Player Discussion Auston Matthews (Captain Edition)
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Stephen
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- Feb 28, 2002
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What’s really damning of Matthews regression in relation to being glued to Mitch is anyone could look at the Domi, Bertuzzi and Matthews line and see how much of a force Auston was at the end of 2023-24 regular season while Mitch was out. Assertive puck carrier, more dynamic playmaking. Goal scoring. Physicality and chippiness. Headed towards the guy we need you to be. Now he’s got Knies who is an absolute war horse. But Mitch needs to be there and he’s deferring to the scrawniest dude to facilitate and carry the puck?
thewave
Passenger 67
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Tie Domi Esquire
The Passengers That Unite Us All
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You know how it goes right..
3 more years of failure is on the way, and then Matthews' contract expires. At which point he walks for nothing. They're going to make the exact same mistake with Auston that they did with Mitch.
OR
Somebody in charge in that organisation wakes the f* up and actually has some foresight... and stops that from happening again. Hopefully somebody recognises that Matthews is simply not the guy to be captain of this team, and that they should pull off a blockbuster trade NOW while they can still get proper value for him. They can pull in 3 high quality players for him who will actually play in the playoffs, have a good positive attitude and not disrespect their own teammates infront of the media
Otherwise it's going to be the Marner situation all over again in 3 years.
Leafs badly need to move in an entirely new direction. Pull off a monster trade like they did in the early 90s. Take the plunge, surely somebody in that organisation has the guts to do it
9+ years of this same sh* is madness, it's absolute insanity to keep this going. Clean house for f*s sakes
If he’s smart it will help the team build a better group around him and he’ll differentiate himself from the other core guys who took the max they could get. And if somehow they win a cup, Tavares will be on legends row whether he deserves it or not.
Next season put Domi back up with him. Him and Knies should give Matthews a little more room out there and hopefully he’ll play with some edge. The fact that Berube or Treliving couldn’t see this is concerning. My take is until the TDL they were still trying to sign Mitch and didn’t want to piss him off. But again, that’s letting the players dictate team decisions. Berube’s worst move.
Knies in two years. That guy has the stones and confidence to lead a team.
It is but everyone else knows he’s injured so his value is at an all time low. Not sure he brings back that much right now. Hopefully he has a good year next season and he fetches better players in return.
Tbh I think GMs as a whole have a perverse incentive to swing for the fences as opposed to think in 5-10 year plans, so a player like Matthews is always going to be extremely valuable. Eichel got a massive haul and his accomplishments weren't even close to Matthews when he was traded either.
So I think Matthews value would always be insanely high (because GMs can really only think in 2-4 year blocks at best). Anyways nothing wrong with exploring options, he hasn't earned the untouchable status at all for me, too many question marks:
Injury prone
Playoff non performer
Greedy in every way (money and term)
His talent is out of this world though, but maybe he (and a GM could figure this too) would benefit from a fresh start as well.
He might benefit too but the reasons you listed would also give any GM pause to bet big on this guy. He’s paid to be the top player and leader of any team but he’s clearly not and never will be so he needs an alpha dog to play ahead of him but he’d be paid more than the actual alpha dog would be. Doesn’t hurt to test the waters though and I think he might actually waive his NMC to get out of this market if he some say in where he was traded.
Rare Jewel
Patience
I mean, if calling some of them "passengers" isn't calling them out, I don't know what is.
Look, even I, in the wee hours of Sunday night/Monday morning, was thinking, "Maybe it's time to move him." But it's just not real, or is it happening, and likely for good reason.
He was hurt, and it's on him to get healthy and lead this team, and management needs to do a better job building the team around him.
Not a bad strategy and also get some picks back that they can use to give up if they can sign some RFA’s along the way.
Trade him before he breaks Sittlers goal acoring record because that would be a travesty.
You can make that case but he disappears in the playoffs and that counts for more than his individual accomplishments. He doesn’t have the stones to get it done and that’s a real problem if he’s your supposed leader and the top paid player in the league.
True. He never said much of anything. He was all about learning lessons. Knies will make a better captain than either of them. Take the C away from Matthews and wait a season or two and give it to Knies. There’s your leader.
Not a captain. Not even close and that attitude can hurt a team more than elite talent helps it.
Stephen
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Feels like Auston needs to rebuild his credibility in the league as a competitor a lot here, especially if he’s in a post-Mitch situation. Because if we rewind to the Stamkos rag doll incident he’s established himself as a bit of a soft target for anybody to target for abuse. He’s gotta make it hard on people to get close to him and play him hard.
Stephen
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He’s not really a captain. I don’t think he gets the role. Don’t remember which player or Leaf said that the Auston in the room is not the Auston we see in the public as fans in the media. But part of being captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs is you’re also captain of the fanbase to a degree. Pelley had it right to say they need to reconnect that relationship with fans.
I remember that incident and before that the Shane Webber rag doll in the 2021 playoffs and the Konecny incident and … To me he’s never had the balls to compete or push back in tough playoff games and I honestly don’t think he has it in him. In 60+ years of watching the NHL, I’ve never seen anything quite as bad as this looks with Matthews. He can get away with it in today’s NHL but it’s such a bad look especially for his teammates who make 10% of what he does and are expected to put their nuts on the line for him.
