Matthews wins 3rd Rocket in 4 seasons

[Oscar The Grouch]

Truly excited to see what he does in the playoffs this year I think he is going to be scoring a goal a game

Did you start following the NHL this season?

lol

 

[GaboriklessWild]

Then comes the third first-round exit in four years

 

[golfortennis1]

Honestly, Stamkos doesn't get enough respect these days period. I watched a highlight video yesterday showing all 100 of Kucherov's assists and, even if he's not as dynamic as he once was overall, Stamkos still has an absolutely disgusting one-time bomb from the slot.

40 goals this season for the seventh time in his career which is more 40 goal seasons than Jagr or Yzerman among others.

Was reading this thread and thinking Crosby should be getting some love on this thread. Nearly 600 goals while piling up 1,000 assists is pretty compelling, but then checking the list of goals scored, Stamkos isn't too far behind Crosby with 3 fewer seasons(although Crosby did miss a number of games). Considering the era they have played in, the goal scoring from both guys is quite impressive, for different reasons.

 

[Jeremy2020]

He's gotta take it easy in the playoffs so he stays healthy for next regular season.

 

[BallardEra]

Same number of rockets as Ovie at the same point in their careers. Will be interesting to see how they match up from here. Ovie won 7 of the next 8 (and 4 in a row) starting from his 8th season (which Matthews is currently in).

Also interesting that Ovechkin has won 3 Rockets since Matthews has entered the league. (age 32-34 seasons)

Hopefully we see Matthews doing likewise when he gets into the back half of his career after 30.

 

[geebster]

Also interesting that Ovechkin has won 3 Rockets since Matthews has entered the league. (age 32-34 seasons)

Hopefully we see Matthews doing likewise when he gets into the back half of his career after 30.

That's really going to be what dictates where Matthews ends up all time. The remarkable thing about Ovie is he came in as a guy who would score off the rush and he adapted into a guy who could continue to score in an opportunistic way as he got older. Not unlike Jordan developing a midrange game later on that he didn't have in the Air Jordan days.

Auston already is more of an opportunistic scorer than most great scorers. He isn't going to go end to end or go through teams. So maybe he ages we'll. Hard to know really.

 

[BallardEra]

That's really going to be what dictates where Matthews ends up all time. The remarkable thing about Ovie is he came in as a guy who would score off the rush and he adapted into a guy who could continue to score in an opportunistic way as he got older. Not unlike Jordan developing a midrange game later on that he didn't have in the Air Jordan days.

Auston already is more of an opportunistic scorer than most great scorers. He isn't going to go end to end or go through teams. So maybe he ages we'll. Hard to know really.

Yes it’s very hard to know and maybe Matthews doesn’t want to play into his late 30s or even 40 years old.

Another thing to consider is Ovechkin has a team that is into him chasing 895. If Matthews ever leaves Toronto to chase the record, teams would have to accommodate that in some way.

It’s hard to line everything up and another factor is staying healthy and productive into your 30-40 age range years.

 

[Steven Toast]

Hes gotten his 3rd rocket in 4, how about his 2nd round in 8?

 

[Nicko999]

His 6 hat tricks this season are all against non playoff teams:

Anaheim
Philadelphia
Calgary
Buffalo
Minnesota
Montreal

In his last 10 regular season games vs playoff teams he has 6 goals in 10 games. That's basically a 50 goals pace (instead of the 70).

 

[harvestglen]

Nothing wrong with Matthews. He would flourish just fine on many other teams. McDavid and MacKinnon could join the Leafs, and they too would struggle to get somewhere in the playoffs.

 

[Video Nasty]

Nothing wrong with Matthews. He would flourish just fine on many other teams. McDavid and MacKinnon could join the Leafs, and they too would struggle to get somewhere in the playoffs.

His goal scoring takes a 34% hit from the regular season to the playoffs. He’s a main culprit when it comes to their struggles and no one should make excuses for him.

 

[harvestglen]

His goal scoring takes a 34% hit from the regular season to the playoffs. He’s a main culprit when it comes to their struggles and no one should make excuses for him.

I don't think that changes anything I said. Don't be surprised if he winds up with another team later in his career and lights it up. And the Leafs getting different faces in their core - even players who have accomplished things elsewhere - isn't going to magically fix everything for them either.

 

[Video Nasty]

I don't think that changes anything I said. Don't be surprised if he winds up with another team later in his career and lights it up. And the Leafs getting different faces in their core - even players who have accomplished things elsewhere - isn't going to magically fix everything for them either.

Okay, just wanted to make sure that I correctly understood he is above blame for you, no matter how much of a drop off he experiences between the regular season and playoffs.

 

[Menzinger]

His 6 hat tricks this season are all against non playoff teams:

Anaheim
Philadelphia
Calgary
Buffalo
Minnesota
Montreal

In his last 10 regular season games vs playoff teams he has 6 goals in 10 games. That's basically a 50 goals pace (instead of the 70).

One would expect star players to perform better against weaker teams though regardless of who it is..

 

[notbias]

His goal scoring takes a 34% hit from the regular season to the playoffs. He’s a main culprit when it comes to their struggles and no one should make excuses for him.

He has to do more, but the teams he has been playing are generally known for good structure, good goalies, and don't give up a lot of goals.

2017 - Washington #1 GA
2018 - Boston #4 GA
2019 - Boston #3 GA
2020 - Columbus #3 GA
2021 - Montreal #18 GA (Price played amazing)
2022 - Tampa #6 GA
2023 - Tampa #14 GA/Florida #21 GA (Bobrovsky played amazing)
2024 - Boston #5 GA

Some Vezina winners sprinkled in there and good team defenses.

They've played a Vezina winner in every series minus Columbus and the current one (unless Ullmark plays)

I'll say again, he has to do more, but there are no easy teams to score on there.

 

[HFpapi]

Was reading this thread and thinking Crosby should be getting some love on this thread. Nearly 600 goals while piling up 1,000 assists is pretty compelling, but then checking the list of goals scored, Stamkos isn't too far behind Crosby with 3 fewer seasons(although Crosby did miss a number of games). Considering the era they have played in, the goal scoring from both guys is quite impressive, for different reasons.

I have Crosby as the 5th best player of all-time even as of today and even though I think McDavid passes him for that spot within 3-4 years, I have Crosby resting comfortably at #6 for a long. long time.

Stamkos however, I see people still debating if he's even a HOF'er, I see him left out of top 30 players lists, I see people claiming Kucherov had basically no help this season. Stamkos has become the quietest superstar in the league.

 

[golfortennis1]

I have Crosby as the 5th best player of all-time even as of today and even though I think McDavid passes him for that spot within 3-4 years, I have Crosby resting comfortably at #6 for a long. long time.

Stamkos however, I see people still debating if he's even a HOF'er, I see him left out of top 30 players lists, I see people claiming Kucherov had basically no help this season. Stamkos has become the quietest superstar in the league.

McDavid will be an interesting case. Points wise, no question he will blow by Crosby if he keeps things up, and I think some recency bias is at play in terms of the "excitement" McDavid brings that Crosby did as well but it has been some time.

But if McDavid doesn't win a couple of Cups, then what? Crosby is also t-5 in playoff scoring, and he and Jagr are the only non 80s Oilers above 200 points in the playoffs, along with 3 cups. Marcel Dionne had a ton of points, and while I'm not saying McDavid is not better than Dionne, his standing in people's eyes is much lower due to the lack of playoff success. Without playoff success, just how much does McDavid need to do to pass Crosby?

Crosby is most certainly a winner. It remains to be seen how McDavid falls in that regard.

 

[MorgantiDrinksBlood]

The real question is does he drink human life force like Morganti does?

 

[harvestglen]

Okay, just wanted to make sure that I correctly understood he is above blame for you, no matter how much of a drop off he experiences between the regular season and playoffs.

Above blame? Maybe not. But necessarily any different than if any other star player around the league were plopped in his shoes on this team? Much less convinced of that. I don't think there's anything uniquely flawed about Matthews that suggests he is less equipped mentally to get it done compared to his peers. We're attributing far too much credit to an individual to overcome what is a wider issue.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Matthews' first 8 seasons
562GP, 368G - .654G/GP 53.4 Goals per 82

Ovechkin first 8 seasons
601GP 371 G - .617 G/GP 50.6 Goals per 82


Matthews first 8 playoffs
51G 22 G .413 G/GP - 35.7 Goals per 82

Ovechkin first 8 playoffs

58GP 31 G .534 G/GP - 43.8 Goals per 82


Matthews goal production drops off about 35% in the post season while Ov dropped off about 15%.

35% is significant.

 

[Sniper99]

Most people value goals over secondary assists. Just saying.

Most people dont make a big deal about secondary assists. Has been in the game forever but its a big deal now? Move on.

 

[NVious]

Matthews' first 8 seasons
562GP, 368G - .654G/GP 53.4 Goals per 82

Ovechkin first 8 seasons
601GP 371 G - .617 G/GP 50.6 Goals per 82


Matthews first 8 playoffs
51G 22 G .413 G/GP - 35.7 Goals per 82

Ovechkin first 8 playoffs

58GP 31 G .534 G/GP - 43.8 Goals per 82


Matthews goal production drops off about 35% in the post season while Ov dropped off about 15%.

35% is significant.

Through Crosby's first 49 playoff games he had:
27 goals and 63 points

Malkin's first 49 playoff games:
24 goals and 62 points

Mackinnon in his first 50 playoff games
28 goals and 69 points

Rantanen's first 43 games:
18 goals and 52 points

McDavid's first 49 games:
29 goals and 75 points

Drai's first 49 games:
31 goals and 77 points

Patrick Kane's first 49 playoff games:
20 goals and 52 points

Jonathan Toews first 53 playoff games:
17 goals and 48 points

Kucherov's first 45 playoff games:
22 goals and 43 points

Ovechkin through his first 51 playoff games:
30 goals and 59 points

Even lets go back to Yzerman who was a supposed playoff failure before Detroit put it together, his first 50 games:
22 goals and 54 points

Matthews through his first 51 playoff games he has:
22 goals and 44 points

I say this as a Leafs fan, he is a terrific season player and honestly may go down as the greatest goal scorer of all time (statistically), but he has been pathetic in the playoffs. Somehow the Leafs have the most talented team they've had in 60 years and have been outperformed by every previous lesser talented era

 

[TheFinalWord]

His 6 hat tricks this season are all against non playoff teams:

Anaheim
Philadelphia
Calgary
Buffalo
Minnesota
Montreal

In his last 10 regular season games vs playoff teams he has 6 goals in 10 games. That's basically a 50 goals pace (instead of the 70).

So sad when people have to try to cherrypick stats to say the best scorer in hockey (currently) isn't that good.

 

[Suntouchable13]

As a fan, that’s great, but I am sick of it. 0 goals in past 6 playoff games. At some point, you wanna see some playoff success and him leading his team as the highest paid player.

 

[Nicko999]

So sad when people have to try to cherrypick stats to say the best scorer in hockey (currently) isn't that good.

He is the best scorer no doubt about it. I simply question his play in adversity against good teams. Which would explain his playoff performances.