C Auston Matthews (2016, 1st, TOR) VII

[Stolie the Goalie]

Center LHS | 6'2.25 216 lbs
Born: 17-SEP-1997, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

Stats: http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=199898

With the last thread being locked after over 1k post and no-one opening a new one I thought I'll go ahead and make one.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

#63.. Auston Ribeiro? Haha jk

 

[Currysux*]

#63.. Auston Ribeiro? Haha jk

No , Auston Bolland. The horror

 

[Semantics]

#63.. Auston Ribeiro? Haha jk

It's 93 upside down. Auston Gilmour.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

It's 93 upside down. Auston Gilmour.

But then what will Marner wear.. Auston Marner? Mitch Matthews?

 

[Gavy]

But then what will Marner wear.. Auston Marner? Mitch Matthews?

Matthews Marner will wear 39

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Matthews Marner will wear 39

Mitch Matthews Nylander?

OK I'm done haha

 

[LV*]

Nylander 62 -> 39 -> 92
Matthews 63 -> 34
Marner 84 -> 93

 

[Cotton]

Not that it really matters but, he was born in California.

 

[7even]

Nylander 62 -> 39 -> 92
Matthews 63 -> 34
Marner 84 -> 93

Pls.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

How good do you expect him to be compared to Bozak and Kadri as of now?

I reckon he'll be 1st C by the start of next season

 

[93LEAFS]

How good do you expect him to be compared to Bozak and Kadri as of now?

I reckon he'll be 1st C by the start of next season

Kadri will be the number 1, and will get the tough minutes. I expect the Nylander/Matthews combo to be used as the #2 line at home when we have last change, and a bit sheltered on the road. Matthews should get prime offensive minutes though, but I don't think he'll be given full-time number 1 duties til 2017-18.

 

[VictorLustig]

How good do you expect him to be compared to Bozak and Kadri as of now?

I reckon he'll be 1st C by the start of next season

He'll be better than both this upcoming season, perhaps not in his first ~10 games.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

How good do you expect him to be compared to Bozak and Kadri as of now?

I reckon he'll be 1st C by the start of next season

He'll be the 1C by the start of December.

 

[Leafsrock95]

Didn't Eichel take like 25 or so games. Idk maybe Matthews is better or more nhl ready he might just fit right in or take about 10 games id think around 20 maybe a bit more.

Nylander on the other hand got a taste of the NHL last year so I think he will make a quicker transition.

Marner I'm assuming will be with us all 82 games and probably take quite a while maybe 30-40 games. Who knows maybe less, maybe he'll be sent back to junior who knows.

 

[The Thin White Duke]

Didn't Eichel take like 25 or so games. Idk maybe Matthews is better or more nhl ready he might just fit right in or take about 10 games id think around 20 maybe a bit more.

Nylander on the other hand got a taste of the NHL last year so I think he will make a quicker transition.

Marner I'm assuming will be with us all 82 games and probably take quite a while maybe 30-40 games. Who knows maybe less, maybe he'll be sent back to junior who knows.

Matthews being older to start the season and having a year of Pro experience under his belt should help the transition compared to Eichel. Not to mention he'll already be warmed up from the World Cup before the start of the season.

Marner has more of an adjustment to make from walking around entire junior teams to making the quick simple play 95% of the time.

 

[Marlander93]

Matthews = 6^2 = 36 / 4 = (9 x 7) / 63 = 1 x 63 = 63 / 1 = 63

 

[TheDoldrums]

Matthews being older to start the season and having a year of Pro experience under his belt should help the transition compared to Eichel.

He's like a month older. I hardly think that will be a big factor.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Didn't Eichel take like 25 or so games. Idk maybe Matthews is better or more nhl ready he might just fit right in or take about 10 games id think around 20 maybe a bit more.

I reckon Matthews will adapt faster than Eichel as he got that extra year in NLA due to late bday + he seems more mature and collected than draft-year Eichel.

What Eichel had on Matthews though is speed, acceleration and that extra self-confidence (psychology is huge in sports).
So if Matthews takes a little longer I'd say those would be the factors, so he might be good but not put up the numbers at first (sort of like the MacKinnon vs Barkov situation) but after that he'll eventually put it all together

 

[Plural]

Not that it really matters but, he was born in California.

I always thought he was born in Scottsdale. But you are correct. They moved there when he was just a baby.

 

[Mad Brills*]

He'll be the leafs best player come march.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

I reckon Matthews will adapt faster than Eichel as he got that extra year in NLA due to late bday + he seems more mature and collected than draft-year Eichel.

What Eichel had on Matthews though is speed, acceleration and that extra self-confidence (psychology is huge in sports).
So if Matthews takes a little longer I'd say those would be the factors, so he might be good but not put up the numbers at first (sort of like the MacKinnon vs Barkov situation) but after that he'll eventually put it all together

Eichel was also a late birthday...

 

[TDK67]

Eichel was also a late birthday...

Everyone seems to forget that for some reason. Eichel is about 5 weeks younger than Matthews relative to their draft year. Or another way to look at it is that Matthews is about 11 months younger than Eichel. So they are/were in pretty much the same place to start their rookie years.

 

[phosphene*]

He'll be the leafs best player come march.

I believe Mo Riles will have something to say about that.

 

[Jyrki Lumme]

How good do you expect him to be compared to Bozak and Kadri as of now?

I reckon he'll be 1st C by the start of next season

Tough to say. He should (and will based on Babcock's comments) start on the 3rd line for now to give him time to get up to speed in the NHL. Kadri will face the toughest minutes, Bozak should play 2nd fiddle to begin the year playing against opponents 2nd line, giving Matthews 12ish minutes of 5v5 per game against pretty easy competition.

But I wouldn't be at all surprised if Matthews was our 2C by 15 games into the season. Judging by Nylander last year, Babcock has shown he has no problem giving young players tough assignments when they show they're too good for sheltered minutes.