didn't wanna say it but yup. They're more concerned about making Nylander change his twitter handle from Snizzbone and desserting Lupul on an island because he's not a married man or telling the players they can't have beards. When you don't give the players an opportunity to build an identity that they can play inspired behind instead of corporate or bullshit, they won't.
This does not at all surprise me as disappointing as it is to hear. Matthews always gave me "big spoiled bitch" vibes. He's always complaining, taking subtle shots, never much accountability, and overall just comes across as an ungrateful person. His post game 6 interview against Ottawa where the first thing that he blurted was whining about the outside noise after beating an average team really said a lot to me about his true character. Compare this with Adam Lowry of the Jets.
His bitching about the fans noise at the arena also speaks to his sense of entitlement. Other players would say they need a reason to cheer and we need to earn it.
Mildly hot take but I've seen this all my life. Matthews parents come across to me as genuinely good people who love their son but also as people who never said NO once to their son. When you do that you often create the worst humans in society who are extremely selfish and annoying to be around. I'm not saying Matthews is anywhere close to the worst humans in society. Overall he's a pretty decent human being who does a lot to help sick kids and so forth. But at the same time it's pretty obvious to see the negative effects from that kind of parenting in him.
This could all be true about Matthews' parents, but it also probably applies to 95% of North American NHLers. I went to high school with a bunch of OHL players, several of whom played 1000+ games in the NHL. Most of them come from decent families and don't play the sport as the only viable path out of their family's socioeconomic conditions (e.g. boxing, basketball, baseball, etc.).
The sheer cost of hockey equipment, ice rink, facilities, etc. sets a pretty strong barrier to cater the game towards certain socioeconomic and demographic groups.
I'd say it's even simpler in that it just comes down to personalities. To paraphrase Teddy Atlas from boxing,
"These guys didn't figure out how to win. They didn't have the resolve to really dig deep into dark, murky waters within themselves and find an extra gear. They couldn't find a way to exorcise their individual and collective demons." It's ok, sometimes your learned life experiences help you with that, sometimes they don't because it's simply your disposition and inner character. The problem is that the core players, just don't have it. Treliving even tried to literally import winners in OEL, Stolarz, Lorentz, and hoped it'd rub off. Or sign sandpaper guys in Tanev and McCabe to cover up these holes, but it didn't work.*
It's just the way it is, and I think the team needs to move on from as many of these players as quickly as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if Marner, Tavares, and Rielly (and Matthews, Nylander) find future success in organisations in which these cultures are more well-established, but they
must go.
Lastly, if you look at Toronto teams over the past 30 years, here's a quick dichotomy of guys who "have it" versus those who don't. It doesn't even mean that they've won the championship or are alpha dogs versus just having that personal drive and extreme determination to win. It's not something that you can measure beyond an "eye test" and gut instinct.
Has It
- MLB: Roy Halladay; Jose Bautista; Roberto Alomar; Chris Carpenter
- NHL: Doug Gilmour; Ed Belfour; Gary Roberts;
- NBA: Kawhi Leonard; Pascal Siakam
Doesn't Have It
- MLB: Vlad Guerrero Jr (jury still out, but trending quickly in one direction);
- NHL: Core Four; Phil Kessel; Jack Campbell;
- NBA: Vince Carter; Andrea Bargnani
p.s. Nate MacKinnon "has it". As does Gabriel Landeskog. As does Mikko Rantanen lol...on-ice talent aside, had that Marner for Rantanen trade actually gone through, it's not a falsifiable claim, but I'm 99% sure the Leafs would be playing Carolina right now. You don't need a team full of it factor guys - but you do need at least one, and it must be a key player.
