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

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Brewsky said:
This assessment is very wrong...he's 19 :sarcasm:

Auston 3:16 is kicking some serious ass, thought he wouldn't make as much noise as he is making in this tourney, and I love it, can't wait to see him suit up in the blue and white soon enough!
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Ahh that's right bday a few days ago.

Matthews-McDavid-Scheifele absolutely dominated every time they were on the ice.
 
Matthews might be the most well rounded and polished 1st overall pick I've ever seen. He plays like a vet already and I can't think of a single thing that he doesn't do well. The only question I have with him is his upside. Most other prospects, even talents like McDavid, have obvious weaknesses as teenagers that they can improve, but with Matthews it is hard to see what he needs to / will be able to improve. Skating will probably be the area with the most room for improvement. If he can get a little faster he could end up like an offensively superior version of Toews.
 
Draw Me a McElephant said:
Matthews might be the most well rounded and polished 1st overall pick I've ever seen. He plays like a vet already and I can't think of a single thing that he doesn't do well. The only question I have with him is his upside. Most other prospects, even talents like McDavid, have obvious weaknesses as teenagers that they can improve, but with Matthews it is hard to see what he needs to / will be able to improve. Skating will probably be the area with the most room for improvement. If he can get a little faster he could end up like an offensively superior version of Toews.
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Agree. He is probably the most NHL ready player ever, given that he has played at high level in the US, also top level with grown ups in Switzerland/Europe, done the usual WCJ 18/20 and on top of that both World Championships with the US and now a World Cup. Could not ever have been a player with that much grown up experience entering the league at 19.

He has pretty much played with or against every single top NHL player already (when WC is done). He has had several NHL coaches in various teams. Having Crawford in Switzerland was probably great for his development.
 
Draw Me a McElephant said:
Matthews might be the most well rounded and polished 1st overall pick I've ever seen. He plays like a vet already and I can't think of a single thing that he doesn't do well. The only question I have with him is his upside. Most other prospects, even talents like McDavid, have obvious weaknesses as teenagers that they can improve, but with Matthews it is hard to see what he needs to / will be able to improve. Skating will probably be the area with the most room for improvement. If he can get a little faster he could end up like an offensively superior version of Toews.
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Getting a little more explosive with skating, packing on a little weight (up to the 220's probably) and fine tuning his shot are going to be the main things to focus on IMO. He's great in front of the net right now but his shot off the rush misses the net more often than you'd expect. Adding just a little accuracy on his release could be the difference between 30 goal seasons and regular 40+ seasons.
 
snipes said:
No point getting into it, the substance of the post was a compliment to Matthews. Great player, I'm a fan of him :).
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Now that you've got to watch him more (on NHL ice with and against NHL'ers) has you view changed on who you'd take 2nd in a draft that had both Matthews and Eichel?

McDavid obviously being the 1st pick.
 
Cotton said:
Now that you've got to watch him more (on NHL ice with and against NHL'ers) has you view changed on who you'd take 2nd in a draft that had both Matthews and Eichel?

McDavid obviously being the 1st pick.
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Don't know, it's so close as prospects.

I do like Eichel's skating, I've had Eichel ahead because of his skating. Eichel looked fantastic last night, Matthews has been great the entire tournament. When in doubt skating can tip the scales, but Eichel struggled at wing and doesn't have the versatility that Matthews has, this makes it literally so close I don't know.

If I want a linemate for McDavid and I'm forced to answer, I take Matthews. Take that for what it's worth.

It's tough with prospects, you never know. But I can definitely see Matthews becoming one of the best players in the NHL. Matthews is just special, he's so versatile. He's definitely impressed me, he'll be one of my favourite players in the NHL. Very impressive player.
 
Has Matthews played wing in Switzerland and in the World cup? Will leafs also start him as a winger?
 
BusQuets said:
Has Matthews played wing in Switzerland and in the World cup? Will leafs also start him as a winger?
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He's been playing wing in the World Cup, not 100% sure about Switzerland but most of the lineups I've seen has had him at centre. Babcock will have him start at C for the Leafs, on a line with Nylander
 
Karjala takaisin said:
If he was a winger he would be NHL ready but he's going to be thrown to the wolves in his first year.
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Who Matthews? You have no idea what your talking about. He's the most nhl ready prospect in the draft. He's been a top 5 player for team North America and earned his spot from 13 forward to 1st liner. And he won't be thrown to the wolves according to our coach. He has Matthews slated to start the year with nylander on the 3rd line. I doubt he lasts there for more than 15-20 games, but we don't need to have him playing 20 mins off the bat as a rookie.
 
Karjala takaisin said:
If he was a winger he would be NHL ready but he's going to be thrown to the wolves in his first year.
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Just like he didn't belong on Team NA and would only be the 13th forward? He's already playing better than a lot of NHL guys.

But ya, Matthews isn't NHL ready.

You have no idea what you're talking about
 
Gavy said:
Just like he didn't belong on Team NA and would only be the 13th forward? He's already playing better than a lot of NHL guys.

But ya, Matthews isn't NHL ready.

You have no idea what you're talking about
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I guess people can't read. He can play on the wing.
 
The Thin White Duke said:
Getting a little more explosive with skating, packing on a little weight (up to the 220's probably) and fine tuning his shot are going to be the main things to focus on IMO. He's great in front of the net right now but his shot off the rush misses the net more often than you'd expect. Adding just a little accuracy on his release could be the difference between 30 goal seasons and regular 40+ seasons.
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I heard Friedman on the radio this morning saying that he thinks Matthews is around 220 right now, might have gained a few pounds since the combine when he was 216 and change
 
Karjala takaisin said:
I guess people can't read. He can play on the wing.
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Unless there's been a very recent update publicized, the plan is for Matthews to start as the 3C with Nylander on his wing to take RH draws. He also doesn't seem even a little out of place in this tournament in a 2 way game, and the average player in this tournament is better than the average NHL'er, so do you have any reason to think he'll struggle at centre other than his team not being good?
 
Randy Randerson said:
I heard Friedman on the radio this morning saying that he thinks Matthews is around 220 right now, might have gained a few pounds since the combine when he was 216 and change
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Oh wow, I was expecting him to have lost a bit of weight with how fast he looks compared to the WHC. That's promising if true, just needs to develop a bit of a mean streak like we saw against Polak now.
 
BusQuets said:
Has Matthews played wing in Switzerland and in the World cup? Will leafs also start him as a winger?
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He'll be a centre 100%, you can see some of that mentality is with him as he kind of drifts down low a bit to act as the 3rd defenseman at times.
 
The Thin White Duke said:
Oh wow, I was expecting him to have lost a bit of weight with how fast he looks compared to the WHC. That's promising if true, just needs to develop a bit of a mean streak like we saw against Polak now.
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I think he spent the whole summer doing crossfit type dryland training (going off of videos that circulated of him in the gym), I guess his weight could go either way pretty easily but he's still 18 so you would think he's got room left to grow

Everything looks positive though, hasn't struggled physically in this tournament at all and has been able to strip pucks on the backcheck regularly. Looking forward to seeing how he does in a regular season game for the leafs
 

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