Speculation: Something is wrong with Matthews...

[TonsofPuppies]

I'm not sure what it is, exactly, be it an injury or simply not mentally engaged, but Matthews is nowhere close to the player that he was last year. Some will compare his pace from last year to this year and say that it's roughly on par and thus, nothing to be concerned about, but Matthews was coming off of wrist surgery last year, missed all of training camp, the pre-season and the first few regular season games. It understandably took a bit of time for him to warm up.

This year, he is (presumably) healthy and looks worse than I've ever seen him in his entire career thus far. On pace currently for 35 goals and what stands out to me more than anything is that (unless I'm mistaken), he hasn't scored a single one of his patented wrist shot goals this season. Remember when goals like this were a regular occurrence for him? That shot has been nowhere to be found this year. Just muffins (by his standards) into the goalies chest and more missed nets than I can ever recall him shooting. Something is definitely off.

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[Puckstuff]

For me, he looks like he always does tbh. The difference is his shooting percentage is down from 17.2 % to 9 .1 %. If he had even 2-3 more goals I doubt this thread would be made.

 

[Blanche Blanche]

Let’s see what happens the next 10 games.

We went from fire Keefe, hire trotz, blow it up - 10 days later - We are a team again lol

Let’s see where 34 is in 10 games, before We bring out the worry whiskey.

I’ve noticed he’s a bit more engaging in his 2 way battles. Maybe a bit of an Ovechkin growing pain story.

 

[francis246]

It may be hard to accept but maybe last year was an anomaly? You can’t realistically expect Matthews to sustain that pace year after year. He was scoring at an absurd rate last year, everything was going in. He’s shooting well below his career average this year so this is just a down year. I don’t think we need to panic. It’s very normal.

 

[Anthrax442]

Marner being a bitch, is what's wrong with him.

 

[Burnie97]

Matthews has 14 points in 14 games and 6 goals. If he had 1 more goal (which he can easily catch up to pace wise) he'd be on just over a 40 goal pace for the season.

If he gets 40 + for his entire career no one should really be complaining and he's probably going to do at least that every year.

Some games he looks a bit uninterested sure... but its a long season. Sundin did the same thing sometimes then he'd go have a 3 point night.

The thing is Matthews has a ton of hits, he's back checking... and didn't he just score the only 2 goals when we played Boston so we won 2-1. That shit is way more important and it's how you win in the playoffs.

If he had a 70 point season but Leafs won the cup... no one will give a shit.

 

[DarkKnight]

Nothing is wrong, physically.

 

[Larcos_Unal]

Matthews can't set career highs every year, he's due for regression after being unconscious last year.
40-45 goals would be an amazing year for most players.

One thing's for sure, he ain't catching McDavid

 

[ToneDog]

Matthews can't set career highs every year, he's due for regression after being unconscious last year.
40-45 goals would be an amazing year for most players.

One thing's for sure, he ain't catching McDavid

If he does not put up the numbers to warrant being the highest paid player in the league, does he choose not to resign July 1st if he can't get the contract he wants and defers into the season or worse, chooses to test FA ??

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Let’s see what happens the next 10 games.

We went from fire Keefe, hire trotz, blow it up - 10 days later - We are a team again lol

Let’s see where 34 is in 10 games, before We bring out the worry whiskey.

I’ve noticed he’s a bit more engaging in his 2 way battles. Maybe a bit of an Ovechkin growing pain story.

Personally I still want to fire Keefe and hire Trotz

 

[666]

Here's my conspiracy theory. He's planning on signing a $112M contract next summer and avoiding injury until then

 

[francis246]

If he does not put up the numbers to warrant being the highest paid player in the league, does he choose not to resign July 1st if he can't get the contract he wants and defers into the season or worse, chooses to test FA ??

He’s getting whatever contract he wants in Toronto. Unless the team chooses to go in a completely different direction and he’ll be traded but I don’t see that happening.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

He just doesn't have the accuracy on his shot that he typically has when he is really dialed in. It's good that he is still picking up goals in and around the net, his shot will come.

 

[Notsince67]

Marner being a bitch, is what's wrong with him.

How dare he sit on the top of the team for points. Give me more bitches who play through a slump at a 94 pts per season pace.

 

[ToneDog]

He’s getting whatever contract he wants in Toronto. Unless the team chooses to go in a completely different direction and he’ll be traded but I don’t see that happening.

I don't think you can do this and win. If he has a down year I would not mind giving him a 2 or 3 year deal at McD/MacK money with the caveat that if he and the team have success, they will be better able to reward him once JT if off the books.

The trick to trading him is you have to do it before July 1 when his NMC kicks in. After that he'd have to agree to a trade. We do not want to go through a year with Matty's status up in the air.

 

[The Iceman]

Why would he have the pedal to the medal at this point?

Play well, make the playoffs and turn it on!!!

 

[TMLAM34]

I don't think you can do this and win. If he has a down year I would not mind giving him a 2 or 3 year deal at McD/MacK money with the caveat that if he and the team have success, they will be better able to reward him once JT if off the books.

The trick to trading him is you have to do it before July 1 when his NMC kicks in. After that he'd have to agree to a trade. We do not want to go through a year with Matty's status up in the air.

Ideally, him and Marner see the depth circus this team has gone through since they’ve sucked up every penny they could on their current contracts and cash in but also take a little bit of a more team friendly deal.

 

[Fogelhund]

He just doesn't have the accuracy on his shot that he typically has when he is really dialed in. It's good that he is still picking up goals in and around the net, his shot will come.

He’s at 4.x% 5v5 this year. Two goals even strength. That’s a drastic drop from last year.

His play overall seems pretty good, but he certainly isn’t shooting near as well as last year. The accuracy certainly isn’t there. We need it to be there come playoffs first sure.

 

[Apex Predator]

The expectation for Matthews is so high. Anytime he goes through he a 2-4 game drought everyone just assumed somethings wrong with him. I hope it’s not the case but what Matthews did last year could go down as his best season of his careers. That’s okay if it is but we shouldn’t have to hold him to 60 plus goal standard.

Has he been a bit down this year yes he has but I’m not at the point to worry about it since majority of this team has been off.

 

[Warden of the North]

It may be hard to accept but maybe last year was an anomaly? You can’t realistically expect Matthews to sustain that pace year after year. He was scoring at an absurd rate last year, everything was going in. He’s shooting well below his career average this year so this is just a down year. I don’t think we need to panic. It’s very normal.

His shooting percentage is down far below where it should be.

When that comes up, we won't have threads like this

 

[Fogelhund]

The expectation for Matthews is so high. Anytime he goes through he a 2-4 game drought everyone just assumed somethings wrong with him. I hope it’s not the case but what Matthews did last year could go down as his best season of his careers. That’s okay if it is but we shouldn’t have to hold him to 60 plus goal standard.

Has he been a bit down this year yes he has but I’m not at the point to worry about it since majority of this team has been off.

At this point, it isn't a 2-4 game drought. It's been 14 games, 2 5v5 goals, 4.4% shooting (at 5v5). He's on pace for 11-12 5v5 goals for the year. He had 38 last year.

Of course, we should expect that shooting percentage to go up... but we've been expecting that for a while now, and so far it hasn't happened. He's leading the league in shots on goal, at 45, so he's working, but his shot just isn't right... and you can see that. Places where last year he shoots, and you know it's an automatic goal, it becomes an easy save.... His accuracy isn't there right now.

Let's hope that it gets sorted, but for certain, this isn't just a short-term drought... at game 20, if this still is the same... you really have to start to ask questions... to put that into perspective... that's only one more goal, for three total (5v5) by game 20.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

There is nothing wrong with Matty injury wise .. he came into camp out of shape .. it took him 9-10 games to get back into game shape .. and he always has games like last night where he decided to float and take it off completely .. he likely gets a trick next game.. nobody plays all out every night on this team

 

[francis246]

I don't think you can do this and win. If he has a down year I would not mind giving him a 2 or 3 year deal at McD/MacK money with the caveat that if he and the team have success, they will be better able to reward him once JT if off the books.

The trick to trading him is you have to do it before July 1 when his NMC kicks in. After that he'd have to agree to a trade. We do not want to go through a year with Matty's status up in the air.

He’s a franchise Center and with the cap going up close to 10 million. If Matthews adds on 2-4 million on his AAV I don’t think that shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll have Knies (hopefully), Robertson, Steeves, Holmberg on ELC’s. I personally think he’ll be at 13 or 14 mill.

Tbh in two years I think the team is going to do a reset much like they did in 2016. Graduate a bunch of young players to play with the core.

 

[tom leafers]

Ive noticed most of his goals have been in close or garbage goals. the snipes and lethal shot will come back

 

[NinjaKick]

early season jitters, he'll still score 50+