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Tribute Auston Matthews Discussion Thread II: Record Breaking Edition

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34 said:
One of my favorite players, but I say he starts next season in LA or Arizona. I have a feeling he will force a trade out this summer.
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No chance Dubas trades him, zero chance.

Screenshot_20230109_083057_Chrome.jpg
 
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BallardEra said:
Matthews only having 11 even strength goals up until now is pretty bizarre.
He had 20 at this point last season.
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Seems to be a mixture of a few things...

1. Some bad puck luck. He's had a ton of missed shots/posts/crossbars/would-be goals hitting knobs of goalie sticks this season, often during some of his best chances, leading to an unsustainably low conversion rate so far.
2. No free or easy goals. All of his ES goals are 5v5. No extra ES goals 3v3, 4v4, 6v5, or into an empty net. Rantanen, for example, has a league-leading 21 ES goals, but only 14 are 5v5. Ovechkin has 20 ES goals, but only 12 are 5v5.
3. He's being shadowed and double teamed like crazy after last year's MVP season. No time or space to do anything but quickly pass a lot this year.
4. Perhaps as a result of #3, or perhaps just an attempt to expand his skillset, he seems to be focusing more on playmaking this year.
5. Quite frankly, he doesn't mesh well with Nylander. They play a different style of game, and now that Marner isn't there, Matthews has to take on pretty much all of the defensive responsibility of the line.

I wouldn't worry too much. The line is still producing well, and an underrated amount of that is because of Matthews, even if he's not the one getting the goals (or an abnormal amount of times, even the points). He's doing so much of the work and opening up so much space and opportunity for Nylander/Bunting to do their thing.

It was funny seeing people run to declare Nylander our MVP because he had like 1 more point over less than half a season, in part because of all the uncredited work Matthews was putting in. Personally, I'm encouraged by how committed Matthews is to team over individual, and I'm sure Matthews will hit a hot stretch at some point.
 
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BallardEra said:
Matthews only having 11 even strength goals up until now is pretty bizarre.

He had 20 at this point last season.
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I just hope he's ready to dominate when the playoffs start, that's all I care about. Over the last 5 years, we've lost 5 game 7's (counting the CLB game 5 as a game 7) and in those 5 games, Matthews has 0 goals and 2 assists. There's so much talk about what this team needs at the TDL but IMHO what the deciding factor will be in how we fare in the playoffs is how the goalies play, and how our stars play and Matthews is at the top of the list. He needs to be better when the season is on the line, period.

wingman75 said:
I appreciate the defensive play. I do wonder what impact it will have in the playoffs. I say minimal, because the team has been playing well defensively in the playoffs... the reason they have been eliminated is because they couldn't score a big goal when needed.

So if he is not going to bring that... not sure what the point is.
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Good point. Like!
 
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Gary Nylund said:
I just hope he's ready to dominate when the playoffs start, that's all I care about. Over the last 5 years, we've lost 5 game 7's (counting the CLB game 5 as a game 7) and in those 5 games, Matthews has 0 goals and 2 assists. There's so much talk about what this team needs at the TDL but IMHO what the deciding factor will be in how we fare in the playoffs is how the goalies play, and how our stars play and Matthews is at the top of the list. He needs to be better when the season is on the line, period.
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The only time Matthews has scored a goal in an elimination game for the Leafs was Game 6 in 2017 against Washington, which was in the 3rd period that gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at that time. However, they were down in the series 3-2 and ended up losing that night in overtime.
 
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LeafsNation75 said:
The only time Matthews has scored a goal in an elimination game for the Leafs was Game 6 in 2017 against Washington, which was in the 3rd period that gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at that time. However, they were down in the series 3-2 and ended up losing that night in overtime.
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He scored in Game 4 against Columbus and had 3 points when they were minutes away from being eliminated
 
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I don't think it's that far fetched for Matthews to put up 25 goals and 53+ points in the second half.

If he ends up with 45 goals and 100+ points while he continues his stellar two way play then that's a top tier player. Especially if this is his down year.
 
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Jojalu said:
I don't think it's that far fetched for Matthews to put up 25 goals and 53+ points in the second half.

If he ends up with 45 goals and 100+ points while he continues his stellar two way play then that's a top tier player. Especially if this is his down year.
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I can see Matthews getting at least 40 goals+ and hopefully 100+ points.

If he gets closer to 50 goals I would consider that a bonus based on where he's currently at with 20 goals in 41 games played.
 
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@Zur En Arrh



I'm not going to get into the Drai vs Matthews debate



But there is absolutely zero comparison between 97 an34



Its like comparing Iginla to Crosby all time



McDavid will be the greatest to ever play hockey when he retires.



His rookie season is better/equal to matthews 2nd best year (mcdavid was 3rd in ppg, while Matthews was 7th or 8th in his first rocket season)



Anyone who thinking matthews compares to McDavid does so because he's wearing a maple leafs sweater.



No body since 66 played compares to McDavid.
 
hamzarocks said:
@Zur En Arrh



I'm not going to get into the Drai vs Matthews debate



But there is absolutely zero comparison between 97 an34



Its like comparing Iginla to Crosby all time



McDavid will be the greatest to ever play hockey when he retires.



His rookie season is better/equal to matthews 2nd best year (mcdavid was 3rd in ppg, while Matthews was 7th or 8th in his first rocket season)



Anyone who thinking matthews compares to McDavid does so because he's wearing a maple leafs sweater.



No body since 66 played compares to McDavid.
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The tragedy of Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers over the years is they can't find a way to harness his greatness and translate it into overwhelming team success in any consistent way.

Not sure how superstars like McDavid and Draisaitl can even be enjoyed by a fanbase when they're putting up historic numbers and you're white knuckling onto a Wild Card... in the West. It's just boggling sometimes.
 
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Stephen said:
The tragedy of Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers over the years is they can't find a way to harness his greatness and translate it into overwhelming team success in any consistent way.

Not sure how superstars like McDavid and Draisaitl can even be enjoyed by a fanbase when they're putting up historic numbers and you're white knuckling onto a Wild Card... in the West. It's just boggling sometimes.
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I'm sure it didn't help when they signed Jack Campbell, even though they saw how he played in Toronto last season from January 1 until the Leafs got eliminated from the playoffs.
 
D A N G E R O U S! Sadly he won’t score 60 every year. Ovechkin had similar hiccups as well going from scoring 50 one year to 32 the next and another time scoring 50 followed by 33 and many more years when he’d score 10 or more less than the previous season. Who thinks he puts up 60 every year? How far is he off last year after game 41, 3 or 4 maybe.
 
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