamic force. I love Hyman but maybe Johnsson would be a better choice. That line needs a player as close to Tkachuk as possible, aggressive and able to win puck battles like Hyman but with more offense.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Given what I saw this post season, Matthews must have been playing so injured that he’ll require off season surgery. That’s the only possible worthy excuse for how he played all seven games.

In fact, I’d still be disappointed if it’s just one surgery. Given the way he played against Boston, I’d expect him announcing 7 or 8 surgeries this offseason.

He payed that poorly.

Anything less than 7-8 surgeries, then I fear he’ll be a Thornton type playoff player. He showed no heart or even effort this postseason. A **** attitude probably won’t change. But he can heal from many surgeries.

7 or 8 surgery's? What the heck is this nonsense? You're going to let one series dictate this? Such a ridiculous hot take and recency bias. I mean you're clearly forgetting Matthews' scored 4 goals and 5 point in 6 games in last year's playoff series .. Funny enough 4 goals is more than Thornton ever scored in a single postseason (including some longer runs to the Conference Finals) - he's never scored more than 3 in one postseason run.

 

[Mikeyg]

Did I mention Babcock at all?

And you're implying Nylander is a third liner now?

O_O what?

 

[Superstar]

Lmao so rookie matthews scores 4 goals against a more stacked opponent in 6 games last year, but his inexperience only showed after he gained more experience? Lmao likely story. I literally laughed out loud.

You don't get it, do you? Consistency comes with experience...inconsistency with inexperience...Matthews at 20 years old is anything but experience in the NHL playoffs...and the Capitals are not the Bruins.

 

[Gabriel426]

Maybe by not putting Marner and Matthews together it avoids them from having 90pts season, thus saving 3-5mil in the cap per year.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

7 or 8 surgery's? What the heck is this nonsense? You're going to let one series dictate this? Such a ridiculous hot take and recency bias. I mean you're clearly forgetting Matthews' scored 4 goals and 5 point in 6 games in last year's playoff series .. Funny enough 4 goals is more than Thornton ever scored in a single postseason (including some longer runs to the Conference Finals) - he's never scored more than 3 in one postseason run.

I assume the post was sarcasm. no one can truely expect Matthews to have 7-8 surgery's

 

[stickty111]

I think people are just mad that elitecock is a great coach and didnt play their favorite players more. Funny elitecock relied on the players they wanted, yet still lost. Maybe elitecock is smarter then some fans like to claim, or maybe they just want to hate on a absolutely terrific coach.

 

[Mikeyg]

You don't get it, do you? Consistency comes with experience...inconsistency with inexperience...Matthews at 20 years old is anything but experience in the NHL playoffs...and the Capitals are not the Bruins.

oh my god, all I can do is laugh. Gaining more experience caused our superstar player to be less consistent. Just stop, you got exposed and this isn't looking good for you right now.

 

[pulfordfan]

Mike is a good coach, he elevated players that were doomed to mediocrity, Kadri, Bozak, JVR, Reily, to name a few. Also schooled young new players how to live and play in the NHL Marner, Matthews, Dermott, Nylander to name a few. There's is no sense of entitlement. What he says is live right work hard and good things will happen, it's that simple, If you don't, you don't get the minutes and you won't succeed, again simple. Progression of the team is obvious. He's straight forward, if there is rumblings he addresses it. He knows where the buck stops, he takes full responsibility, if the team needs something you bet he'll tell Shanny and Lou. Doesn't mean he gets want he wants, those move are made by Lou. If the team stayed in the basement after getting high draft picks over the last few year, like a Canadian team with multiple first overall picks ( you know who I'm talking about) I'd be the first to criticize Babs. What he's done is take charge, be a coach and make the leafs a better team. People who don't see this need to take a second look.

 

[gtforepro]

to put together a line that can't be shut down?
ie Bergeron Pasternak and Marchand???

And every time the Leafs iced the puck, out they came. I would be riding Marleau/Matthews/Marner the same way. I mean, it's the 3M line. C'mon. Just do it.

 

[mydnyte]

Given what I saw this post season, Matthews must have been playing so injured that he’ll require off season surgery. That’s the only possible worthy excuse for how he played all seven games.

In fact, I’d still be disappointed if it’s just one surgery. Given the way he played against Boston, I’d expect him announcing 7 or 8 surgeries this offseason.

He payed that poorly.

Anything less than 7-8 surgeries, then I fear he’ll be a Thornton type playoff player. He showed no heart or even effort this postseason. A **** attitude probably won’t change. But he can heal from many surgeries.

When you only need to really worry about one player on a line is ready to defend, and Matthews always had 2-3 guys on him.
Boston won because they stacked their top line with all their best players and we had balance but no dominating line that could compete with them.

 

[Gallagbi]

When you only need to really worry about one player on a line is ready to defend, and Matthews always had 2-3 guys on him.
Boston won because they stacked their top line with all their best players and we had balance but no dominating line that could compete with them.

If we stacked a line it gets shut down by their top unit.

 

[Critical13]

I get the drama around Matthews and Nylander, yes I expected more.

Where the heck were our veterans, though?

JVR?
Kadri?
Bozak?

Each of them impacted maaaaybe 1 game each. Not good enough. Patty Marleau showed up, but I grade those 3 with an F.

 

[mydnyte]

If we stacked a line it gets shut down by their top unit.

My ideal top line would have been
Kadri-Matthews-Marner
And I doubt it would have been shut down, and we still have enough depth to match the other lines.
Sure, I could have said Marleau instead of Kadri, but Kadri, plays better with Matthews and had some extra grit to offset Marchand.

 

[kindalaidback]

no, boston won because they were the better team overall. their defense was better, their special teams were better. they scored 5 out of 12 goals on the pp in game 1 + 2. our pk sucked. our pp was not that good, because the bruins found ways to shut us down.

yes, boston's defense neutralized matthews and nylander. but nonetheless, matthews played badly. he was fumbling pucks all over the ice, his passes got intercepted. people have no issues harping on william for his playoff performance but cannot admit that auston matthews played like sh1t. and it wasn't because he played with brown and hyman later on.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I get the drama around Matthews and Nylander, yes I expected more.

Where the heck were our veterans, though?

JVR?
Kadri?
Bozak?

Each of them impacted maaaaybe 1 game each. Not good enough. Patty Marleau showed up, but I grade those 3 with an F.

Well Kadri was out for 3 but he def. didn't have a good game 7
The other 2 - that's what they do in big games. Although I thought Bozak played fairly well in game 7

 

[Critical13]

no, boston won because they were the better team overall. their defense was better, their special teams were better. they scored 5 out of 12 goals on the pp in game 1 + 2. our pk sucked. our pp was not that good, because the bruins found ways to shut us down.

yes, boston's defense neutralized matthews and nylander. but nonetheless, matthews played badly. he was fumbling pucks all over the ice, his passes got intercepted. people have no issues harping on william for his playoff performance but cannot admit that auston matthews played like sh1t. and it wasn't because he played with brown and hyman later on.

What forum have you been reading? lol Matthews is getting panned quite a bit on HF by Leaf fans.

 

[Bluelines]

Why does it have to be a cult that has to support Babcock? There are people who are fine with Babcock and people who are clearly not. Don't need to keep going into childish generalizations if you can't make accurate points.

All I know is Babcock has got this team from last place to 14th place to 6th place even with all of his "stubborn" line up changes. That doesn't seem like a coach who has had the game pass him.

Great point, I guess the game has passed Quennville, Hitchcock, and so on. One of TB or Boston will be out in about 2 weeks, that must mean that coach is past his due date too?

Babcock is one of the greatest hockey minds in the game to day but with that said he teaches, players "do", he can control Matthews injury, he can't control Andy's injury, he can't get Zaitsev up to speed after he missed a good portion of the season, he can't force Jake to make better decisions in game 7, he can't force Kadri to make better decisions when he loses his temper.

 

[Fogelhund]

no, boston won because they were the better team overall. their defense was better, their special teams were better. they scored 5 out of 12 goals on the pp in game 1 + 2. our pk sucked. our pp was not that good, because the bruins found ways to shut us down.

yes, boston's defense neutralized matthews and nylander. but nonetheless, matthews played badly. he was fumbling pucks all over the ice, his passes got intercepted. people have no issues harping on william for his playoff performance but cannot admit that auston matthews played like sh1t. and it wasn't because he played with brown and hyman later on.

Matthews didn't have a good series. He didn't look like Matthews at all, and subsequently didn't play in the WHC either. Babcock alluded that he hasn't been able to skate like Matthews since the back injury in November. He's mostly played great for us, and this massive over reaction by Leafs Nation (not you in particular), is crazy. No doubt, he's been playing hurt, to what degree, we shall never know.

I have full confidence that come October 2018, we will have the Matthews we know and love back, and he'll lead the team to great things.

BTW, I completely agree that we simply lost to a better team. We came pretty close to taking them out though, even with many players not playing their best.

 

[kindalaidback]

What forum have you been reading? lol Matthews is getting panned quite a bit on HF by Leaf fans.

there are still some of them that believe that he didn't play well because babcock put brown and hyman on his line, and that's the reason he couldn't anything going because they shut him down or something.

 

[Throw More Waffles]

I get the drama around Matthews and Nylander, yes I expected more.

Where the heck were our veterans, though?

JVR?
Kadri?
Bozak?

Each of them impacted maaaaybe 1 game each. Not good enough. Patty Marleau showed up, but I grade those 3 with an F.

Here how you know it’s a REAL big problem.

Those veterans you’re blaming for not showing up still got TWICE as many points as Matthews. Kadri tied Matthews, and he only played 3 freaking games.

Weren’t leaf fans calling Matthews “generational”? There’s just no excuse for how poorly he played. Completely unacceptable.

 

[kindalaidback]

Matthews didn't have a good series. He didn't look like Matthews at all, and subsequently didn't play in the WHC either. Babcock alluded that he hasn't been able to skate like Matthews since the back injury in November. He's mostly played great for us, and this massive over reaction by Leafs Nation (not you in particular), is crazy. No doubt, he's been playing hurt, to what degree, we shall never know.

I have full confidence that come October 2018, we will have the Matthews we know and love back, and he'll lead the team to great things.

BTW, I completely agree that we simply lost to a better team. We came pretty close to taking them out though, even with many players not playing their best.

i agree that he didn't look like the matthews we've known for the past two years (i mean, i've been watching him even longer than that), and i do not care that he didn't have a good series. it happens. especially if he was not able to fully recover from all his injuries. but i do not think he played bad because of hyman and brown on his line, that's all that i was trying to say.

but yeah, he will be fantastic next season, no doubt.

 

[Critical13]

there are still some of them that believe that he didn't play well because babcock put brown and hyman on his line, and that's the reason he couldn't anything going because they shut him down or something.

They are delusional, then. I thought Brown and Hyman both had good series. They had a ton of compete and seemed to push the envelope every shift.