News Article: Auston Matthews - August 1st., Contract Crickets

[Legion34]

You don't need to be connected to the inner circle of the Leafs to listen to what the people who know about Matthews' leadership say.

Who are these people? I follow the team pretty closely and I haven’t heard much at all about his leadership

 

[therealkoho]

Every once in awhile you read something so incredibly dumb it almost seems genius, almost!

So on one of those NHL traderumours or The Hockey Writers kind of site I read thise.

They were talking about trading one of the big boys and the writer wrote this.

"By trading one of the corpse four you only make the team worse, or you can just let the contract expire and let them walk!"

No other fleshing out just that? What a weird sideways kind of insinuation.

Move one of them, get some decent pieces back that adds to the lineup and possibly open up some cap space for the future. Plus you're more than likely ridding yourself of a possible problem.

It's so gauldarn simple it hurts.

 

[tuckerintensity]

Explain how Matthews deals have been mutually beneficial? His last deal was almost max money for short-term. His new deal is rumored to be the same situation. Most superstars commit to 8-year deals so their pricy deal becomes "team friendly" in 3-4 years as the cap rises. Matthews eliminates this concession from the equation by signing for high dollars + short-term so he can keep maximizing his cap %. This prohibits the Leafs from rising their heads above water with him. Nothing about Matthews deals have been team-friendly lol.

Explain how it wasn't. You have continually stated that guys like MacKinnon and McDavid (Ovechkin, Kane, and Crosby, too), did their teams a solid financially but all have signed contracts that at the time made them the highest AAV in the league.

But do you believe a team can win by paying a selfish, money hungry, nonchalant player that cares more about not wearing suits to games than does about actually winning them more than he's worth?

No, I'm willing to pay Auston Matthews less than he'd get if he walked himself to FA next year. Nice rhetoric though.

I'm not worried about the CAD equivalent, I'm saying we can't take every accounting, taxation, net income, personal expenses into consideration for Auston Matthews when we're already ready to pay the guy the biggest contract in the league. Some things will not be to his advantage in Toronto, but most markets won't give him the Toronto advantage either. So at some point you just have to get back to hockey.

There's nothing Toronto will give him that he wouldn't find in any other market. Well, he might find a rational fan base in another market.

Here's something to think about. Since 2015-16 when Toews and Kane's contracts kicked in, there has been a total of 17 players to have an AAV of $10m or more. Of those 17 players, only one has won a cup while signed to that contract, and it just happened this year. Jack Eichel. It took 8 seasons for a team to win a cup with that kind of cap hit on their roster.

If you want to expand it to $9.5m AAV, that list includes 30 players. Only 5 have won the cup on that contract. Eichel, Stone, Ovechkin, Kucherov, Vasilevskiy.

Now I ask again, does Matthews seem like the type of playoff performer who can fit on that list? And even more unlikely, that'd mean the Leafs are winning the cup with 3-4 players on that list.

If given the choice between Matthews at $13-14m, or 2-3 other good players making in the $4-7m range, I'm taking the depth. Those are the teams that win cups.

14.4% of NHL players win the Cup, 5 of 30 is 16.7%.

I'm not sure three Zach Hyman's are gonna give you the same value as one McDavid, but have fun with that option.

 

[Boxscore]

I get the criticism of the way Matthews looks and the way he carries himself. I am straight, white, 50 year old man with grey hair in a position of perceived power by virtue of my profession. I am the thing that everyone in society is now taught to hate. I think the porn star moustache and man purse look ridiculous. But I also know that a person isn't defined, and can't be judged, by what he, she (sigh...or "they") looks like. The truth is that leadership isn't defined by an individual's actual traits, behaviour or characteristics. Whether sports, war, business or anything else, it's defined by who wins. The world doesn't celebrate the leadership qualities of a loser. It's just the way it is.

Yes, Matthews' look and his obsession for attention and odd fashion is indeed weird, but no one would care if he was scoring like Leon Draisiatl in the playoffs. Until he does though, it comes off as immature and bizarre in a Sean Avery / Patrik Laine sort of way.

We still disagree on the leadership aspect though. The 1987 Philadelphia Flyers are one of the most popular teams in the city of Philadelphia and they lost the Cup. But they were a group of scrappy, heart and soul players who took the iconic Oilers machine to Game 7 with a rookie goalie in Ron Hextall and without their best forward, Tim Kerr. To this day, that team is beloved in Philly for their leadership and fight. The same way Wendel Clark walks on water in Toronto. I vehemently disagree about winning vs. losing being the ultimate decider -- there's so much more that goes into the secret sauce we call great leadership.

Let's be brutally honest here. Let's say the results are the same -- 1 playoff round win in 7 years. But, here's what Matthews did (or does):

1. Plays completely out of his mind and scores 9 goals and 12 assists in 12 hard-fought playoff games (which is less than Draisaitl's 32 in 16 playoff games).

2. Skips the Bieber show, and public hoopla, after a disappointing playoff bounce.

3. Openly challenges his teammates to spend the offseason getting in great shape, improving their diets, and coming back next year with a chip on their shoulders.

4. Commits to the Leafs for 8 years and clearly leaves money on the table so they can build a better team around him.

If he does those ^ things do we, or do we not, have a completely different opinion of him as a player, person, and leader? Of course we do. Not only do we have a different opinion of him, but more importantly, he sets the cultural tone for the entire organization the way players like Yzerman and Stevens did for the Wings and Devils.

Only 1 team out of 32 can win a Cup each year. Leadership is not solely defined by overcoming extreme odds and winning a title. It encompasses decision making, courage, selflessness, putting the team first, displaying character, heart, engaging in warfare when necessary, motivating and inspiring your teammates, and ultimately leading by example and producing at an elite level when it matters most. When it comes to leadership, or lack of, Matthews is punching his own ticket, not Lord Stanley of Preston.

 

[therealkoho]

Who are these people? I follow the team pretty closely and I haven’t heard much at all about his leadership

Jason Spezza when defending Auston in regard to his seeming lack of passion, spoke about what he had observed since joining the club and waxed eloquently about his growth and maturity and how he is one of those quiet leaders who's everyday example inspires his teammates.

P.S. this ability often gets him invited to his teammates weddings which is a blessing and a curse. (so many that he can hardly attend any of them, sad!)

 

[JKG33]

Explain how it wasn't. You have continually stated that guys like MacKinnon and McDavid (Ovechkin, Kane, and Crosby, too), did their teams a solid financially but all have signed contracts that at the time made them the highest AAV in the league.

He just explained it. Matthews got the best of both worlds last time around, an overpaid AAV on a contract that walked him right go UFA, without the team getting the benefit of years 6-8 where he might actually be worth more than his cap hit.

No, I'm willing to pay Auston Matthews less than he'd get if he walked himself to FA next year. Nice rhetoric though.

That's cool. I'm not sure what Matthews (or this core in general) have shown that'd make you want to sign up for more years of this shit, but right on.

14.4% of NHL players win the Cup, 5 of 30 is 16.7%.

I'm not sure three Zach Hyman's are gonna give you the same value as one McDavid, but have fun with that option.

Who said anything about McDavid? I'm talking about 2-3 players instead of Matthews.

There's a lot of other players besides Hyman, but three Zach Hyman's would probably go a helluva lot deeper in the playoffs than Matthews would

 

[Legion34]

Jason Spezza when defending Auston in regard to his seeming lack of passion, spoke about what he had observed since joining the club and waxed eloquently about his growth and maturity and how he is one of those quiet leaders who's everyday example inspires his teammates.

P.S. this ability often gets him invited to his teammates weddings which is a blessing and a curse. (so many that he can hardly attend any of them, sad!)

The reason he doesn’t go to weddings is probably because he is trying to tie his salary to us. And has to live there until october

 

[therealkoho]

So pastrnak scores more and is on the ice for around the same goals, his possession metrics are better yet he isn’t better. He had more goals than the core 4 combined. When matthews did it against Boston 2019 we praised him, yet here it’s bad

Hot streaks always seem to happen to our players.

Price, Korpisalo, Merzlekins, Bobrovsky. It has happened very year for the past 4. You keep saying the playoffs are small sample sizes, but the the same incident reoccurs over and over again, at some point you have to recognize the pattern.

Matthews scored 18G in the last 20 games in 2020-2021 so either his injury wasn’t the big or he wasn’t injured at all, then all of a sudden he forgets how to score

Matthews this year did the exact same thing. 12 goals in 20 games, not as bad so maybe the injury is lingering, but then he scores 5 goals in 6 games against vasi. Multiple snipes. One would think he’s learned to score in the playoffs Then florida comes and he can’t score.

We wont even talking about the fact that Matthews is not good enough as a playmaker to make a difference on the score sheets with it.

He just can’t keep up his scoring in the playoffs, it doesn’t matter the goalie, at some point you have to question his ability to score in the playoffs.

So Matthews’s injuries magically show up between game 6 where he scores a one timer and game 1 where he can no longer shoot

Same for the rest of them, they can’t finish. Game 2, in the 3rd period nylander looked like Mcdavid, he did whatever he wanted in the ozone, but he couldn’t score. He set Tavares up multiple times and he couldn’t finish either

Lets not forget that two were hail Mary tips among the 5 he scored against the Bolts, the other 3 though were pretty impressive

 

[Racer88]

How often do you hear fans talk about Dale Hawerchuk's leadership? Or Peter Stastny's leadership? Steve Yzerman was vilified as being nothing more than a fancy points guy who could never win, and then he was surrounded by a bunch of hall of fame players and suddenly he became...a leader. It's all simply stories made up to create a theme because we love to categorize and label, and then ultimately rationalize an outcome.

Military victors are considered great leaders. Those who are defeated, meanwhile, are almost never held up as great leaders, but nothing is ever that black and white. Was Patton better able to inspire his men than Mussolini? I doubt it. It's simply that one guy won, and the other guy lost, so history deems the winner to be a great leader.

That doesn't even account for more nefarious things like predispositions to certain races, ethnicities or genders. Jonathan Toews is held up as the ultimate leader of men, yet on his watch, and quite likely to his knowledge, one of those men was repeatedly taken advantage of without repercussion. Notwithstanding this, Toews' "leadership" qualities don't seem to have taken much of a hit. Meanwhile, Sergei Federov is one of the best players to ever play in the NHL, yet all we ever hear about in Canada when it comes to leadership is Steve Yzerman. It's not hard to understand why.

Auston Matthews hanging out with Justin Bieber in July at worst makes him a terrible judge of music. It doesn't, however, speak to his ability to win a Stanley Cup or his ability to motivate those around him (which presumably is the primary marker of leadership). If he signed a contract on July 1 for 8 years at $8 million per season, every Leafs fan in the world would fawn over him as a great leader, a man who sacrificed "me" for "we". It's all nonsense. Toronto, like any sports team, will win because at some point the collection of players, and the convergence of completely unpredictable circumstances, will produce an outcome. Sam Lafferty won't score an overtime winning goal in a Stanley Cup final game because Austen Matthews is a great leader or a terrible leader. It will be because over a large sample size the athletes who perform the best as a group, and who get the most luck, brought the team to the point where Sam Lafferty is put in a position to get a lucky bounce and a goal.

We have been waiting for 56 years for the convergence of unpredictable circumstances to happen. This group based on their previous playoffs have given no indication that they have what it takes.

 

[Boxscore]

Explain how it wasn't. You have continually stated that guys like MacKinnon and McDavid (Ovechkin, Kane, and Crosby, too), did their teams a solid financially but all have signed contracts that at the time made them the highest AAV in the league.

Their deals were the highest AAV for 2-3 years, but after the cap rises, they are no longer the highest and ultimately become very team-friendly. And since the commitments were for 8 years, the team then has 5 years on the back-end to add better talent and depth. Example: Leon Draisaitl. When he signed his "high AAV" deal years ago, 8.5 mil per was hefty. However, since Tavares signed for 11 mil x 8 years ago, Draisaitl has been making 2.5 mil less than him!

If Draisaitl played hard-ball with the Oilers and only signed short-term deals, they could never get ahead by paying him and McDavid a new max AAV every 4-5 years. Short-term deals are poison pills for teams and Matthews is one of the rare megastars who keeps insisting on them.

Crosby
Malkin
Toews
Kane
Kopitar
Giroux
McDavid
Draisaitl
MacKinnon
Kucherov
Hedman
Stamkos
Hughes
Pastrnak
Tkachuk
Dahlin
Stutzle

... all signed 8-year deals, bypassing a new max AAV in 3-5 years, in order to help their teams contend for years. But when it comes to Matthews, nope, not interested. He wants max cap every 4-5 years. Sorry, that's a selfish, one-sided approach.

 

[Racer88]

Lets not forget that two were hail Mary tips among the 5 he scored against the Bolts, the other 3 though were pretty impressive

If he had any interest in his team mates he would go to the dam weddings but he wants away from them as soon as he possibly can

 

[Clark4Ever]

Their deals were the highest AAV for 2-3 years, but after the cap rises, they are no longer the highest and ultimately become very team-friendly. And since the commitments were for 8 years, the team then has 5 years on the back-end to add better talent and depth. Example: Leon Draisaitl. When he signed his "high AAV" deal years ago, 8.5 mil per was hefty. However, since Tavares signed for 11 mil x 8 years ago, Draisaitl has been making 2.5 mil less than him!

If Draisaitl played hard-ball with the Oilers and only signed short-term deals, they could never get ahead by paying him and McDavid a new max AAV every 4-5 years. Short-term deals are poison pills for teams and Matthews is one of the rare megastars who keeps insisting on them.

Crosby
Malkin
Toews
Kane
Kopitar
Giroux
McDavid
Draisaitl
MacKinnon
Kucherov
Hedman
Stamkos
Hughes
Pastrnak
Tkachuk
Dahlin
Stutzle

... all signed 8-year deals, bypassing a new max AAV in 3-5 years, in order to help their teams contend for years. But when it comes to Matthews, nope, not interested. He wants max cap every 4-5 years. Sorry, that's a selfish, one-sided approach.

His existing contract should have absolutely been signed at close to a maximum term.

This time around, I actually prefer a 5 year term based on his age and durability.

 

[hamzarocks]

Mack's contract is a huge discount according to him though, you have to remember he told the media that, so in reality, he is probably closer to 15 million if he took full value........ 13.5 for Matthews seems fair now

Mack is the better player by a significant margin so Matthews at 4 years should be at 9M

Leafs will be rebuilding soon though so not the end of the world to have a declining Joe Thornton esque player for 4 years

Then one would wonder why you're worried about the CAD equivalent then.


They haven't been, actually. You just don't like them.

Do I believe a team can win by paying a Hart, Lindsay, and Rocket winner less than market value? Yes, I do.

Him not bringing it in the playoffs is just a made up narrative designed to direct the conversation away from the obvious, 13.5 AAV isn't a bad deal for Toronto and is most certainly less than what would be available to him if he walked himself to free agency next year.

Former all those and never winning the Hart+Lindsay again

H.sedin won Ross + Hart and is best known for epic playoff chokes

Matthews is cut from the same cloth

 

[hamzarocks]

We really needed to rebuild

Nylander, Matthews, Marner should have been dealt for top value

Shanahan, keefe needed to be fired

This organization will never win with the current group. The core 4 simply want to maximize their contracts, while being middle of the road players in their respective tiers come playoffs.

 

[Boxscore]

This time around, I actually prefer a 5 year term based on his age and durability.

If you truly feel that way, the Leafs should cut their losses and deal him tonight for a haul. Ovechkin is scoring 50+ goals a year in his late-30s. If Matthews is supposed to be that guy, then locking him up for 8 years is absolutely paramount. If we don't have faith in him being that guy, then we shouldn't be paying him 13.5 a year at all, period.

If you lock him up for 8 years at 12.75 per, in 3 years his deal starts to become a bargain, and even if he begins to see a slight decrease in his production, you have the means to add other high-end players. If you sign him for 5, you need to start negotiating with him again in 4 and his AAV demands will be significantly higher than 12.75 or whatever it is today.

All of that said, if Matthews wants to be a stickler for the 4-5 year deal, so be it. But if the Leafs cave on that and pay him a dollar more than Nate MacKinnon, they are fools acting out of desperation. In fact, I'd stand firm on 12 mil if it's only 4-5 years. Something has to give with this kid.

 

[Racer88]

If you truly feel that way, the Leafs should cut their losses and deal him tonight for a haul. Ovechkin is scoring 50+ goals a year in his late-30s. If Matthews is supposed to be that guy, then locking him up for 8 years is absolutely paramount. If we don't have faith in him being that guy, then we shouldn't be paying him 13.5 a year at all, period.

If you lock him up for 8 years at 12.75 per, in 3 years his deal starts to become a bargain, and even if he begins to see a slight decrease in his production, you have the means to add other high-end players. If you sign him for 5, you need to start negotiating with him again in 4 and his AAV demands will be significantly higher than 12.75 or whatever it is today.

All of that said, if Matthews wants to be a stickler for the 4-5 year deal, so be it. But if the Leafs cave on that and pay him a dollar more than Nate MacKinnon, they are fools acting out of desperation. In fact, I'd stand firm on 12 mil if it's only 4-5 years. Something has to give with this kid.

That’s why they should have traded him before his no trade deal kicked in if he wasn’t willing to agree to a deal in advance and sign on July 1st

 

[Boxscore]

That’s why they should have traded him before his no trade deal kicked in if he wasn’t willing to agree to a deal in advance and sign on July 1st

Depending on the return, it could have been feasible. But the lack of NTC doesn't carry as much weight if Matthews wouldn't negotiate long-term with the team trading for him. So either way, he'd have a massive say in where he ends up, which would hurt his value. The Leafs are in a tough spot and Matthews knows it. So does Nylander and Marner. The team paid these guys well last time, have given them everything they wanted, and have zilch to show for it. This time, it's up to the players to give in a little.

 

[Evilhomer]

Yes, Matthews' look and his obsession for attention and odd fashion is indeed weird, but no one would care if he was scoring like Leon Draisiatl in the playoffs. Until he does though, it comes off as immature and bizarre in a Sean Avery / Patrik Laine sort of way.

We still disagree on the leadership aspect though. The 1987 Philadelphia Flyers are one of the most popular teams in the city of Philadelphia and they lost the Cup. But they were a group of scrappy, heart and soul players who took the iconic Oilers machine to Game 7 with a rookie goalie in Ron Hextall and without their best forward, Tim Kerr. To this day, that team is beloved in Philly for their leadership and fight. The same way Wendel Clark walks on water in Toronto. I vehemently disagree about winning vs. losing being the ultimate decider -- there's so much more that goes into the secret sauce we call great leadership.

Let's be brutally honest here. Let's say the results are the same -- 1 playoff round win in 7 years. But, here's what Matthews did (or does):

1. Plays completely out of his mind and scores 9 goals and 12 assists in 12 hard-fought playoff games (which is less than Draisaitl's 32 in 16 playoff games).

2. Skips the Bieber show, and public hoopla, after a disappointing playoff bounce.

3. Openly challenges his teammates to spend the offseason getting in great shape, improving their diets, and coming back next year with a chip on their shoulders.

4. Commits to the Leafs for 8 years and clearly leaves money on the table so they can build a better team around him.

If he does those ^ things do we, or do we not, have a completely different opinion of him as a player, person, and leader? Of course we do. Not only do we have a different opinion of him, but more importantly, he sets the cultural tone for the entire organization the way players like Yzerman and Stevens did for the Wings and Devils.

Only 1 team out of 32 can win a Cup each year. Leadership is not solely defined by overcoming extreme odds and winning a title. It encompasses decision making, courage, selflessness, putting the team first, displaying character, heart, engaging in warfare when necessary, motivating and inspiring your teammates, and ultimately leading by example and producing at an elite level when it matters most. When it comes to leadership, or lack of, Matthews is punching his own ticket, not Lord Stanley of Preston.

I think what you are describing is commitment, whether to the team or to the development of his personal skills, rather than leadership. That said, no one has any idea how this guy spends most of his days. For all anyone knows, he is shooting 2,000 pucks each day and working out for six hours. Seeing him on a video or Instagram post doesn't tell us what he did for the other 22 hours of his day. Everyone on this forum now thinks that Morgan Rielly is a great leader, but does anyone know if he is shooting 1,000 pucks per day in the off-season?

People are railing on Matthews because they perceive him to be greedy. The one thing no one remembers is that when we look back on our childhood heroes (for me it was Bossy, Gillies, Tonelli and Trottier), we never think of contracts or AAV. I didn't judge Mike Bossy by the clothes that he wore. I judged him by what he did on the ice. I think it is fine to criticize Matthews for some of his performances, but at the end of the day you are talking about one of the best players in the entire NHL. People shouldn't lose sight of that.

 

[PromisedLand]

Yes, it is run by Treliving, he is known for signing good contracts, we are in good hands now.

Given that he wasn't bent over by his RFAs in Gaudreau and Tkachuk thats a good start

 

[baton elevated]

If you truly feel that way, the Leafs should cut their losses and deal him tonight for a haul. Ovechkin is scoring 50+ goals a year in his late-30s. If Matthews is supposed to be that guy, then locking him up for 8 years is absolutely paramount. If we don't have faith in him being that guy, then we shouldn't be paying him 13.5 a year at all, period.

If you lock him up for 8 years at 12.75 per, in 3 years his deal starts to become a bargain, and even if he begins to see a slight decrease in his production, you have the means to add other high-end players. If you sign him for 5, you need to start negotiating with him again in 4 and his AAV demands will be significantly higher than 12.75 or whatever it is today.

All of that said, if Matthews wants to be a stickler for the 4-5 year deal, so be it. But if the Leafs cave on that and pay him a dollar more than Nate MacKinnon, they are fools acting out of desperation. In fact, I'd stand firm on 12 mil if it's only 4-5 years. Something has to give with this kid.

AM will take the short contracts because he will always want to be in the top 2-3 payed players in the league. These 3 or 4 year deals will allow for the salary caps to go up and he signs a new deal with every increase.
Careful AM , stay healthy or that well intentioned plan may come back to bite you in the you know where.

 

[notbias]

Given that he wasn't bent over by his RFAs in Gaudreau and Tkachuk thats a good start

Just everyone else. Good thing we don't have any UFAs to sign........ oh wait

Mack is the better player by a significant margin so Matthews at 4 years should be at 9M

Leafs will be rebuilding soon though so not the end of the world to have a declining Joe Thornton esque player for 4 years

Ridiculous number and a ridiculous player evaluation.

 

[Boxscore]

I think what you are describing is commitment, whether to the team or to the development of his personal skills, rather than leadership. That said, no one has any idea how this guy spends most of his days. For all anyone knows, he is shooting 2,000 pucks each day and working out for six hours. Seeing him on a video or Instagram post doesn't tell us what he did for the other 22 hours of his day. Everyone on this forum now thinks that Morgan Rielly is a great leader, but does anyone know if he is shooting 1,000 pucks per day in the off-season?

People are railing on Matthews because they perceive him to be greedy. The one thing no one remembers is that when we look back on our childhood heroes (for me it was Bossy, Gillies, Tonelli and Trottier), we never think of contracts or AAV. I didn't judge Mike Bossy by the clothes that he wore. I judged him by what he did on the ice. I think it is fine to criticize Matthews for some of his performances, but at the end of the day you are talking about one of the best players in the entire NHL. People shouldn't lose sight of that.

Commitment among other things. Letting Stamkos throw you around in your own barn without a response is lack of courage or heart for me. True on the personal stuff, but the following summer, the guys are complaining about the dress code. So there seems to be a warped sense of priorities.

As for the childhood heroes, point taken. But the big difference is there was no cap. You loved that great Isles squad. But what if there was no Gillies, Tonelli, Persson, Sutter, or Trottier, because Bossy, Smith, and Potvin demanded so much cap hit the Isles couldn't keep the rest? Would that team still have been a dynasty, let alone win a Cup if they couldn't add Goring at the perfect time?

As long as there's a hard cap, players need to sacrifice some dough when they are fortunate enough to be part of a team blessed with multiple high-end players. If you're a lone wolf in a struggling market, sure, ask for the moon. But in this situation, the Leafs core have a chance to be part of something special if they curb their greed.

 

[hamzarocks]

Just everyone else. Good thing we don't have any UFAs to sign........ oh wait



Ridiculous number and a ridiculous player evaluation.

From you no doubt but your a known homer with the constant need to shill for the core/dubas when he was here.

You are part of the select few who gladly bend over backwards to defend the absurd overpayments for our non elite core players without caring for the cost it has on the team's ability to build a winner

In reality though that is what a dude as limited as AM34 should get at 4 years.

We aren't talking a franchise player like Mack

~94 pt pace in a league where the top guy scored 153... matthews is a joke, similar to you claiming your not biased

 

[mapleleaf979]

Leafs will never win with Matthews and Marner wanting to be overpaid. Matthews is the one id trade first if he didnt accept 10 million per and hope Marner the poor guy has to accept 10 million at most on his next deal, or trade him too. Thats how u change the toxic culture. Nylander would take 8 million all day long if those guys took 10. Unfortunately it looks like the toxic money issues will persist, I think Nylander is the one who gets shipped out, when all he wants is a fair deal compared to them. If im Nylander im not taking a discount so u can overpay 2 of my team-mates egos.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

The real issue is that Toronto fans have their impression of what a leader looks like. It looks like Doug Gilmour, Gary Roberts, Tie Domi, Borje Salming, etc. If Austen Matthews grew a big beard in April and didn't have his front teeth, instead of the goofy moustache and clothing he sports, Toronto fans would love him. As others have said, the moment Toronto wins the Cup, Matthews will be held up as the greatest leader in the history of the Leafs.

Nah, that’s just your biased view of what you think Leafs fans like because you can’t understand why people don’t like Matthews as a leader.

Your second point is completely obvious.