Player Discussion Auston Matthews (Captain Edition)

[Racer88]

It's disappointment in wanting to see him compete in that Draisaitl, Kucherov, Mackinnon level of players, armed with the biggest contract in the game and the Leafs captaincy foisted upon him, cheering for the guy to just step it up, hit a brand new level like never before... and he's tied with Brandon Hagel with a 1.13 PPG, while playing significantly fewer games, while trailing Hagel +29 to +4 on the meaningless plus minus while getting so much hype for defensive work.

He is a major disappointment and one more of the reasons this team goes nowhere in the playoffs.
We have seen nothing, zero, nada evidence that he will be any different this post season and in fact we have seen serious regression

 

[Stephen]

This resonates, unfortunately. You can see the tension in his face, hands, body language. I can read this in him, when the going gets tough. For him, it's not just the big game 7s - it's any moment the game gets rough, gets dire, requires a tie goal or winning goal, OTs even.. all of it.
He needs the Sports Psychology department to toughen him up a bit, since he doesn't come by it organically.

Yeah I think you’re right. There’s an emotional component there that doesn’t quite work (even in good seasons).

The Toronto Maple Leafs have always felt most like Matthews team when he scores a big goal and he’s visibly excited, teammates pumped up. Home crowd going nuts. Why he doesn’t carry this exuberance is beyond me.

Where he’s not getting the most mileage is with his “silent assassin” thing where he’s got the poker face up, no sweat reaction to a goal. It’s too bottled up and in the biggest moments it doesn’t serve him or the team or the fanbase that well. Too bottled up and not playing free.