Player Discussion Auston Matthews (Captain Edition)

[647Hockey]

Nathan MacKinnon makes less than our glorious leader. Now there's a win-or-die warrior, recent Stanley Cup winner and League MVP.

We have a silly frat boy as captain.

MacKinnon is also a super dynamic player who can skate, deke, score and pass. He can take the puck from his own end and score.

AM will score lots of goals too. But he needs to be set up by Marner or snipe on a PP. When that doesnt happen he typically does nothing, and isnt a playmaker either so he wont contribute that way too.

Both players have similar reguler season avg pts per year. But NM blow past AM in the playoffs. It's a lot harder in the playoffs to cherry pick goals or waiting for shot from the circle on the PP. Thats when AM dries up, but NM can keep trucking. NM's playoff stats are actually better on avg than his own regular season.

 

[wingman75]

MacKinnon is also a super dynamic player who can skate, deke, score and pass. He can take the puck from his own end and score.

AM will score lots of goals too. But he needs to be set up by Marner or snipe on a PP. When that doesnt happen he typically does nothing, and isnt a playmaker either so he wont contribute that way too.

Both players have similar reguler season avg pts per year. But NM blow past AM in the playoffs. It's a lot harder in the playoffs to cherry pick goals or waiting for shot from the circle on the PP. Thats when AM dries up, but NM can keep trucking. NM's playoff stats are actually better on avg than his own regular season.

Not sure that is true... the current lineup makes it true. When Mitch was out last season, or on another line, forget what was going on, but AM34 was running his own line and it was glorious. He owned the ice. He might not score as many goals without MM, but he is a more complete player imo.

That is why I have always felt each of 34, 16 & 88 need to run their own lines. They are each good enough to do it.

 

[ITM]

Captaincy and a new coach are definitely concurrent learning curves for AM, but I think he'll pull through. You can see it with a number of our forwards in what looks like difficulty handling/reading their d-zone assignments as if they're learning a new system.