Tribute Auston Matthews Discussion Thread II: Record Breaking Edition

[Maplebeasts]

1) there's only one puck, can't work
2) without Hyman there will be no one to get the puck for them
3) without Hyman there will be no one who plays defense on that line
4) if Matthews plays more minutes his points will go down.. because he'll get tired?
5) better to have two mediocre PP units instead of loading up

I've seen some crazy shit on this website.

Point 4 kills me here. Some of the Oiler fans on the main boards LOVE this one and talk like the concept of conditioning is unique to McDrai.

 

[Drytoast]

After his comments post game tonight, I am getting hopeful he may actually re-up here.

Fingers crossed.

 

[WillyC]

Is it really too early to put up a Matthews statue on Legends Row right now?

 

[Subway Schenn]

Daily reminder: We're currently watching the best Leaf of all-time.

Glad to be here for this era of Leaf hockey with him and hope that 67 is soon a distant memory.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Daily reminder: We're currently watching the best Leaf of all-time.

Glad to be here for this era of Leaf hockey with him and hope that 67 is soon a distant memory.

While the ultimate goal is obviously the Cup, as someone who is now watching his 6th at least partial decade of Leaf hockey and who got all of the Ballard 80's, I keep reminding people, at least enjoy that you are watching 3 Leafs who will likely break or come close to several Leaf records and some league ones. We are spoiled in that sense.

Scary to think that all else being equal, the big two could hold several of the all time club records by 27 - 28 years of age.

 

[ACC1224]

Daily reminder: We're currently watching the best Leaf of all-time.

Glad to be here for this era of Leaf hockey with him and hope that 67 is soon a distant memory.

No doubt. I wonder if he wasn’t here if we’d be saying the same things about Marner?

 

[Atomos2]

It's been mentioned before but it's still weird to think about. We were so close to drafting a generational player in McDavid but the lottery didn't work for us. So we ended up getting one of the best playmakers in the league. Then the following year we get our generational goal scoring machine in Matthews.

It goes to show that even if something may seem devastating at first, like missing the lottery for McDavid, life could turn out being even better than you expected. Makes me think all these devastating playoff first round exits may be leading to something....

 

[DarkKnight]

I hope people appreciate you’ll never see this player again in your lifetime. Hyperbole? Probably not.

 

[Warden of the North]

Likely the best player I will ever see play for this team.

I'm not old enough to have watched the Cup teams, but I'm prepared to say he's the best since those teams too.

 

[makbeer]

When it turns out to be lucky that you missed on McDavid.

 

[Warden of the North]

When it turns out to be lucky that you missed on McDavid.

Nah.

Having both of them would be unreal.

 

[michi510]

When it turns out to be lucky that you missed on McDavid.

Come on, McDavid has 5 100 point seasons already. I love Matthews, but even if I bleed blue and white, McDavid is still a tier higher.

“It turns out to be very lucky that” we got the next best 1st overall pick in the last decade ( some can argue MacKinnon ).

Imagine we sucked at a different time and got any other first overall pick instead. Hischier? Dahlin? Even Hughes… just not the same stratosphere as Matthews

 

[Gary Nylund]

Likely the best player I will ever see play for this team.

I'm not old enough to have watched the Cup teams, but I'm prepared to say he's the best since those teams too.

For sure. I missed those cup teams as well but saw many of the guys on the 67 team play later. Keon was my favorite player growing up and he was a great player but Matthews is way better.

I've always wondered why has fate been this way with our biggest rival MTL having so many superstars through the years and we get next to nothing. Richard, Lafleur, Robinson, Lapointe, Savard, Dryden, Roy, I could go on but it makes me sick so I'll stop and while guys like Sittler and Salming were great, there nowhere near that MTL had. Well finally we're in the position of having Matthews who's certainly in the discussion for being the best player in the league and then we have Marner as well who seems to be climbing in to the top 5 or so and what a sweet feeling it is! Now we just need to win a freaking playoff round or two, getting oh so tired of these 1st round exist taking the shine off everything. The way Campbell has played the last two games though makes me think that ... this could be the year.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Come on, McDavid has 5 100 point seasons already. I love Matthews, but even if I bleed blue and white, McDavid is still a tier higher.

“It turns out to be very lucky that” we got the next best 1st overall pick in the last decade ( some can argue MacKinnon ).

Imagine we sucked at a different time and got any other first overall pick instead. Hischier? Dahlin? Even Hughes… just not the same stratosphere as Matthews

Hmm yeah, I don't know about that. I mean him and McD are clearly the two best 1st overall picks in the last decade and McD has had the better career so far but as of today, if we had a draft of all the players in the NHL I think plenty of GM's would take Matthews over McD.

 

[zeke]

Come on, McDavid has 5 100 point seasons already. I love Matthews, but even if I bleed blue and white, McDavid is still a tier higher.

“It turns out to be very lucky that” we got the next best 1st overall pick in the last decade ( some can argue MacKinnon ).

Imagine we sucked at a different time and got any other first overall pick instead. Hischier? Dahlin? Even Hughes… just not the same stratosphere as Matthews

Goalsucking on a bad team doesn't make you better.

 

[Hockey Crazy]

He's going to score 67 this year... he's the chosen one to lift the curse.

 

[Statsman1]

McDavid is an offensive force. That’s it. Nothing else to his game.

Matthews is a 200-foot, all-around, wall-to-wall, all-facets-of-the-game-as-a-forward uber-Godzilla.

 

[robertmac43]

This man is an absolute monster. Still cannot believe we get to watch him play in Toronto night in and night out.

 

[Leaf Rocket]

Hmm yeah, I don't know about that. I mean him and McD are clearly the two best 1st overall picks in the last decade and McD has had the better career so far but as of today, if we had a draft of all the players in the NHL I think plenty of GM's would take Matthews over McD.

I'm a big sucker for two way game so for me I always pick them ahead of one dimension... I said in the past the same thing when considering Stamkos or Tavares... I'll choose Tavares. Similarly here IMO

 

[ITM]

Seemed last night that Matthews was wearing a no rips given emotion on his face. Looked righteously offended when scoring like the ego of settling for less was being smacked aside.

Marner seems to have found that OHL pre-big contract focus. Wore a suit to the post-game…

Still need stars aligning but, I can’t remember this type of momentum with this type of passion and focus in a long time.

One game at a time as they say; but these have been some great days and I think a sense of the real self-belief already found is going to be enhanced once Vaive’s record falls. Enjoyed for the moment and smacked away for the anchor it is in light of other goals to accomplish.

Something else to consider: If Matthews and Marner survive this crucible that is Toronto, think of the strength of purpose from them that may cascade into this club and into all those that come after them?

If we win, I’d like to see a new a new motto in the room: “We’re not here to take part, we’re here to take over.”

 

[lebdafor norris]

Come on, McDavid has 5 100 point seasons already. I love Matthews, but even if I bleed blue and white, McDavid is still a tier higher.

“It turns out to be very lucky that” we got the next best 1st overall pick in the last decade ( some can argue MacKinnon ).

Imagine we sucked at a different time and got any other first overall pick instead. Hischier? Dahlin? Even Hughes… just not the same stratosphere as Matthews

Weren't there a few people saying that the Dahlin pick and the Laf pick were more valuable than AM at the time? Compared to the 1st overall selection from 2013-2016, the picks from 17-present has definitely been underwhelming, although, Jack Hughes looks to be a pretty decent 1st overall selection thus far.

Imagine thou if the Leafs management decided to trade Kessel and tank 1 year too late and ended up with someone like Dubois or Pulj in 2016 and Hischier in 2017, with how awful the Leafs fortune had been since the muskoka5 era, I would not have been surprise if the tank turned out this way.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I'm a big sucker for two way game so for me I always pick them ahead of one dimension... I said in the past the same thing when considering Stamkos or Tavares... I'll choose Tavares. Similarly here IMO

I remember having exactly the same reasoning.

 

[Mess]

How great is it to be living in the time of Auston Matthews as a Leafs fan?

 

[zeke]

Matthews' unbelievable lack of PP TOI so far in his career compared to ALL the all time greats has completely distorted how incredible he actually is.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Matthews' unbelievable lack of PP TOI so far in his career compared to ALL the all time greats has completely distorted how incredible he actually is.

Is that attributed to the leafs getting less PP time or just league wide lower PP time now?