Tribute Auston Matthews Discussion Thread II: Record Breaking Edition

[Gabriel426]

I think AM, MM and Willie are all evolving into more all around players this season. They are all doing more to help the team win instead of just caring their own stats.
Just look at Bunting's goal today, AM of the past few seasons would have shot that and Bunting and Willie will be fishing for rebounds. Or MM willing to take more shots which resulted in tipin by Calle. Or Willie engaging all the time and rarely takes shift off.

 

[34]

Matthews is the way better 200 ft player than McDavid or Drasaitl.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Just a little context for the people pining for that Edmonton offense

Am i missing something as we seem to lead Dallas in all but one category yet are behind them?

 

[kb]

He's more like a Malkin-Kane hybrid to me.

Which of these two is the Selke calibre C again?

 

[Stephen]

Which of these two is the Selke calibre C again?

Might want to pump the brakes until the Selke is in hand before you downgrade Matthews from Malkin to Toews...

 

[Brobust]

He's more like a Malkin-Kane hybrid to me.

Malkin - Kane is pure offense. I meaning behind his comparison was 2-way forward with high end offensive skill.

IMO, he's Datsyuk + Nash.

 

[MAB1]

He's more like a Malkin-Kane hybrid to me.

This, since the day he was drafted I've said Matthews is a Malkin clone (with better defence)

 

[Dekes For Days]

You can't really say Matthews is a combo of players and not include Ovechkin's goal-scoring ability.

He's like if Malkin, Datsyuk, and Ovechkin got smushed together.

Literally one of the rarest players we'll ever see.

 

[Zur En Arrh]

Matthews is the way better 200 ft player than McDavid or Drasaitl.

drai isint in Matthews leauge. Mcd is fantastic .. Matthews and mcd are in the same tier. Makar is almost there. . Drai is a decent player no doubt but he's carried hard... Anyone saying other wise has an agenda..

if We had got that one ping pong ball and anyone other team for Matthews the next year everything I just said would not be a debate. In fact the claim on mcd would be " he's just fast, he's carrying nylander" etc... It's so painfully evident Matthews is the best all round player in the nhl..

This, since the day he was drafted I've said Matthews is a Malkin clone (with better defence)

and offense and skill and skating. I mean should I keep going? Matthews was close to peak Malkin his first and second year... Matthews is a much better player than malkin....

 

[Zur En Arrh]

You can't really say Matthews is a combo of players and not include Ovechkin's goal-scoring ability.

He's like if Malkin, Datsyuk, and Ovechkin got smushed together.

Literally one of the rarest players we'll ever see.

Who are you fooling? Matthews is soft, only cares about goals,can't make it past first round. If only he was more like drai,who totAlly centres his own line zero of his points are from mcd. In fact he carries mcd... Like come on bro!!!

 

[IPS]

Might want to pump the brakes until the Selke is in hand before you downgrade Matthews from Malkin to Toews...

I doubt we'll ever see a Toronto player win the Selke. There's no reputation based free passes in Toronto.

Matthews finished 27th in Selke voting in 2021 and 10th in 2022. Matthews was one of the very best defensive centers in the league last year and they voted f***ing Marcus Foligno ahead of him. Won't even go into 2021 with the stupid names they put ahead of him (*AHEM* Leon Draisaitl).

They're so painfully f***ing biased against Toronto players.

 

[BallardEra]

He's now 13 goals behind McDavid for the Rocket.

Gonna be tough for him to win it again this season.

 

[MAB1]

I doubt we'll ever see a Toronto player win the Selke. There's no reputation based free passes in Toronto.

Matthews finished 27th in Selke voting in 2021 and 10th in 2022. Matthews was one of the very best defensive centers in the league last year and they voted f***ing Marcus Foligno ahead of him. Won't even go into 2021 with the stupid names they put ahead of him (*AHEM* Leon Draisaitl).

They're so painfully f***ing biased against Toronto players.

That's because they're trying to remedy a supposed bias that never even existed in the first place.

The Lakers have bias (reffing vs Kings in the early 2000's)
The Yankees have bias (Derek Jeter never deserved all those GG's)

The Leafs don't get bias because every other team gets anxious before that can even happen. So the voters and writers overcompensate to accommodate those "concerns"

Before Matthews was drafted:

- The Leafs had gone almost 30 years without a first overall pick (imagine if the Oilers had the same luck)
- They haven't won anything since 1967
- They hadn't had a player win a major award since the 80's if memory serves correct...
- Bettman take shots at the franchise just to appease the fans of other teams (of which the Leafs keep financially viable)

And they still think voters and media are all bias to the Leafs lol

 

[Zybalto]

Matthews 5v5 score adjusted numbers so far this season (and rank out of the 41 centers with at least 450 minutes played):

CF%: 54.67 (8th out of 41)
SF%: 53.72 (15th out of 41)
SCF%: 58.79 (5th out of 41)
HDCF%: 60.12 (4th out of 41)
xGF%: 60.10 (2nd out of 41)
GF%: 69.15 (1st out of 41)

Big minute 2 way beast as usual. Shooting% should continue to climb up although (unpopular opinion here) a switch back to Marner/Matthews and Nylander/Tavares would probably be overall more effective (at least that's what the math is saying and not just in a small way and for both lines).

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

Just saying, all of this talk about how great Matthews is defensively really doesn't match the eye test. Almost every time the team is getting cycled it's his line on the ice (something that used to be a thing of the past but is creeping more and more into the games). Once you notice it you can't not notice it. He has a great stick and does well on takeaways and backchecks, etc., but there's some reason this is happening.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Just saying, all of this talk about how great Matthews is defensively really doesn't match the eye test. Almost every time the team is getting cycled it's his line on the ice (something that used to be a thing of the past but is creeping more and more into the games). Once you notice it you can't not notice it. He has a great stick and does well on takeaways and backchecks, etc., but there's some reason this is happening.

How does Matthews seem to constantly outshoot/outchance/outscore the other team if his line is always getting cycled? Seems like more of a problem with your eye test

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

How does Matthews seem to constantly outshoot/outchance/outscore the other team if his line is always getting cycled? Seems like more of a problem with your eye test

Lol, I never said he's always getting cycled

 

[Jojalu]

Lol, I never said he's always getting cycled

He doesn't allow a lot of chances against. Doesn't matter if the other team had the puck(which they usually don't when he's on the ice) because he defends well down low and the other team doesn't get quality scoring chances.

 

[Maria Sharapova]

I wouldn’t trade matthews for any player in the nhl that’s for sure. He’s the only Center in the entire nhl who supports his D all the way back behind his own net rarely making a wrong decision with the puck. He’s committed to playing defensive this year and it shows. Last year you could see he cared about 60 this year he couldn’t care less and I wouldn’t be surprised if he catches up to mcdavid for the rocket.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Matthews looks bad compared to mcdavid
Perhaps saving his engery for the playoffs

 

[Zybalto]

Just saying, all of this talk about how great Matthews is defensively really doesn't match the eye test. Almost every time the team is getting cycled it's his line on the ice (something that used to be a thing of the past but is creeping more and more into the games). Once you notice it you can't not notice it. He has a great stick and does well on takeaways and backchecks, etc., but there's some reason this is happening.

You arnt wrong in the sense that Willy is no Mitch Marner defensively which has had a slight effect on the Matthews line this season but even so:


Since start of 2020 to the present:

Ranking of some of the top defensive centers in the NHL 5v5:

Shots Against/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Matthews
3. Danault
4. Kopitar
5. Barkov
6. O'Reilly

Scoring Chances Against/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Barkov
3. Matthews
4. Danault
5. Kopitar
6. O'Reilly

High Danger Scoring Chances Against/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Matthews
3. Barkov
4. O'Reilly
5. Danault
6. Kopitar

xGA/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Matthews
3. Barkov
4. Danault
5. Kopitar
6. O'Reilly

Takeaways/60:
1. Matthews
2. Barkov
3. O'Reilly
4. Bergeron
5. Kopitar
6. Danault

Blocked Shots/60:
1. Kopitar
2. Matthews
3. Danault
4. Barkov
5. Bergeron
6. O'Reilly


Bergeron is the defensive god we all think he is but not only is Matthews great defensively but he is far better than some of the guys people think are elite.

Barkov is the most interesting to me as Matthews has had better defensive stats than him pretty much his whole career including the year Barkov won the Selke.

I really do think the wildly uneven goaltending has really contributed to him not getting recognition as there are too many morons in the press that equate Goals Against = D. If you have a tire fire in net, no amount of great D is going to help. Its not rocket science.

The two most underrated defensive players in the league are Matthews and Erikisson EK IMO.

 

[IPS]

You arnt wrong in the sense that Willy is no Mitch Marner defensively which has had a slight effect on the Matthews line this season but even so:


Since start of 2020 to the present:

Ranking of some of the top defensive centers in the NHL 5v5:

Shots Against/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Matthews
3. Danault
4. Kopitar
5. Barkov
6. O'Reilly

Scoring Chances Against/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Barkov
3. Matthews
4. Danault
5. Kopitar
6. O'Reilly

High Danger Scoring Chances Against/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Matthews
3. Barkov
4. O'Reilly
5. Danault
6. Kopitar

xGA/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Matthews
3. Barkov
4. Danault
5. Kopitar
6. O'Reilly

Takeaways/60:
1. Matthews
2. Barkov
3. O'Reilly
4. Bergeron
5. Kopitar
6. Danault

Blocked Shots/60:
1. Kopitar
2. Matthews
3. Danault
4. Barkov
5. Bergeron
6. O'Reilly


Bergeron is the defensive god we all think he is but not only is Matthews great defensively but he is far better than some of the guys people think are elite.

Barkov is the most interesting to me as Matthews has had better defensive stats than him pretty much his whole career including the year Barkov won the Selke.

I really do think the wildly uneven goaltending has really contributed to him not getting recognition as there are too many morons in the press that equate Goals Against = D. If you have a tire fire in net, no amount of great D is going to help. Its not rocket science.

The two most underrated defensive players in the league are Matthews and Erikisson EK IMO.

Those stats seem to match the eye test (atleast my eye test anyway, FWIW). Over the last couple years Matthews has evolved into a top-tier 200 foot center. Where he's finished in Selke voting over the last couple years has been nothing short of a complete joke.

 

[Antropovsky]

Matthews looks bad compared to mcdavid
Perhaps saving his engery for the playoffs

Matthews has more even strength points than McDavid... and McDavid has been on the ice for more even strength goals against than he's been on got goals for.

Mcdavid is on his way to more personal trophies but his team is on its way to another bad year.

 

[saffronleaf]

He's more like a Malkin-Kane hybrid to me.

more like malkin & kopitar

 

[notDatsyuk]

You arnt wrong in the sense that Willy is no Mitch Marner defensively which has had a slight effect on the Matthews line this season but even so:


Since start of 2020 to the present:

Ranking of some of the top defensive centers in the NHL 5v5:

Shots Against/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Matthews
3. Danault
4. Kopitar
5. Barkov
6. O'Reilly

Scoring Chances Against/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Barkov
3. Matthews
4. Danault
5. Kopitar
6. O'Reilly

High Danger Scoring Chances Against/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Matthews
3. Barkov
4. O'Reilly
5. Danault
6. Kopitar

xGA/60:
1. Bergeron
2. Matthews
3. Barkov
4. Danault
5. Kopitar
6. O'Reilly

Takeaways/60:
1. Matthews
2. Barkov
3. O'Reilly
4. Bergeron
5. Kopitar
6. Danault

Blocked Shots/60:
1. Kopitar
2. Matthews
3. Danault
4. Barkov
5. Bergeron
6. O'Reilly


Bergeron is the defensive god we all think he is but not only is Matthews great defensively but he is far better than some of the guys people think are elite.

Barkov is the most interesting to me as Matthews has had better defensive stats than him pretty much his whole career including the year Barkov won the Selke.

I really do think the wildly uneven goaltending has really contributed to him not getting recognition as there are too many morons in the press that equate Goals Against = D. If you have a tire fire in net, no amount of great D is going to help. Its not rocket science.

The two most underrated defensive players in the league are Matthews and Erikisson EK IMO.

Actually, since the Marner/Nylander swap, I would say the Matthews line is better defensively, at least partly because the are better offensively, and the Tavares line is getting trapped in their own end more often.