Confirmed with Link: Matthews new deal Pt 3

[Willy Stylez]

Wow people turning on Matthews already? Wtf.

 

[taurine330]

Wow people turning on Matthews already? Wtf.

You know this board. One hot take after another.

 

[Leaf4Life]

You know this board. One hot take after another.

You know it's not really a hot take if you're being critical of someone's play for more than half the season lol

 

[Leafblooded]

Word he has not been himself in a while

 

[horner]

Matthews on his ELC -> fantastic player, on mcdavids level, should be the next captain, leaf for life

Now on this overpaid garbage contract he signed people are making a total 360... And I don't disagree.

Never thought he was captain material.
Never thought he was in McDavid's territory.

 

[horner]

Wow people turning on Matthews already? Wtf.

Fans aren't turning on him
But
We see what we see

Tell me honestly what you see.

 

[Bluelines]

Wow people turning on Matthews already? Wtf.

I know right? With fans like these who needs opponents fans hating you?

 

[Bluelines]

Fans aren't turning on him
But
We see what we see

Tell me honestly what you see.

 

[Bluelines]

Word he has not been himself in a while

You don't have to go on word, you can just look at his on ice performance. He's getting points but he does not look like his usual dangerous self.

 

[Nithoniniel]

Matthews hasn't been his best self in a while but some of the takes in here are absolutely ridiculous. I thought he was strong tonight, but ineffective. Normally, he'd get at least two goals on those far post chances and the toe drag into the slot chance among others. He carried the puck well, he kept it under control well in the offensive zone, and had a few backchecks that were really good. His in-zone defense has been spotty at best lately, but you could honestly say the same about Kadri and Tavares as well.

The big difference I see in this game compared to earlier in the season is that he gets absolutely no help, no matter what he does the play will end shortly after. Kapanen doesn't offer much outside the rush lately, and Marleau has been a non-factor. Put Johnsson and Nylander up there, and I bet you'd see Matthews with the space and time to be even better.

 

[SprDaVE]

Matthews hasn't been his best self in a while but some of the takes in here are absolutely ridiculous. I thought he was strong tonight, but ineffective. Normally, he'd get at least two goals on those far post chances and the toe drag into the slot chance among others. He carried the puck well, he kept it under control well in the offensive zone, and had a few backchecks that were really good. His in-zone defense has been spotty at best lately, but you could honestly say the same about Kadri and Tavares as well.

The big difference I see in this game compared to earlier in the season is that he gets absolutely no help, no matter what he does the play will end shortly after. Kapanen doesn't offer much outside the rush lately, and Marleau has been a non-factor. Put Johnsson and Nylander up there, and I bet you'd see Matthews with the space and time to be even better.

Insisting on playing Marleau with Matthews is the worst decision Babcock made, and that's saying something.

Marleau just can't keep up. Sure he's okay around the net and can have some good moments... but his forechecking and legs are gone. I will never understand how Johnsson keeps playing ~10 minutes while Marleau is up there.

People turning on Matthews are pretty pathetic though to be perfectly honest. They are going to swallow a ton of crow very soon.

 

[Nithoniniel]

Insisting on playing Marleau with Matthews is the worst decision Babcock made, and that's saying something.

Marleau just can't keep up. Sure he's okay around the net and can have some good moments... but his forechecking and legs are gone. I will never understand how Johnsson keeps playing ~10 minutes while Marleau is up there.

People turning on Matthews are pretty pathetic though to be perfectly honest. They are going to swallow a ton of crow very soon.

Yeah. I don't think it's a coincidence that this started just as people calmed down about Nylander. I bet that if Matthews goes on a scoring streak soon, people will start harping on someone else. Maybe Marner, who has shown his ability mostly in flashes lately. There's always someone.

As for Marleau, the only time I've really liked him consistently is when he played with Kadri. A bit lower tempo, and a center who doesn't really need him to be creative.

 

[LeafGrief]

Matthews hasn't been his best self in a while but some of the takes in here are absolutely ridiculous. I thought he was strong tonight, but ineffective. Normally, he'd get at least two goals on those far post chances and the toe drag into the slot chance among others. He carried the puck well, he kept it under control well in the offensive zone, and had a few backchecks that were really good. His in-zone defense has been spotty at best lately, but you could honestly say the same about Kadri and Tavares as well.

The big difference I see in this game compared to earlier in the season is that he gets absolutely no help, no matter what he does the play will end shortly after. Kapanen doesn't offer much outside the rush lately, and Marleau has been a non-factor. Put Johnsson and Nylander up there, and I bet you'd see Matthews with the space and time to be even better.

This. This 100%. Thank you.

Last night he was engaged and putting in effort almost the entire night. When he's really off his game he's not carrying the puck and deferring to his linemates. Last night he was carrying the puck in the offensive zone and trying to break it into the high danger areas. Even in Montreal he was trying to carry the puck into shooting positions where he can toe drag for a high quality shot. His defensive effort has been lacking lately, but his backchecking effort was quite strong in the latter half of the game where he came back to strip pucks and turn the other way. There are still a lot more details to iron out there, but I thought it was one of his better games defensively in the last few weeks. I wasn't thrilled with his engagement in the corners, he's not playing particularly high intensity, but he was still winning the battles he should win and was strong with the puck on his stick and defenders on his back.

The biggest problem that I've seen with his line defensively is that they have no breakout. All of our other lines have finally turned the corner and have figured out the breakout with the chip passes from the wall into the middle for a carry-out breakout. The Matthews line has Kapanen sprinting for the far blueline and Marleau... is just kind of there... which means that when Matthews gets possession in a puck battle along the boards he really doesn't have any options. When Tavares and Kadri are winning battles, they're looking up to see Marner and Nylander who can make a clean exit. Matthews doesn't have that luxury and has been trying low-percentage passes that have been getting picked off, which immediately puts the team into scramble mode and can result in an ugly goal against. I'm hoping for Johnsson on that line, but any sort of shuffle would probably be a benefit right now.

I do expect more from Matthews than he has showed lately, I'm honestly an outrageous fanboy, but holy smokes some of these takes are ridiculous.

 

[Trapper]

If a 7 mil Nylander gets criticized then fair is fair.

Again it comes down to not being able to exceed the contract so you expect a certain level of excellence to play up to it.

That being said, I don’t think Matthews can handle the physical aspect as well as we’d like. Yes he has size and can protect the puck with it, but with a back + shoulder he just can’t keep taking it.

The Leafs badly need some blue collar wingers with bite on his line. North/south with in hard and fast. If you want to keep him healthy. If not then just let him get leaned on.

 

[SprDaVE]

If a 7 mil Nylander gets criticized then fair is fair.

Again it comes down to not being able to exceed the contract so you expect a certain level of excellence to play up to it.

That being said, I don’t think Matthews can handle the physical aspect as well as we’d like. Yes he has size and can protect the puck with it, but with a back + shoulder he just can’t keep taking it.

The Leafs badly need some blue collar wingers with bite on his line. North/south with in hard and fast. If you want to keep him healthy. If not then just let him get leaned on.

Or just fast and skilled players that can make plays.

Johnsson, Matthews and Kapanen was a damn good line before Johnsson got injured. Nylander was top notch with Matthews for years.

Maybe it's time to take Marleau out back when the team is healthy, you know? This is where Babcock fails quite a bit.

This is like the Oilers thinking they needed Lucic and Kassian to play with McDavid...

 

[Trapper]

Or just fast and skilled players that can make plays.

Johnsson, Matthews and Kapanen was a damn good line before Johnsson got injured. Nylander was top notch with Matthews for years.

Maybe it's time to take Marleau out back when the team is healthy, you know? This is where Babcock fails quite a bit.

This is like the Oilers thinking they needed Lucic and Kassian to play with McDavid...

Marleau definitely needs to become a heavy forward.
I don’t think Johnsson can keep taking a pounding vs. what I’m looking for.
Where do you get Lucic from?
There’s no skill there. Heavy doesn’t mean lack of skill. You guys need to stop with the Lucic,Kassian,Orr toughness train of thought.
Domi/Gallagher/Marchand/etc. aren’t meeting you in the parking lot if that’s what you want. But they are highly aggressive and disruptive. We don’t have close enough of that.

 

[LeafsLegendAkiBerg]

He's always been streaky and I'm fairly certain he has a nagging issue with his shoulder because he's not putting in goals that he put in before. He's also still a player who is over a PPG, 11th in the league in fact. He looked fine last night too. Didn't score but he was engaged. He definitely needs some new line mates but that's on Babcock.

But holy shit, barring injuries he's a top ten player in the league playing on a team playing on a team that is second in the Atlantic. People need to step away from the ledge. It sounds like some posters here would be happier if we were back to 30th place finishes with Bozak as our top line center. If we're not going 82-0 and Matthews isn't breaking scoring records this fan base will lose their minds.

 

[SprDaVE]

Marleau definitely needs to become a heavy forward.
I don’t think Johnsson can keep taking a pounding vs. what I’m looking for.
Where do you get Lucic from?
There’s no skill there. Heavy doesn’t mean lack of skill. You guys need to stop with the Lucic,Kassian,Orr toughness train of thought.
Domi/Gallagher/Marchand/etc. aren’t meeting you in the parking lot if that’s what you want. But they are highly aggressive and disruptive. We don’t have close enough of that.

Guys like Kapanen and Johnsson do play "heavy" though. Johnsson is a bulldog on the forecheck, same for Kapanen to be honest. Neither shy away from contact at all and are very hard to play against due to their speed and tenacity. I don't understand why you bring up Domi, Gallagher, Marchand, etc when the players we have play just as heavy as them. Marchand is an elite forward . The difference is that they play minutes, Johnsson does not.

That line was damn good before Johnsson went down and then Babcock shuffled it up a little bit and hasn't changed it since Johnsson has been back.

 

[Trapper]

He's always been streaky and I'm fairly certain he has a nagging issue with his shoulder because he's not putting in goals that he put in before. He's also still a player who is over a PPG, 11th in the league in fact. He looked fine last night too. Didn't score but he was engaged. He definitely needs some new line mates but that's on Babcock.

But holy ****, barring injuries he's a top ten player in the league playing on a team playing on a team that is second in the Atlantic. People need to step away from the ledge. It sounds like some posters here would be happier if we were back to 30th place finishes with Bozak as our top line center. If we're not going 82-0 and Matthews isn't breaking scoring records this fan base will lose their minds.

And he needs to be protected.
He’s our 11.6 million dollar center.
I don’t mean protected in terms of Semenko.
I mean protected in terms of linemates that can take and absorb the physical play. While having skill. Blue collar skill.

His health and longevity is highly important to us.

 

[6ix]

As much as Matthews not playing up to par, could their be a more clueless coach then Babcock when formulating lines? He’s trying to mix oil and water and think it will work.

Who’s the playmaker to get Matthews the puck in dangerous areas? Marleau and Kap are shooters as well. Matthews can drive the line, but if he’s carrying the puck all the time defenders will be on him forcing him to dish or take shots that are well defended. Nylander needs to be put back with Matthews period.

We’re coming towards the stretch end of the season, but there’s still enough time to regain that chemistry they built their first two seasons. If we head into the playoffs with a broken PP and an ineffective Matthews line, Leafs are an easy out.

 

[The Man with a Plan]

Fans aren't turning on him
But
We see what we see

Tell me honestly what you see.

I see a bunch of people who can't be grateful for the changes that have been made over the last few years.

I see a bunch of people turning on our franchise player because they think they know better then the pros and like to run around posting about how AM is overpaid and how they could have done a better job or signed him to a cheaper deal from the comfort of their mom's basement.

 

[jimmycarter]

Right now Matthews looks like he can barely handle 5 minutes of ice time. Has to be injury because there is no way he wants Goats 4th line C job.

 

[SprDaVE]

Right now Matthews looks like he can barely handle 5 minutes of ice time. Has to be injury because there is no way he wants Goats 4th line C job.

I don't know why people just keep saying he's injured. If he was injured, he wouldn't be playing. Some great players in this league go through tough stretches all the time. It's going to be okay.

He had a good game last night. He had a couple chances he just missed on. Give him a more effective LW and he's probably going to look better as well.

Matthews might be the only player in this league that gets the "He must be playing injured" when he's having some off games. Then he'll score 5 goals in 3 games and it'll be "Oh man he's so good!"

 

[thewave]

I don't know why people just keep saying he's injured. If he was injured, he wouldn't be playing. Some great players in this league go through tough stretches all the time. It's going to be okay.

He had a good game last night. He had a couple chances he just missed on. Give him a more effective LW and he's probably going to look better as well.

Matthews might be the only player in this league that gets the "He must be playing injured" when he's having some off games. Then he'll score 5 goals in 3 games and it'll be "Oh man he's so good!"

Could be something like soft tissue damage around the ribs. Sprain etc, perhaps now he has a contract he is not forcing himself because of $$$.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Right now Matthews looks like he can barely handle 5 minutes of ice time. Has to be injury because there is no way he wants Goats 4th line C job.