Player Discussion Auston Matthews (Captain Edition)

[Suntouchable13]

He still scored 33 goals this season. He is on pace for 15 per 82 games in these playoffs. So I don't buy the "he is hurt" excuse. He could still score a bit more just to match his regular season pace, not asking for more.

 

[Stephen]

He still scored 33 goals this season. He is on pace for 15 per 82 games in these playoffs. So I don't buy the "he is hurt" excuse. He could still score a bit more just to match his regular season pace, not asking for more.

He comes across as more cooked that hurt.

If it’s an injury it looks like a migrating, all body affliction that impacts wrist shot, puck handling, ability to stop and start skate, avoid physical play sometimes and run around looking busy busy like he’s being coached by Nick Robertson. If it’s an injury it’s connected to the legs, back, wrists and brain and cardiovascular.

 

[TonsofPuppies]

anyone kind of feel sorry for Matthews? They put the camera on him after the 1st goal against and based on his facial expression it looks like he feels the pressure. Part of the reason he can't perform has to be the pressure at this point. I think the reputation of not being able to get it done in these kind of situations haunts him. He's not trying to lose to go on vacation like some people suggest.

Not at all. I legitimately dislike Matthews, not only as a hockey player, but as a person. He is a shitty person. Only a shitty person would bend their team over a pool table to suck every last possible cent out of them, ensuring that all the pressure falls on yourself, since the team cannot afford to surround you wth a good supporting cast, then never show up in big moments. To me, it's stealing. Matthews is a thief. Of his employer's money and of the fandom's enjoyment of watching their team play. f*** him to hell in back. I hope he keeps struggling, wherever he goes and that he never wins a thing.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

Not at all. I legitimately dislike Matthews, not only as a hockey player, but as a person. He is a shitty person. Only a shitty person would bend their team over a pool table to suck every last possible cent out of them, ensuring that all the pressure falls on yourself, since the team cannot afford to surround you wth a good supporting cast, then never show up in big moments. To me, it's stealing. Matthews is a thief. Of his employer's money and of the fandom's enjoyment of watching their team play. f*** him to hell in back. I hope he keeps struggling, wherever he goes and that he never wins a thing.

Don't forget him having the audacity to publicly call for help at the trade deadline.

 

[sunstersun]

The man has the tools from god, yet the drive and brain of a chicken.

 

[sunstersun]

1) Get healthy

2) Hit the gym

3) Watch Drais game. Simple, Straight, Direct.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

1) Get healthy

2) Hit the gym

3) Watch Drais game. Simple, Straight, Direct.

He's almost 28, not 12.

 

[Lightsol]

AM, Marner and JT are worth about $35M of salary.

If available, that's 4 guys that can come back costing about $9M each, and maybe one of them is a good goalie that is available.

(I dont follow contracts, so I dont know how many good guys there are out there that can come back)

Stolarz and Woll are both better than pretty much every goalie available in FA this year.

Player UFA's:

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/_/year/2025/position/f/type/ufa

Defenseman UFA's:

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/_/year/2025/position/d/type/ufa

Goalie UFA's:

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/_/year/2025/position/g/type/ufa

 

[Lightsol]

I don’t get why his shot isn’t utilized more on the PP regardless if there’s players in the shooting lane or not… He’s become a floater out there on the PP.

Another frustrating thing with Matthews though at this point, you’d think frustration from not scoring would start to come out at this point and he would take it upon himself to just bomb any pass he gets on the PP and either hope it goes in or it creates a rebound.

They tried a Matthews one-timer setup a few years ago. The issue was, Matthews didn't like to shoot one-timers; he prefers to stop the puck. And with the way he's shooting now, he'd miss the net every time anyway.

The Leafs have needed a point shot next to Marner for the LONGEST time. They have one in OEL; he ran Florida's PP last year. But they refuse to use him on PP1.

 

[Lightsol]

At this point Nylander is a better shooter than AM34. Unfortunately Matthews and Marner are looking him off in the playoffs now just so they can pass the puck to each other and generate nothing.

Huh? Willy's been joining in the passfest for the last few games too.

 

[Lightsol]

On his way out the door, Ryan O' Reilly went to management and told them that Matthews, Marner and Keefe would never win a Stanley Cup.

And then he went to the Nashville management and told them if Marner becomes available, jump on it.

 

[sunstersun]

He's almost 28, not 12.

I mean I've seen players transform their game late in their career. It's not impossible at 28 lol.

 

[kevsh]

If there is some kind of an injury to his wrist/hand that makes it impossible for him shoot straight, then why is he shooting at such volume (or at all)?

He easily leads the team in SOG these playoffs (even more of a margin if you count shots where he missed the net entirely) yet he's scoring on less than 5% of his shots (vs 12% during the season).

Instead he should be looking to Knies (17%) and Marner (14%) at ES, on the PP literally anyone else (even Reilly - shooting 23% himself).

 

[PhantomLeaf]

And then he went to the Nashville management and told them if Marner becomes available, jump on it.

Then we must draw the conclusion that, in ROR's opinion, Matthews+Marner is an unwinnable duo.

I agree with that wholeheartedly.

 

[PhantomLeaf]

If there is some kind of an injury to his wrist/hand that makes it impossible for him shoot straight, then why is he shooting at such volume (or at all)?

He easily leads the team in SOG these playoffs (even more of a margin if you count shots where he missed the net entirely) yet he's scoring on less than 5% of his shots (vs 12% during the season).

Instead he should be looking to Knies (17%) and Marner (14%) at ES, on the PP literally anyone else (even Reilly - shooting 23% himself).

He has sucked in big games his entire career. It was noted as a potential negative before he was drafted. Matthews is not a big game player and never has been.

 

[Stephen]

If there is some kind of an injury to his wrist/hand that makes it impossible for him shoot straight, then why is he shooting at such volume (or at all)?

He easily leads the team in SOG these playoffs (even more of a margin if you count shots where he missed the net entirely) yet he's scoring on less than 5% of his shots (vs 12% during the season).

Instead he should be looking to Knies (17%) and Marner (14%) at ES, on the PP literally anyone else (even Reilly - shooting 23% himself).

He might have a bit of a hand injury from the Ottawa series too but who isn’t banged up to some degree in the playoffs?

Also. If he were legitimately hurt to a serious degree, why would he be taxed on the PK to put his body on the line to absorb more punishment.

The more you look at his struggles the more it’s a confidence issue. He doesn’t really want the responsibility of transporting the puck. Put that in the context of a Michael Jordan. Imagine best in show not wanting the ball. It’s a confidence thing.

 

[647Hockey]

He might have a bit of a hand injury from the Ottawa series too but who isn’t banged up to some degree in the playoffs?

Also. If he were legitimately hurt to a serious degree, why would he be taxed on the PK to put his body on the line to absorb more punishment.

The more you look at his struggles the more it’s a confidence issue. He doesn’t really want the responsibility of transporting the puck. Put that in the context of a Michael Jordan. Imagine best in show not wanting the ball. It’s a confidence thing.

I hear about AM nagging injuries all the time come playoff time. It's always brought up every year. His drop in performance is definitely not injury related, and for sure not annually for almost a decade. Even if he is banged up a bit sometimes so is everyone else.

Matt Tkachuk has barely done any scoring this playoffs aside from the first few TB games. Florida still winning since you can still do other things to win and the team has better support from other players.

It's actually not just an AM thing. Most Leafs playoffs for a decade has most players oddly dropping off hard like they are two different teams. One is rock solid in the reg season. The other turns into a team that looks like is the 16th team scraping into the playoffs on the last day of the season. Jeckyll and Hyde. And the team has gone through 3 coaches in that time. Similar results.

 

[647Hockey]

He still scored 33 goals this season. He is on pace for 15 per 82 games in these playoffs. So I don't buy the "he is hurt" excuse. He could still score a bit more just to match his regular season pace, not asking for more.

Matthews career stats shows he's a 52 goal/82 game regular season scorer. In the playoffs, he's a 31 goal pacer. His overall pts drop off purely due to goals. His assist ratio is almost the same.

Too lazy to do Marner, but no doubt he'll have a big drop too.

Believe it or not, lots of players have their playoff stats drop. Its natural since the playoffs are tougher and scoring dries up a bit as the teams are all pretty good and there's no 25th or 30th ranked teams to beat up on propping up stats.

But there's some players that some reason hold up steady. Why does Aho on Canes and big nose Marchand have extremely consistent reg and playoff performance? Why does Sam Bennett's career playoff stats get BETTER? Even on his low scoring Calgary days, his playoff stats suddenly amp up!

But the Leaf guys all drop off? Just seems they just dont have the heart to take it to the next level. But some guys transition to playoff time fine.

Problem with the core Leaf guys is that they all seem to drop off together which is too much sinking the ship. There's only so much the Bertuzzis, Folignos, Domis etc.... can do. They are signed to be budget support, not expected to lead the team scoring.

And most importantly, there's that stat people bring up that their playoff stats are frontloaded. When games 5-7 come they shrivel up at the worst possible time. They do fine in games 1-4, but when it's time to win the late games to close out a series, they disappear like a bunch of Star Trek guys cloaking away together.

 

[butchersmilk]

Very few teams have won the cup with an elite goal scorer as the team captain/franchise player... and Matthews is showing why....

 

[fahad203]

I mean I've seen players transform their game late in their career. It's not impossible at 28 lol.

At some point he is who he is. Bobby Ryan never changed his game neither did JVR
One of the criticism and why he was traded to the Leafs is that JVR was too soft

I would argue JVR Is tougher than Matthews. Even Bobby Ryan used to throw hits

Rich Nash could have been the next Lindros. All he had to do his frame. Just a simple nudge. Yet he wouled never

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

I mean I've seen players transform their game late in their career. It's not impossible at 28 lol.

It is impossible. He will never have the character that it takes to be a leader.