I'll get hate for saying this but Duclair is underrated in my book. He's not a great player or anything but he's a good middle six player to have around. He's a good add for them it will make it easier to spread their elite talents in the top 9. Their defense remains highly questionable though.
But listening to some (many) posters here, one would think that Matheson is a root cause of the team's ills. And they point to his hideous +/- statistics. It's a statistic that is one of the more misleading individual indicators in hockey as that statistic is largely a collective (team) one. This mobile, durable player plays 26 minutes a game for a team that is composed of two and half forward lines that are basically AHL level. I suspect Bobby Orr himself would have difficulty maintaining a 'good' +/- with this collection of players.
I am leaning more towards trading Mike Matheson while his value is very high. It's not for personal reasons or because of his performance on the ice, but more to make way for the younger Ds in our farm system that will inevitably make their way to the NHL. Matheson's value should currently be high, his contract is very manageable and should be appealing to other teams (2 years left on it), and I feel like by the time his next contract will be negotiated, it's going to be quite the feat to manage his ice-time and PP deployments when you've got Hutson, Mailloux, etc. coming up in the ranks.
I've actually liked his overall defensive game much better since Guhle has been paired with him.
Don’t be torn. Let him progress and become a valuable trading asset in the near future when he becomes expendable once Fowler arrives.
I can’t argue against such self-interest. But in the grander scheme of things, this one game will have little or no effect on the long term prospects of the team.
I don't see any reason to trade Matheson now. I don't think his value is as high as people think it is. His reputation was not great when we acquired him and it's hard to change that it requires more than just two good seasons. He is under contract for two more years and his highest value i think will be during the summer of 2025 with one year left to his contract and his position as a 50 points offensive dman better cemeted. Trading Savard yeah i was on board with that and i think it should have been done. But there's no hurry to trade Matheson at all. I would not extend him though he'll be too old at the end of his contract and his next contract will surely age as well as Petry.
No wonder the city's called Broome. We're stuck shovelling heavy, white shit from the Gods.
I will believe they are a good team when they win games that matter.
Building the culture starts with winning games and building swagger. These guys imo are not playing loose, they are playing like the games matter.
Not a big fan of "culture". It's a word that was used way too often in the past 30 years to excuse crappy teams.
If I am Fla- Bos, the 2 seed and Toronto looks like a easier path than Tampa in the 1st round. Tampa's deadline moves woke them up. panthers on the other hand went backwards post deadline
