He may have best shot in hockey, he may have outstanding stick skills and he may make amazing plays BUT he can't skate at playoff pace and he doesn't compete hard for every loose puck .. if you value regular season hockey then he is a top 3 player in world yes BUT in playoff hockey where guys value a Cup he is road kill
Tribute Auston Matthews Discussion Thread II: Record Breaking Edition
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DarkKnight
Professional Amateur
- Jan 17, 2017
- 35,523
- 57,147
Bill was invisible too until the PP, then like the rest he showed better. He also gets less focus from TB, so keep that in mind. But I did give him a sightly higher grade last night. Marner was a nervy mess to start the game, those back hand floater donuts up the middle, was disappointing to see that again under pressure. As I said they settled in, but with Matthews I want to see him start with a burr in his butt and say “follow me boys” like Clark did, Sundin did, Gilmour, etc, instead he looks likes he doesn’t want the puck. Anyways, I suspect they bounce back, but this guy has to do more to set the tone, he’s the highest paid and supposedly a superstar.
90% of the game is played without the puck. It's that part of the game we haven't mastered
Nylander looked better than the other two but Nylander also sucked last night. Until that PP he was totally invisible and timid
Not a single player from Tampa looked timid to me.
Nylander is at least I'll say he tried to a degree
Sundin with 23 stitches played and scored the tieing goal against Carolina
Dougie was different bread. Kind of like what Pointe is for Tampa
saffronleaf
Registered User
they should just drive him to pearson right now. just go back to arizona. stay there. we don't want you here. you're a choker.
this regular season he wasn't even top 50 center in the league. putrid play start to finish.
this regular season he wasn't even top 50 center in the league. putrid play start to finish.
I got a feeling he already knows Leafs are trading him .. after watching him play playoff hokey I am now at point where i think team would be better off without him .. lets get 4 1st rounders and a solid D man and pull da trigger
One could argue that a player who gets 2 points on the 3 goals his team scores in a game while simultaneously erasing his opponent (who just finished a season scoring 51 goals) from the game had a pretty good game.
Pointe is by a mile the best player Tampa has and he was absolutely eliminated at even strength playing against Matthews.
You must have watched on TV .. at game all you saw was Point blowing by Matty both up ice and down ice .. and every single shift too .. Matty resorted to trying lots of crazy edge work skate moves to create separation which did not work .. TV is really a bad way to assess a C's game
If 2 nothing assists in a 7-3 loss is your response to the question "has Matthews ever had a great/dominant game in his playoff career?" then I think that says all I need to know.
You seem to equate a dominant game with offense only.
You understand there are multiple aspects to hockey and that offense is only 1 of them, yes?
I also said that "one could argue", at no point did I say that I considered it a dominant game.
He had 2 assists last night, was on for 0 goals against, had an 86.1% xgf (meaning the play was going mostly one way when he was on), 100% gf (for those who think xgf is crap, his goals for was at 100%)... what game did you watch? He played well.
You must not have watched... nothing supports your argument, no stats, nothing, other than "I know because I played in the O 50 years ago"
HamiltonNHL
Resigning Marner == Running it back
- Jan 4, 2012
- 22,710
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He's a shooter. Not that fast. Not a contact guy. Average at best puck carrying skills.
There's nothing about his skillset that would be seen as dominant unless Marner sets him up like crazy. He needs a setup guy.
I mean, I specifically said he was good last night and then asked "has he ever had a dominant playoff game" so not sure what you're trying to argue with me about.
He was one of worst players on ice my friend awful .. best he and Mitch sit and watch game 2 from press box with their buddy Dubie
All 3 are gonna get shipped outta town
He completely dominated Pointe.
Same thing last year, where Kucherov, Stamkos, Pointe all had less than 4 even strength points through 7 games when matched against Matthews and Marner.
Over the last 8 playoff games, the guy has been very good offensively, and a monster defensively.
Does that constitute dominant?
One could certainly argue that.
Arzak
Registered User
- Mar 27, 2019
- 2,225
- 2,013
Any team signing him long-term needs to face a couple of red flags. He got a lingering wrist injury and when he is not scoring, he looks very average. If the wrist holds, he is the favourite for another Rocket Richard. Playoffs? Dunno
Throw More Waffles
Unprecedented Dramatic Overpayments
- Oct 9, 2015
- 12,952
- 9,910
Yeah, to have stats so much lower in the playoffs compared to regular season is not something that's normal for a super star.
This is based on career stats/82.
[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Reg Season goals[/TD]
[TD]Reg season points[/TD]
[TD]playoff goals[/TD]
[TD]playoff points[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Matthews[/TD]
[TD]51/82[/TD]
[TD]92/82[/TD]
[TD]34/82[/TD]
[TD]70/82[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]McDavid[/TD]
[TD]43/82[/TD]
[TD]122/82[/TD]
[TD]45/82[/TD]
[TD]118/82[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]MacKinnon[/TD]
[TD]32/82[/TD]
[TD]88/82[/TD]
[TD]47/82[/TD]
[TD]108/82[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Drai[/TD]
[TD]39/82[/TD]
[TD]95/82[/TD]
[TD]43/82[/TD]
[TD]131/82[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
This is a very uniquely "Matthews" thing when comparing superstars regular season stats with playoff stats.
It's a problem. No other way to say it.
Stephen
Moderator
- Feb 28, 2002
- 83,096
- 62,008
I hope last night wasn’t the “saving it for the playoffs” thesis in action.
I'll honestly consider account betting anyone that thinks the Leafs are trading Matthews.
You're crazy.
I couldn't care less about numbers .. what I saw last night was both Cirelli and Point just flat out outskate Matty all over ice .. he looked like he was standing in quick sand .. and ROR/JT/Mitch too .. if Tampa continues to play at that pace i can't see us winning 1 game TBH .. but i highly doubt Tampa can keep up that pace of skating continuously for another 3 games .. only guy on our team creating skating speed separation from Tampa was Willy .. skilled passing based possession does not work in playoffs as time and space in a game is highly limited as game is played 10% faster than regular season hockey so guys like Matty and Mitch don't have time to make a vision play .. it is why both Mitch and Matty were on their *ss a ton more than normal
EverTheCynic
Registered User
- May 26, 2022
- 1,096
- 1,769
Maybe I'm wrong. But I get really strong "Party animal/frat boy who cares more about driving Lambos and partying with models than winning a cup" vibes from this guy
PROUD PAPA
Registered User
- Sep 20, 2021
- 3,039
- 3,474
Very little of this is accurate. The top guys were not being outskated anywhere close to what you are suggesting. I feel like you are conflating the special teams play with the rest of the game. Also they were on the ground because they kept falling, that has nothing to do with Tampa
Maple Leaf
VIP
- Sep 18, 2009
- 10,200
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usernamezrhardtodo
Registered User
- Mar 26, 2014
- 2,504
- 3,072
ya...he didn't totally shit the bed...he got 2 points...yay...I just don't think it's in his DNA to be THE guy who leads the team through this wilderness. Something broke in him in the 2nd Boston series where he was shut down. I am not sure what happened...but something happened.
