Matthews ranks 101st among forwards in 5v5 ice time per game

[saffronleaf]

According to NHL.com, Matthews is 14th in ES TOI and 55th in ES TOI per game.

ES = / = 5 vs 5. He's also 58th on Natural Stattrick as of this moment for ES.

 

[Kurtz]

Please read posts more carefully. I posted both total and average, since such a small sample size likely has irregularities.



He ranked 55th when I posted it a few hours ago. Looks like 1 player jumped ahead with tonight's games.



Matthews is in a pretty unique position where he losses ice time to another 1st line center on his team.

I think spreading the ice time around in the regular season is the smart thing to do. Game 7, play him till his legs fall off, yeah, but regular season, nah.

Why do you think that playing a franchise forward, who is 22 and doesn't tire himself on the PK, the ~56th most minutes per game at even strength during regular season (and through the first 6 games of a playoff series) is the smart thing to do?

Has that worked out for us so far?

We made the playoffs by 4 points last season - do you feel that we can coast to the playoffs this year?

 

[IPS]

Why do you think that playing a franchise forward, who is 22 and doesn't tire himself on the PK, the ~56th most minutes per game at even strength during regular season (and through the first 6 games of a playoff series) is the smart thing to do?

Has that worked out for us so far?

We made the playoffs by 4 points last season - does it seem to you that we can coast to the playoffs this year?

Not to mention are we just gonna pretend that hypothetically playing him for more time last year could have possibly contributed to us maybe winning home ice advantage last season and MAYBE standing a better chance against Boston?

I really have to admire the folks still trying to defend Babcock's player usage at this point, they are fighting a losing battle.

You can argue that TOI management in the regular season is great for fatigue management, but we just witnessed in the playoffs that it doesn't mean jack shit because Babcock doesn't deviate from his normal usage.

 

[saffronleaf]

Why do you think that playing a franchise forward, who is 22 and doesn't tire himself on the PK, the ~56th most minutes per game at even strength during regular season (and through the first 6 games of a playoff series) is the smart thing to do?

Has that worked out for us so far?

We made the playoffs by 4 points last season - do you feel that we can coast to the playoffs this year?

And just so we're clear, Natural Stattrick wasn't wrong and I wasn't spreading fake news.

Even Strength ice time is different from 5 vs 5. Even Strength he's now 58th, but 5 v 5 he's now even lower than 101.

 

[Kurtz]

Not to mention are we just gonna pretend that hypothetically playing him for more time last year could have possibly contributed to us maybe winning home ice advantage last season and MAYBE standing a better chance against Boston?

I really have to admire the folks still trying to defend Babcock's player usage at this point, they are fighting a losing battle.

You can argue that TOI management in the regular season is great for fatigue management, but we just witnessed in the playoffs that it doesn't mean jack **** because Babcock doesn't deviate from his normal usage.

The whole idea that we should load manage Matthews to such an extent just doesn't have any justification in the real world. Look at last season - Mackinnon played 82 games and had the 5th most ice time at even strength last year - did he look tired in the playoffs?

Kane, Kopitar, Crosby, etc are always around the top 5-10 forwards in the NHL in 5 on 5 minutes. Do they under-preform in the playoffs as a result?

Ride your franchise players. Just about every coach in the NHL does this but Babs.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Ice time is ironically lower in games you: a) win & b) score in. His 5v5 ice time will go up, Babcock has always played him a fair amount at 5v5.

 

[Rogue]

I personally feel betrayed by Babcock - he turrned out to be not what I was hoping for. He was supposed to be this great mind ... while we just got ego and refusal to adopt to the times. I am so sad now that when I was reading Detroit fans telling us exactly this I was thinking that they are just jealous and that the grapes are sour when you don’t have them anymore.

 

[Kurtz]

I personally feel betrayed by Babcock - he turrned out to be not what I was hoping for. He was supposed to be this great mind ... while we just got ego and refusal to adopt to the times. I am so sad now that when I was reading Detroit fans telling us exactly this I was thinking that they are just jealous and that the grapes are sour when you don’t have them anymore.

Exactly right - Detroit fans described him to us quite accurately, but we didn't believe them.

 

[hector morrison]

The guy is a joke of a coach that learns nothing year to year. How people still defend this guy blows my god damn mind.

No changes. No adjustments. No accountability.

Goofball.

Is that how you really feel? ......I do as well!But it's early,he has new assistants to hopefully coax him into making better decisions. Or maybe they are just hoping Babs is given enough rope to hang himself! One could blame the goalie as the biggest disappointment so far. Talk about not learning/evolving,Freddy is looking very average between the pipes...good goalies don't let easy goals in on the regular! If Fred gets better,everyone calms down!

 

[hector morrison]

Ice time is ironically lower in games you: a) win & b) score in. His 5v5 ice time will go up, Babcock has always played him a fair amount at 5v5.

No he hasn't! Compared to who?What other top centers played less than him?

 

[Dreakmur]

Why do you think that playing a franchise forward, who is 22 and doesn't tire himself on the PK, the ~56th most minutes per game at even strength during regular season (and through the first 6 games of a playoff series) is the smart thing to do?

Has that worked out for us so far?

We made the playoffs by 4 points last season - do you feel that we can coast to the playoffs this year?

I’d be cautious with Matthews due to injury concerns. Hopefully he can stay healthy this year.

Some teams need to ride their players hard. We shouldn’t have to. With the roster we have, there should be no reason to play him that much. He and Tavares take heat off each other and share the load.

 

[hector morrison]

The whole idea that we should load manage Matthews to such an extent just doesn't have any justification in the real world. Look at last season - Mackinnon played 82 games and had the 5th most ice time at even strength last year - did he look tired in the playoffs?

Kane, Kopitar, Crosby, etc are always around the top 5-10 forwards in the NHL in 5 on 5 minutes. Do they under-preform in the playoffs as a result?

Ride your franchise players. Just about every coach in the NHL does this but Babs.

The "Load management"concept is a Load in itself ...of bullshyte! Sure,play him a bit less if yer up a couple in the third,but if I'm coach and we are behind ,he be playin' as a surprise insert on every line until we're up a goal! Tired? I couldn't be stopped at that age...and I was nowhere near the caliber athlete these lads are. Time to let that lad shine his brightest...best goal scorer on the planet but Babs knows better! Get real!

 

[Duke Silver]

For centres, I've got Tavares at 30.2% of our 5v5 time (17th) and Matthews at 29.2% of our 5v5 time (28th).

See for yourself here: Tableau Public

 

[Albatros]

No he hasn't! Compared to who?What other top centers played less than him?

Last season O'Reilly, Zibanejad, Monahan, Point, Malkin, Bäckström, Huberdeau, Bergeron, Stamkos among others. This season so far also for example MacKinnon.

 

[Rogue]

Exactly right - Detroit fans described him to us quite accurately, but we didn't believe them.

Yeah! That is why I feel like a fool. I believe that the peoeple who still support Babcock just don’t want to admit that they were also fooled and are trying to find positives in him, because the truth hurts. But now that I accepted the truth I am starting to feel better!

 

[hector morrison]

I’d be cautious with Matthews due to injury concerns. Hopefully he can stay healthy this year.

Some teams need to ride their players hard. We shouldn’t have to. With the roster we have, there should be no reason to play him that much. He and Tavares take heat off each other and share the load.

If you're not gonna use him to the best of his ability then trade him...now! Don't tell me that 22 year old goal scoring machine can't play 25 minutes a night 3 times a week! I mean if they need to score,he is the best option in the league,so why is he on the bench? Babs gonna lose his job cause he wouldn't play the worlds best goal scorer when needing a goal! That really is stubborn!

 

[hector morrison]

Last season O'Reilly, Zibanejad, Monahan, Point, Malkin, Bäckström, Huberdeau, Bergeron, Stamkos among others. This season so far also for example MacKinnon.

You must mean 5 on 5 or 'even strength' ,because total average time of some of those guys is more....at any rate Auston didn't crack the top 200 last year in average ice time per game. I realize Dmen are part of the reason,but that is unacceptable to have a young lad of the talent level not playing a lot more!

 

[hector morrison]

I personally feel betrayed by Babcock - he turrned out to be not what I was hoping for. He was supposed to be this great mind ... while we just got ego and refusal to adopt to the times. I am so sad now that when I was reading Detroit fans telling us exactly this I was thinking that they are just jealous and that the grapes are sour when you don’t have them anymore.

He is a walkin' Blarney Stone!

 

[Dreakmur]

If you're not gonna use him to the best of his ability then trade him...now! Don't tell me that 22 year old goal scoring machine can't play 25 minutes a night 3 times a week! I mean if they need to score,he is the best option in the league,so why is he on the bench? Babs gonna lose his job cause he wouldn't play the worlds best goal scorer when needing a goal! That really is stubborn!

Well, I think that’s ridiculous. Even if it wasn’t physically detrimental, he’s not good enough defensively to command that kind of ice time.

Matthews should dominate the whole ice, but hasn’t yet decided he wants to do that.

 

[Mickey Marner]

No he hasn't! Compared to who?What other top centers played less than him?

Matthews was 13th (12th if you consider Draisaitl a winger) in 5v5 ice-time per game among centers over 2017-18 & 2018-19. Malkin, Toews, Kuznetsov, Backstrom, O'Reilly, Eichel & Tavares are some notable names who received fewer minutes per game.

Where Matthews has 'lost' minutes relative to other star centers is the PP.

 

[ToMaLe]

I cant stand that smug face, I cant stand his voice, I can’t stand anything about this joke of a coach. I have watched the Leafs win the cup in 67, and seen a lot of bad coaches since then, but I have never hated any of them until now with this arrogant, stubborn, egotistic clown. The day this POS is fired cant come soon enough.

 

[Hustlr]

So you’re telling me the Leafs 2 expensive lines(actually only top 4), which account for 73% of the forwards cap hit, are only playing less than 60% of our ES time? MATH ADDS UP!!!

Btw, 73% of total ice time would give our top 2 lines 22 minutes each. I didn’t factor in only ES time, seemed pedantry.

edit: I didn’t even factor in Kapanen and Johnsson’s cap hits into the top 6. Our top 6 needs to be playing a butt load more for what they’re getting paid right now. These cap hits aren’t coming, they’re here.

 

[saffronleaf]

Ice time is ironically lower in games you: a) win & b) score in. His 5v5 ice time will go up, Babcock has always played him a fair amount at 5v5.

good thing we haven't won much?

 

[Dugath]

While I agree he may need more ice time, also have to consider they have another line with JT on it that deserves a lot of ice time as well, then you have two other lines and normally only 60 minutes in a game to divide between those lines. May suck but I think they should have built a PK specialist/tough 4th line to play only on the PK and play the top two lines as much as you can, dropping the third line in now and then. But I am not a coach so I am probably wrong.

 

[thewave]

I cant stand that smug face, I cant stand his voice, I can’t stand anything about this joke of a coach. I have watched the Leafs win the cup in 67, and seen a lot of bad coaches since then, but I have never hated any of them until now with this arrogant, stubborn, egotistic clown. The day this POS is fired cant come soon enough.

I've turned on him since the last PO. An amazing team with all these players and the product on ice looks like this? Ouch