CLUTCH Statistics for Auston Matthews

[WordsOfWisdom]

Is Auston Matthews a playoff performer or not? Here is the data using CLUTCH:

Matthews was evaluated based on goals, assists, points, faceoff winning %, and his Corsi For %. Thus, he was evaluated on every key facet of the game.

As we can see from the data above (CLUTCH figures below 1.000 in almost every category), Matthews has yet to prove that he's a playoff performer. His offensive production drops significantly in the playoffs most years.

The last performance tier/level for Matthews to obtain now is that of a superstar in the playoffs. The regular season numbers are fantastic, but he'll never be in the same conversation as other NHL legends until he can get it done in the playoffs.

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[Isaac Nootin]

What a fresh and new idea for a thread!

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

Also keep in mind that I'm not dumping on Matthews. As a Leafs fan, I want to see him play better in the playoffs than he already does in the regular season because it would mean a Cup for Toronto.

 

[shortfuze]

Does anyone really need to see stats to try and prove that he isn’t a clutch performer in the playoffs?

he gets a lot of good chances but as a sniper he needs to bury those chances.

he still has time but he really needs to pick it up.

 

[Dreakmur]

Does anyone really need to see stats to try and prove that he isn’t a clutch performer in the playoffs?

he gets a lot of good chances but as a sniper he needs to bury those chances.

he still has time but he really needs to pick it up.

Matthews has been really good in the last two playoffs. He’s really developed the all around game and the physical aspects that will lead to more success. It’s unfortunate that he was stapled to a complete passenger. Makes it tough when you playing short-handed every shift.

 

[Michael HOMERUNing]

It’s only a matter of time before he explodes. I also think they should play him with Nylander or even Kase in the playoffs. His game changed so much without Marner and in my opinion much more suited for the playoffs

 

[leafsfan5]

It’s only a matter of time before he explodes. I also think they should play him with Nylander or even Kase in the playoffs. His game changed so much without Marner and in my opinion much more suited for the playoffs

Bunting - Matthews - Kase is a good playoff line. Bunting/Kase are scrappy and tenacious enough to dig for the pucks and apply a heavy forcheck. But, they also have the skill to make plays with Matty. I hope Keefe gives them an extended look

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Matthews has been really good in the last two playoffs. He’s really developed the all around game and the physical aspects that will lead to more success. It’s unfortunate that he was stapled to a complete passenger. Makes it tough when you playing short-handed every shift.

Yeah let’s just dogpile on Marner. It’s all his fault Matthews couldn’t score a goal when it counted.

They were both utter trash in Games 5-7

 

[nobody]

There are 2 ways for star players to be effective in the playoffs. Have another player on their line that is going off alongside them to ease their pressure or to have the whole team chipping in with the scoring so teams can't focus on the star players as much. Many teams have had success with both methodologies. No teams have had success when secondary scoring is non-existent and their best player is on the ice with linemates that are also snakebit.

Last year was the first time in a long time the Leafs were going into the playoffs in very good shape and all of a sudden the Tavares fluke injury happens and the Habs get a huge boost knowing they only have to shut down the Matthews line since the other 3 lines (outside of Willy/Kerf) weren't really going. Losing Muzzin on top of it hurt us as well. In the CBJ series, we got absolute shit luck. We can play that series out 100 times and I would comfortably bet on the Leafs absolute demolishing the Jackets. Teams that have playoff success need equal amounts of luck in terms of staying healthy enough to play and having their star players perform up to their norm. Both Auston and Mitch and Willy and even JT have had good playoff performances in their careers thus far but none of them have clicked at the same time. Yes, every team has adversity and has to overcome obstacles and being short-handed and whatnot but there are no teams that can overcome it with crucial players out of the lineup while having no depth performers stepping up. Heck, even the cup fav Avs last season was looking like a juggernaut until Kadri got suspended once again and they didn't have their depth guys come up big enough to compensate. The same players on that team were scoring at career-high paces and helped propel the Avs to be one of the best offenses in the league.

I think we can make noise in the playoffs as long as the team stays healthy and you have guys that can contribute top to bottom. You don't even have to score to contribute, just don't be a useless passenger or worse actively screw the team (ala Galchenyuk/Dermott).

 

[nuck]

They have a pp now so don't have to win every game even strength. As long as that holds he will have more success. I am more worried about Keefe having the stuff than AM.

 

[zeke]

They have a pp now so don't have to win every game even strength. As long as that holds he will have more success. I am more worried about Keefe having the stuff than AM.

Hopefully the PP keeps going as is because I agree with you having a PP that's a true weapon instead of the disgrace it was last playoffs should really not only get them more pp goals but should let them relax a bit and not squeeze as tight at even strength too.

 

[Aashir]

Idk if there are stats or not but you could make this thread for Matthews Marner nylander and Tavares too.

our big boys haven’t lived up to their potential in the playoffs and are anti clutch

but we already know this, hopefully they break that trend this year

 

[shortfuze]

Matthews has been really good in the last two playoffs. He’s really developed the all around game and the physical aspects that will lead to more success. It’s unfortunate that he was stapled to a complete passenger. Makes it tough when you playing short-handed every shift.

For sure. Matthews game has really come along in the regular season and playoffs. My only issue is that he gets paid a lot of money to be a finisher and he hasn’t done that much in the playoffs. If he could get that part of his game going in the playoffs he’d be lethal.

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

Idk if there are stats or not but you could make this thread for Matthews Marner nylander and Tavares too.

I could show the same numbers for Marner, Nylander, and Tavares if people are interested. Then we can analyze the big four.

Not sure if I should put it in this thread or a new thread.

 

[Aashir]

I could show the same numbers for Marner, Nylander, and Tavares if people are interested. Then we can analyze the big four.

Not sure if I should put it in this thread or a new thread.

I’d be very interested in that. We always talk about clutch players and how one specific guy (Marner) is more so unclutch than the other guys.. I’d like to see if that is actually backed up or not.

Tavares I also think goes under the radar sometimes, he was really terrible at finishing in Columbus, dare I say the biggest reason we lost, and from memory, he was only ok against Boston. Good defensively but offensively he also chocked a bit

nylander had an abysmal two year span in both Boston series and was unlucky against columbus, but he felt dominant against Montreal and scored at what felt like “clutch” times

 

[Confucius]

Never let it be said that 32 games is too small a sample size.

 

[Michael HOMERUNing]

I’d be very interested in that. We always talk about clutch players and how one specific guy (Marner) is more so unclutch than the other guys.. I’d like to see if that is actually backed up or not.

Tavares I also think goes under the radar sometimes, he was really terrible at finishing in Columbus, dare I say the biggest reason we lost, and from memory, he was only ok against Boston. Good defensively but offensively he also chocked a bit

nylander had an abysmal two year span in both Boston series and was unlucky against columbus, but he felt dominant against Montreal and scored at what felt like “clutch” times

Matthews and Nylander were both terrible in the 2018 series but picked it up in 2019. For Marner it was the opposite: brilliant in the 2018 series but awful the next year. What was the difference? In the first series Matthews was matched up against Bergeron. Tavares and Marner faced him the next year. Cannot wait until the Bruins do a full on rebuild. How long has it been? The Kessel trade? The Rask one?

 

[makbeer]

How do you determine the CLUTCH statistics?

 

[Aashir]

Matthews and Nylander were both terrible in the 2018 series but picked it up in 2019. For Marner it was the opposite: brilliant in the 2018 series but awful the next year. What was the difference? In the first series Matthews was matched up against Bergeron. Tavares and Marner faced him the next year. Cannot wait until the Bruins do a full on rebuild. How long has it been? The Kessel trade? The Rask one?

Fair, but Matthews was taken away from Bergeron and still didn’t fair any better. Not only that but the Bergeron line tore us offensively too. Didn’t pastrnak have like a 5 point game?

Marner and Tavares, for as much as it’s worth, did decently a job to act as a “shutdown” line. Matthews and Marner did this against Montreal too, but the difference is that it ain’t hard to shutdown danault gallagher and Tatar vs pastrnak Marchand and Bergeron.

from our big 3, excluding Tavares

each has had 1 big series production wise

marner 2018
Matthews 2019
Nylander 2021

Issue is you can see that they did it in different years, and we’ve never had even two produce at above average levels, if 1 does well, the other two don’t. We need all three clicking, and I know it isn’t gonna be easy as they’ll either face Bergeron line, Barkov who’s also very good defensively, or tampa, the scariest of the bunch. These guys gotta step up to the occasion at the same time and will this team to success, they have the talent; they just need the luck mixed with the play

 

[Notsince67]

Matthews has been really good in the last two playoffs. He’s really developed the all around game and the physical aspects that will lead to more success. It’s unfortunate that he was stapled to a complete passenger. Makes it tough when you playing short-handed every shift.

This is pretty dumb

 

[Dreakmur]

This is pretty dumb

The dumb thing was Keefe leaving them together.

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

I’d be very interested in that. We always talk about clutch players and how one specific guy (Marner) is more so unclutch than the other guys.. I’d like to see if that is actually backed up or not.

Tavares I also think goes under the radar sometimes, he was really terrible at finishing in Columbus, dare I say the biggest reason we lost, and from memory, he was only ok against Boston. Good defensively but offensively he also chocked a bit

nylander had an abysmal two year span in both Boston series and was unlucky against columbus, but he felt dominant against Montreal and scored at what felt like “clutch” times

Here you go:

I did the CLUTCH stats for Toronto's "Big 3" of Matthews, Marner, and Tavares. (They are time consuming to do so I omitted Nylander.)

The conclusion? None of Toronto's highest paid forwards perform as well in the playoffs as they do in the regular season.

Matthews experiences a drop in offensive production across the board but isn't a liability on faceoffs or defensive play.
Marner year-over-year can't score goals in the playoffs, although his playmaking is roughly on par with season performance. Faceoffs were ignored.
Tavares (New York Islanders data included of course) tends to decline somewhat all-around. He's the best of these three, but he's not clutch.

 

[Notsince67]

The dumb thing was Keefe leaving them together.

The dumb thing is that Matthew's had a lot of shots and was set up plenty but you think his lack of scoring was somehow Marners fault. This assertion is so horrible, anyone making it should be embarrassed.

 

[Dreakmur]

The dumb thing is that Matthew's had a lot of shots and was set up plenty but you think his lack of scoring was somehow Marners fault. This assertion is so horrible, anyone making it should be embarrassed.

Marner set up Matthews a few times, but he was an absolute turnover machine.

 

[Aashir]

Here you go:

I did the CLUTCH stats for Toronto's "Big 3" of Matthews, Marner, and Tavares. (They are time consuming to do so I omitted Nylander.)

View attachment 493513

The conclusion? None of Toronto's highest paid forwards perform as well in the playoffs as they do in the regular season.

Matthews experiences a drop in offensive production across the board but isn't a liability on faceoffs or defensive play.
Marner year-over-year can't score goals in the playoffs, although his playmaking is roughly on par with season performance. Faceoffs were ignored.
Tavares (New York Islanders data included of course) tends to decline somewhat all-around. He's the best of these three, but he's not clutch.

So what I get from this is:
Matthews creates a bit and doesn’t give up a lot in clutch situations, however he struggles to finish
Marner can’t finish at all, but is still ok offensively and creates more now than his most dominant run in 2018. So a bit of unluckiness on his part there
Tavares is the “clutch” compared to these guys, but it isn’t very good.

They make sense as this mostly reminds me of the eye test. Marner created with passing, no one finished and he had 0 finish himself. Countless times Matthews or Hyman would either blow a chance or be taken out of the play and Marner couldn’t do anything. Matthews goal scoring has been super disappointing the last two runs, with 3 in 12 games, and his goal in Montreal came in one of the two big wins (4-0 or 5-1) so it wasn’t really clutch. Tavares in Columbus has stats that surprise me sort of, from my memory, Tavares might’ve been the most unclutch player I ever witnessed. He blew a whole empty net in game 5, but I suppose that game 4 comeback really boosts all their stats. And the 4 game 7 no-shows also hinder their stats


It’s pretty easy to see that they all have to be better, I’m not sure what an average or respectable clutch_pts is, but I don’t think less than 1 is good. All three have been no where near the level they can and should be at.