The Mighty Auston Matthews

[WilliamNylander]

Ohhh f@(k i laughed too hahaaa ! Dummies the kid

No reporters are safe in this town anymore. Ask a dumb question and get meme’d

 

[Kazparov]

Auston has a long way to go to be as dominate as Mario. A !onggggggg way. Jesus christ.Mario? I hope so but....

People who compare Auston to Mario obviously didn't watch Mario.

 

[Muston Atthews]

After two games(for me) it's obvious Matthews has taken his game to another level.
Top end speed still lacks behind McDavid but everything else is right there.
Can't wait for Feb 27th to see them head to head.

My buddy has seasons so I had to call dibs on that game. Must see TV... or I guess viewing

 

[MorrisSmit89]

Q1

 

[Kelly]

Wait, is he injured or tweaked?

Just heard Babcock say he's questionable for next game.

 

[Daisy Jane]

i wish when people are complaining about Matthews minutes and cite like Browns minutes -
they bring up the fact that Brown penalty kills - and Matthews does not. and if the Leafs only draw 1 powerplay - that would be the disparity in regards to minutes played.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

i wish when people are complaining about Matthews minutes and cite like Browns minutes -
they bring up the fact that Brown penalty kills - and Matthews does not. and if the Leafs only draw 1 powerplay - that would be the disparity in regards to minutes played.

That's a very fair point.

My counter to that, however, is that Babcock needs to adjust. I don't typically like to criticize Babs, he's a good coach. But he had to find a way to get his best players involved in the game, especially when losing. At times this season, it seems he has insisted on rolling 4 lines no matter what. When the team needs goals, and they aren't getting power plays, it couldn't hurt to give out a few extra minutes.

In the Blues game, it reminded me of the Wilson days. Roll 4 lines, keep trying the same breakout that clearly doesn't work, and mix up the lines at the end of the game for one shift before going back to the tried and true.


All that being said, I'm not too worried. It's been a couple bad games, that happens. The bounces will come, the power plays will come. With the talent on that roster, a monkey could coach them into a playoff spot, so I'm confident Babcock will have them looking like real contenders.

 

[Tavares to Marner]

How is Matthews already better than Sundin lmao come off it

He definitely has the ability to and will succeed him eventually

But for now Sundin was and is still better

Sundin had a 120 point season

He could still put up 40 goals and pass the puck better than Matthews has ever shown and he had guys WORSE than hyman, Matthews is overrated af by some of the fellow leaf fans here Jesus Christ

 

[Stephen]

How is Matthews already better than Sundin lmao come off it

He definitely has the ability to and will succeed him eventually

But for now Sundin was and is still better

Sundin had a 120 point season

He could still put up 40 goals and pass the puck better than Matthews has ever shown and he had guys WORSE than hyman, Matthews is overrated af by some of the fellow leaf fans here Jesus Christ

I wonder if the fact that Matthews doesn't seem like a natural playmaker just yet is the stick he uses. He's almost Kessel-like in its whippiness.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Wait, is he injured or tweaked?

Just heard Babcock say he's questionable for next game.

He has played that way for 2 games.

 

[ULF_55]

After 9 games Rantanen and Matthews tied for league lead in points.

Rantanen one heck of a player.

 

[Not My Tempo]

Judging by what CJ and Friedman have been saying recently about how Matthews will be signed shortly after Willy, I feel they probably have the deal already done and are just waiting on Willy to sign first.

 

[authentic]

How is Matthews already better than Sundin lmao come off it

He definitely has the ability to and will succeed him eventually

But for now Sundin was and is still better

Sundin had a 120 point season

He could still put up 40 goals and pass the puck better than Matthews has ever shown and he had guys WORSE than hyman, Matthews is overrated af by some of the fellow leaf fans here Jesus Christ

Sundin had 114 points in 1993 when more than 10 others had over 120. Matthews is and will be better than Sundin, it's close now but won't be once Matthews is thoroughly in his prime.

 

[Goldmember]

My god this guy is good protecting the puck in corners.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Still on top.

 

[Puckstuff]

3 games with out a point

He doesn't create offence very well. He has a lethal shot and he's amazing defensively, but he definitely doesn't create as well as Marner, Backstrom, Crosby, McDavid, Gaudreau, etc.

 

[Stephen]

3 games with out a point

He doesn't create offence very well. He has a lethal shot and he's amazing defensively, but he definitely doesn't create as well as Marner, Backstrom, Crosby, McDavid, Gaudreau, etc.

He obviously does well in a gallop and can battle in heavy tight traffic and a lot of one on one battles, but seems to fade a bit when there's a lot of bodies around and just generally congestion that sort of isolates him, and boxes him out from the play. Hard to explain exactly, but I'm sure everyone knows what I mean.

 

[Buds17]

3 games with out a point

He doesn't create offence very well. He has a lethal shot and he's amazing defensively, but he definitely doesn't create as well as Marner, Backstrom, Crosby, McDavid, Gaudreau, etc.

Still tied for the league points lead if I'm not mistaken, and 16 pts. in 10 games is a great pace. The lows tend to seem lower when the highs are that high.

 

[Pi]

3 games with out a point

He doesn't create offence very well. He has a lethal shot and he's amazing defensively, but he definitely doesn't create as well as Marner, Backstrom, Crosby, McDavid, Gaudreau, etc.

Marner plays with Tavares.
Backstrom with Ovechkin.
Crosby is Crosby and plays with Malkin on ES at times.
McDavid is McDavid and he also plays a ton of minutes more than Matthews + plays with Drai for a lot of those minutes.

Leafs don’t really mix up lines. They roll them straight, win or lose and he doesn’t get the ice time some other players get.

Scheifele played 26 minutes tonight. Leafs could be losing by a goal for 59 minutes of a game and Matthews still wouldn’t go over 20 minutes with Babcock coaching.

Kapanen and Marleau are good but William Nylander would tremendously help Matthews have someone who can give him some extra time and space. He was at 58% possession tonight.

 

[34]

Wait, is he injured or tweaked?

Just heard Babcock say he's questionable for next game.

Sure hope not.

 

[Shayne Corsi]

Matthews definitely hasn't been dominating the play/possession like other big offensive talents. He has that game breaking snipe (and has been really responsible defensively), but he certainly hasn't seemed like a one man offense type elite player this season.

 

[Pi]

Matthews definitely hasn't been dominating the play/possession like other big offensive talents. He has that game breaking snipe (and has been really responsible defensively), but he certainly hasn't seemed like a one man offense type elite player this season.

Matthews was one of our best forward tonight possession wise. His line was great.

 

[Liminality]

Matthews was one of our best forward tonight possession wise. His line was great.

His line was dominating at times. Just holding onto the puck for good stretches.

 

[Shayne Corsi]

Matthews was one of our best forward tonight possession wise. His line was great.

Look at his possession for the season - it's been pretty mediocre. And even tonite--with the excellent possession--the eye test does not coincide with that: he looked more solid than dominant. The Scheifele-Wheeler combo looked a lot scarier to me.

EDIT: I know this is an unpopular opinion, but he looks worse to me this season than last. I really think he's missing Nylander more than people are willing to admit.

 

[Pi]

Look at his possession for the season - it's been pretty mediocre. And even tonite--with the excellent possession--the eye test does not coincide with that: he looked more solid than dominant. The Scheifele-Wheeler combo looked a lot scarier to me.

EDIT: I know this is an unpopular opinion, but he looks worse to me this season than last. I really think he's missing Nylander more than people are willing to admit.

He is definitely missing Nylander.

There is no way Kapanen will continue to put up .5 GPG and play at near a PPG and Marleau isn’t good for more than 40-45 points. He needs Nylander or he will have stretches where he won’t put up anything on the board over a long season.

I honestly don’t care about point totals though. They are nice but at the end of the day I want four playoff series wins in the same season. That’s all.

Don’t care who has how many points, just want them playing sustainable hockey that results in playoff wins.