Player Discussion Auston Matthews (Captain Edition)

[Stephen]

No they can't. But they can be managed.

Matthews struggled all year to score. How was it going to change come playoffs? Show me a play where he is not trying, or taking a play off. When that happens then it's time to go after him

He deserves his flowers for being really solid defensively and has shown offensive flashes but I also think there are process issues holding him back from scoring goals that deserve some flack.

When I see Matthew Knies battling for the puck in the corners I think he can do a better job getting into the muck to support. You have a 6’4” 225 pound wrecking ball putting Seth Jones on his back foot and Florida scrambling all over the place. Imagine the second 6’4” 225 guy enters the battle to bulldoze and retrieve that puck instead of waiting around a la Stamkos?

The other thing is his PP work as part of that unit is not good. He’s floating in and out of his marks too much. I think he looks off B level chances and ends up backing and curling off into C level chances. Let it rip. Who cares?

The transition work through the neutral zone is really sluggish and not assertive or urgent. You don’t need to backhand sauce it over to Marner or Nylander if you have a lane to enter the zone. Be mindful of the damn clock!

Sure we are winning now but those things need to be cleaned up and the Jordan Staal work level contributions are good but we need more.

 

[sunstersun]

2 Goals.

1 goal by accident.

 

[WTFMAN99]

2 Goals.

1 goal by accident.

8 pts, 8 gp, +3 58.6% face offs, 17 hits, 13 blocks,

 

[sunstersun]

8 pts, 8 gp, +3 58.6% face offs, 17 hits, 13 blocks,

Thank god for Pats, Knies, and Willy. Marner has been clutch too.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Thank god for Pats, Knies, and Willy. Marner has been clutch too.

Pretty obvious he's injured but the "B" version of Matthews has been really solid.

If he finishes the playoffs a pt/game and we have team success, it's fine.

Team success is the priority over individual success. He has found a way to help contribute to our success.

 

[sunstersun]

Matthews has generated a lot of passenger PP, Marner, and Knies points.

If you look at how he got these points, thats where many people have problems.

Can we really be happy with two missed empty nets, many blown grade A chances, and 2 goals total matching Domi, with one goal being a complete accident/fluke.

 

[sunstersun]

Pretty obvious he's injured but the "B" version of Matthews has been really solid.

If he finishes the playoffs a pt/game and we have team success, it's fine.

Team success is the priority over individual success. He has found a way to help contribute to our success.

When have we ever seen the "A" version of Matthews in the playoffs?

Does it exist or is a myth based on a game or two?

Team success is happening in spite of Matthews, not because.

 

[arso40]

2 Goals.

1 goal by accident.

Which one?

 

[arso40]

He deserves his flowers for being really solid defensively and has shown offensive flashes but I also think there are process issues holding him back from scoring goals that deserve some flack.

When I see Matthew Knies battling for the puck in the corners I think he can do a better job getting into the muck to support. You have a 6’4” 225 pound wrecking ball putting Seth Jones on his back foot and Florida scrambling all over the place. Imagine the second 6’4” 225 guy enters the battle to bulldoze and retrieve that puck instead of waiting around a la Stamkos?

The other thing is his PP work as part of that unit is not good. He’s floating in and out of his marks too much. I think he looks off B level chances and ends up backing and curling off into C level chances. Let it rip. Who cares?

The transition work through the neutral zone is really sluggish and not assertive or urgent. You don’t need to backhand sauce it over to Marner or Nylander if you have a lane to enter the zone. Be mindful of the damn clock!

Sure we are winning now but those things need to be cleaned up and the Jordan Staal work level contributions are good but we need more.

You think Matthews isnt being physical enough ?

 

[Jojalu]

When have we ever seen the "A" version of Matthews in the playoffs?

Does it exist or is a myth based on a game or two?

Team success is happening in spite of Matthews, not because.

Offensively yes.

Overall team play no.

 

[WTFMAN99]

When have we ever seen the "A" version of Matthews in the playoffs?

Does it exist or is a myth based on a game or two?

Team success is happening in spite of Matthews, not because.

I've highlighted the ones where he went pt/game or above pt/game and then the one where he was really well under a pt/game.

That 17-18 playoff was really an outlier - he's been mostly a good to very good playoff performer.

This year he's a good playoff performer.

 

[Funk21]

When you look at stars like McDavid, Drai, Rantanen, etc they all destroy AM regarding impact.

Great that he is playing well defensively
Great that he is close to 60% on the draw
Good that he is blocking shots and laying hits

Those are all things he should be doing.

When he has as many goals as Marner that’s a problem. He isn’t living up to the Captain Tag because if you were he would be leading this team in scoring and making a bigger impact. I’ll say it again but until he puts this team on his back and hates losing more than he loves winning the only way we are making it to the big show is if the sum of the parts around him are enough to make up for his lack of ability to elevate!

 

[tuckerintensity]

Imagine if we had the old Matthews

The old Matthews has only been this far once and was down 0-2. I'll take this one, thanks.

 

[Jojalu]

When you look at stars like McDavid, Drai, Rantanen, etc they all destroy AM regarding impact.

Great that he is playing well defensively
Great that he is close to 60% on the draw
Good that he is blocking shots and laying hits

Those are all things he should be doing.

When he has as many goals as Marner that’s a problem. He isn’t living up to the Captain Tag because if you were he would be leading this team in scoring and making a bigger impact. I’ll say it again but until he puts this team on his back and hates losing more than he loves winning the only way we are making it to the big show is if the sum of the parts around him are enough to make up for his lack of ability to elevate!

What captain is leading their team in scoring outside Mcdavid? I think maybe just Stone

 

[WTFMAN99]

What captain is leading their team in scoring outside Mcdavid? I think maybe just Stone

Mark Stone has 6 pts in 7GP

 

[sunstersun]

Which one?

The PP goal where it was a tip pass that went in.

 

[sunstersun]

View attachment 1032182

I've highlighted the ones where he went pt/game or above pt/game and then the one where he was really well under a pt/game.

That 17-18 playoff was really an outlier - he's been mostly a good to very good playoff performer.

This year he's a good playoff performer.

Very good playoff performer yes.

Drai, Mcdavid, Kuch, Rant, Ovi, Pasta, Crosby, Malkin he is not. Those performances were not A. For a player of his calibre B at best.

If we give Matthews an A for that, what do we give Willy this year? AAA?

 

[Kazparov]

8 pts, 8 gp, +3 58.6% face offs, 17 hits, 13 blocks,

Also eating minutes vs top line forwards and D pairs.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Very good playoff performer yes.

Drai, Mcdavid, Kuch, Rant, Ovi, Pasta, Crosby, Malkin he is not. Those performances were not A. For a player of his calibre B at best.

If we give Matthews an A for that, what do we give Willy this year? AAA?

I don't want to get ahead of myself here at all but if Nylander kept up his post-season, it's Conn Smythe level.

 

[sunstersun]

I don't want to get ahead of myself here at all but if Nylander kept up his post-season, it's Conn Smythe level.

Exactly. That's what's required of a 69 goal/60 goal scorer, Hart/Rocket winner.

I don't want to get stuck in the points trap. The play from the 1st line outside of Knies is no bueno. We're lucky Pats decided to turn into superman.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Exactly. That's what's required of a 69 goal/60 goal scorer, Hart/Rocket winner.

I don't want to get stuck in the points trap. The play from the 1st line outside of Knies is no bueno. We're lucky Pats decided to turn into superman.

It would be nice but he's been playing through something all year, he was at the beginning of the year, he went to Germany and offense kind of dropped off near the end of the season.

He dropped from 69 goals to 33 and I don't think it's because he forgot how to put the puck in the net.

 

[sunstersun]

It would be nice but he's been playing through something all year, he was at the beginning of the year, he went to Germany and offense kind of dropped off near the end of the season.

He dropped from 69 goals to 33 and I don't think it's because he forgot how to put the puck in the net.

My larger point being, even outside of this year, his playoff performances have been a B at best, and nowhere near a top 5 player.

The man has scored 3 goals since the Tampa series........ That's like 18 games...

 

[WTFMAN99]

My larger point being, even outside of this year, his playoff performances have been a B at best, and nowhere near a top 5 player.

The man has scored 3 goals since the Tampa series........ That's like 18 games...

4 pts, 1 goal in 5GP last year - Was he concussed? I believe he was right?

This year 8pts 2 goals, in 8 GP - just injured.

I believe he's gonna have a big game for us in Florida, we'll take 1 or both games.

 

[sunstersun]

4 pts, 1 goal in 5GP last year - Was he concussed? I believe he was right?

This year 8pts 2 goals, in 8 GP - just injured.

I believe he's gonna have a big game for us in Florida, we'll take 1 or both games.

I don't get what happened against Florida 2 years ago.

 

[Gabriel426]

Maybe he is saving it for the later rounds?

We all hope so