Is Auston Matthews One of the Most Overrated Players in Recent History?

[Beneven Stanciano]

This thread reminds me of when people used to ask if Ovechkin was a playoff choker.

Matthews plays an elite two-way game. He generates chances. He's had some terrible puck luck and bad luck playoff opponents. I'd take Matthews all day every day as my number one center ahead of anyone not named McDavid or Draisaitl.

No one ever asked that. OV always has done well in the playoffs, he hits, he scores, he has energy. People used to wonder if he needed to be more responsible and stop goals rather than put them in. Go look at his pts from the playoffs for his career.

 

[Sideline]

No one ever asked that. OV always has done well in the playoffs, he hits, he scores, he has energy. People used to wonder if he needed to be more responsible and stop goals rather than put them in. Go look at his pts from the playoffs for his career.

Check out my join date. I know what people here said about Ovi because I was here when they said it. Many people were critical of his two way play (or lack thereof), but there were also plenty of people that just outright called him a choke artist.

 

[Beneven Stanciano]

I hate making excuses for Matthews, especially since I do consider him mentally soft, but he’s clearly injured. Missed time this year, went to Germany and his overall on ice demeanor shows it.

Kudos to him for being productive defensively, even winning a good amount of faceoffs last night, but the guy is clearly hurt.

Clearly hurt, which is affecting his shot in a big way, but feeling well enough to dominate faceoffs.

Hurt enough for fans to use the excuse, not hurt enough to sit out the 4 nations, or rest up for the playoffs when they were in division lead.

If it was a wrist or upperbody injury, you'd think that'd effect draws too. If it was lowerbody you'd think it'd hamper him defensively. I just think the dude has no heart.

 

[Beneven Stanciano]

Check out my join date. I know what people here said about Ovi because I was here when they said it. Many people were critical of his two way play (or lack thereof), but there were also plenty of people that just outright called him a choke artist.

Dude, that is one SICK ASS join date, thanks for pointing that out. I'll show my pals later.

No one ever thought OV didn't bring it in the playoffs.

 

[JKG33]

Playing Boston/Tampa/Florida every year will cause a dip in production.

They play defense and have goalies in the East.

The Hurricanes had the same problem. People talk about the scoring in the playoffs. Yeah, Shesterkin and Bobrovsky and Vasilevskiy will do that. If they were playing Stuart Skinners every round, they'd be doing just fine.

Guys got paper skin and glass bones, he wouldn't survive a series in the far more physical west long enough to put up the points you think he would

 

[shello]

Clearly hurt, which is affecting his shot in a big way, but feeling well enough to dominate faceoffs.

Hurt enough for fans to use the excuse, not hurt enough to sit out the 4 nations, or rest up for the playoffs when they were in division lead.

If it was a wrist or upperbody injury, you'd think that'd effect draws too. If it was lowerbody you'd think it'd hamper him defensively. I just think the dude has no heart.

I’m no leafs or Matthews fan, so I can’t speak to his poor decision making. But clearly it’s something, maybe back. Who knows really, could easily be lack of heart like you said

 

[CostaRica]

Yes a bit also dresses like a clown

 

[Bouboumaster]

I'm a Leafs hater as much as the next guy, but no lol

Well, it depends where you have him I guess?
If you think he's the best player in the World, than yes
If you have him between 5 and 10, than no

 

[Martin Skoula]

Has any other player had their shot and shot alone deteriorate because lack of heart? Like is the argument that he’s actively choosing to shoot worse because he doesn’t want to try hard on just that one skill due to character issues?

 

[Another Empty Netter]

This thread topic has achieved
Babcock-level pettiness

 

[TheDoldrums]

All this yapping for a guy over PPG while playing good defense and winning his minutes on a team leading their playoff series in the 2nd round

 

[Lshap]

Let say it, 34 is not playing like expectation.......

His 2 way game is ok, but he is nowhere an Offensive threat against Florida. All were comparing him to Oilers 97...... IMO he currently does not belong in the same sentence and is not close of being the Leafs 2025 PO best player.

Can he be -: yes. can he make me eat crow - yes. But right now, IMO his play is OK but IMO he is not Leafs current engine, He is a follower.

I do think he again underperform in the PO.

I agree – Matthews isn't in the same tier as McDavid. But I don't hear many Leafs fan claiming he is, so how is that relevant to this thread?

Is he the best Leafs player? Depends how you define "Best". He's been dealing with an injury and his goal-scoring has fallen off, however he's compensated with a smarter two-way game and become the Leafs captain. His role has changed and Toronto is having a more successful playoffs. Maybe those two things are coincidental; or maybe they're linked. Either way, Matthews is still a star player who remains Toronto's most important player on many levels. I don't see how that makes him overrated, unless I missed a bunch of over-the-top posts about him.

 

[GlitchMarner]

This thread reminds me of when people used to ask if Ovechkin was a playoff choker.

Matthews plays an elite two-way game. He generates chances. He's had some terrible puck luck and bad luck playoff opponents. I'd take Matthews all day every day as my number one center ahead of anyone not named McDavid or Draisaitl.

I'm a Leafs fan and I'd swap Matthews for MacKinnon for a playoff run without hesitation.

 

[Dolemite]

Auston Matthews is a paper tiger.

He has 3 goals in his last 17 playoff games.
2 of those goals were complete flukes.

For being paid 13.5 Million, he is completely overrated, and can't overtake a game offensively like Draisaitl, MacKinnon, Kaprizov, McDavid, Kucherov, Rantanen, etc.

Update**

He has 0 Goals in the Last 8 playoff games vs. Florida.

He isn't even a threat offensively to the Panthers, they leave Matthews wide open during the PP. He just stands there and does nothing.

Matthews is being outplayed by Max Domi and Max Pacioretty offensively this playoffs.
90% of his points are from secondary assists that are completely meaningless

Wrong.

Playoff 101 - when opposing teams come up with game plans against the leafs, who do you think they’re going to target?

Their top scorers.

Once they’re shut down, the Leafs historically have not had enough talented depth to score.

This has been the Leafs GM architecture for eons.

 

[cowboy82nd]

The guy is an incredible two-way player. He's won a Hart trophy and a Rocket Richard trophy. Shame on whoever calls him overrated!

We're glad to have him.

I’m sorry, but you could be the greatest talent in the game and still be overrated.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Wrong.

Playoff 101 - when opposing teams come up with game plans against the leafs, who do you think they’re going to target?

Their top scorers.

Once they’re shut down, the Leafs historically have not had enough talented depth to score.

This has been the Leafs GM architecture for eons.

You do have a point there, but this playoff year their depth guys (and defensemen) have scored some big goals in the playoffs.

Matthews seems to be hurt and can't shoot normally, but he needs to find a way to put some pucks in the net. He was still a 30+ goal scorer in the regular season. The TOR/FLA series has been high-scoring and the goalies haven't been great. AM needs to put the puck in the net.

 

[Fatass]

I hate making excuses for Matthews, especially since I do consider him mentally soft, but he’s clearly injured. Missed time this year, went to Germany and his overall on ice demeanor shows it.

Kudos to him for being productive defensively, even winning a good amount of faceoffs last night, but the guy is clearly hurt.

I remember watching great Leafs’ centres like Keon, Armstrong, Sittler, Sundin, Gilmore play when they were clearly injured. They still played hard and competed in every battle. But we knew little of them outside of the rink.
Imo Matthews’ public persona is one a lot of people don’t like. (He dresses foppishly) And that dislike impacts their opinion of him as a player. Not fair, of course, but it’s the new world of social media.

 

[Bradely]

I remember watching great Leafs’ centres like Keon, Armstrong, Sittler, Sundin, Gilmore play when they were clearly injured. They still played hard and competed in every battle. But we knew little of them outside of the rink.
Imo Matthews’ public persona is one a lot of people don’t like. (He dresses foppishly) And that dislike impacts their opinion of him as a player. Not fair, of course, but it’s the new world of social media.

For me, no correlation. I do beleive Mathews seems like a fine gentleman, and a good person.
I just thought he would be much better. His compete level for me, is subpar for the kind of talent he has.

 

[Bocephus86]

Matthews is the best 3rd line center in NHL playoff history IMO.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

I remember watching great Leafs’ centres like Keon, Armstrong, Sittler, Sundin, Gilmore play when they were clearly injured. They still played hard and competed in every battle. But we knew little of them outside of the rink.
Imo Matthews’ public persona is one a lot of people don’t like. (He dresses foppishly) And that dislike impacts their opinion of him as a player. Not fair, of course, but it’s the new world of social media.

his play is foppish when it gets hard