Maple Leafs name Auston Matthews captain
- Thread starter Koivu11
- Start date
I think it’s truly a phenomenon that needs to be studied more….
How someone can read “I am not a fan of Leafs”
And in their head all they read is “GRRR I hate the Leafs more than I like my own team GRRR”
HockeyVirus
Woll stan.
- Nov 15, 2020
- 18,072
- 27,669
Haha yeah I was waiting for this kind of post. What about the other goals that lead them to be able to do that? Matthews lead the comeback in game 5 and then in game 6 scored the opening goal that allowed the game winner to happen... That is just the two games
GMR
Registered User
Tavares becoming a simp.
He needs to go fishing with Mark Messier to strengthen his leadership skills.
He needs to go fishing with Mark Messier to strengthen his leadership skills.
SmoggyTwinkles
Go Leafs Go
Drop the puck already!
It's never like that though. Summertime laughing at the Leafs............
I enjoy it to be honest. But surely there's better things to do?
I'm gonna go do those things.
It's never like that though. Summertime laughing at the Leafs............
I enjoy it to be honest. But surely there's better things to do?
I'm gonna go do those things.
sabremike
#1 Tageaholic
TBH the whole thing was one of the biggest Lose-Lose moves of all time: Tavares wrecked his entire rep to "go home" and ended up roughly as successful as Starbury coming home to the Knicks. The Leafs blew up their entire salary structure to end up with a single playoff series victory. The Trotz Isles likely would've won a cup if he stayed as he would likely have been the difference in either of those Tampa series. The only real winner was Butch Goring, who ended up (deservingly) having his #91 retired as a direct result.
PainForShane
formerly surfshop
- Dec 24, 2019
- 2,783
- 3,225
Ten pages in and y'all have missed the relevant points.
The Leafs, like every other team, are trying to win the cup. "Trade Marner! Why are you running it back... AGAIN??!?!?!" Except they couldn't realistically do that because not only is his salary 10+ million he has a FULL NO MOVE so even if he does agree to be traded (he wouldn't), the one or two teams he'd agree to either have no cap space or nothing of value to the current Leafs roster (ie draft picks won't matter for the next few years anyway). So trading Marner never really made sense on any level, players-wise with the contract situations you kind of had to run the roster back.
So then what? Fire the coach, get a new coach. This is not a bad idea -- Chief won a cup with STL (imo worse roster than the current Leafs), he's a players coach who yells at people which is significantly different than someone like Keefe who's a players coach that doesn't yell at people. Anyone who's ever played on a team knows the coach sets the atmosphere in the room, having Berube instead of Keefe means there'll be more pressure / accountability in the room, who knows if it'll work but might as well try, at the very least it'll be a change.
***
What else can you do? Well, Auston Matthews is one of the best players in the league who at this point has a reputation / history of not getting it done in the playoffs. One dominant playoff season along with 2-3 series wins will change that, but we're not there yet and at this point we may never get there at all.
Why not officially increase his responsibility by giving him the C? This way Berube has someone to yell at when things go wrong, someone who has talent to win games by himself at least in the reg season. Maybe with the added accountability Auston is able to play better when it matters.
***
Also, Tavares is a UFA next year. Everything else aside, it's responsible for him to hand off the Captaincy now, who knows if he'll even be a Leaf in 12 months what a distraction that would be all year. Imo ppl trying to use this handoff as proof that JT is / was a bad captain are out to lunch. If you want to say something around, "Leafs haven't won so obvi JT is a bad leader" that's fine but him giving up the Captain / transitioning to AM34 (who is their best player) during the offseason is the responsible thing to do.
And yes, there are times when this sort of thing happened, other posters mentioned Gretzky and Landeskog. Someone like Tavares giving up the C is unusual but not historically so, especially since the team hasn't been winning in the playoffs.
***
All that to say, the point is the Leafs are doing what they can to try to win, Tavares did his part this offseason, as a neutral I feel like you have to respect offseason moves like this. I'm not necessarily optimistic (these are the Leafs after all) but at this point why not try everything you can? JT giving the C to Auston during the offseason is a good move for the organization
The Leafs, like every other team, are trying to win the cup. "Trade Marner! Why are you running it back... AGAIN??!?!?!" Except they couldn't realistically do that because not only is his salary 10+ million he has a FULL NO MOVE so even if he does agree to be traded (he wouldn't), the one or two teams he'd agree to either have no cap space or nothing of value to the current Leafs roster (ie draft picks won't matter for the next few years anyway). So trading Marner never really made sense on any level, players-wise with the contract situations you kind of had to run the roster back.
So then what? Fire the coach, get a new coach. This is not a bad idea -- Chief won a cup with STL (imo worse roster than the current Leafs), he's a players coach who yells at people which is significantly different than someone like Keefe who's a players coach that doesn't yell at people. Anyone who's ever played on a team knows the coach sets the atmosphere in the room, having Berube instead of Keefe means there'll be more pressure / accountability in the room, who knows if it'll work but might as well try, at the very least it'll be a change.
***
What else can you do? Well, Auston Matthews is one of the best players in the league who at this point has a reputation / history of not getting it done in the playoffs. One dominant playoff season along with 2-3 series wins will change that, but we're not there yet and at this point we may never get there at all.
Why not officially increase his responsibility by giving him the C? This way Berube has someone to yell at when things go wrong, someone who has talent to win games by himself at least in the reg season. Maybe with the added accountability Auston is able to play better when it matters.
***
Also, Tavares is a UFA next year. Everything else aside, it's responsible for him to hand off the Captaincy now, who knows if he'll even be a Leaf in 12 months what a distraction that would be all year. Imo ppl trying to use this handoff as proof that JT is / was a bad captain are out to lunch. If you want to say something around, "Leafs haven't won so obvi JT is a bad leader" that's fine but him giving up the Captain / transitioning to AM34 (who is their best player) during the offseason is the responsible thing to do.
And yes, there are times when this sort of thing happened, other posters mentioned Gretzky and Landeskog. Someone like Tavares giving up the C is unusual but not historically so, especially since the team hasn't been winning in the playoffs.
***
All that to say, the point is the Leafs are doing what they can to try to win, Tavares did his part this offseason, as a neutral I feel like you have to respect offseason moves like this. I'm not necessarily optimistic (these are the Leafs after all) but at this point why not try everything you can? JT giving the C to Auston during the offseason is a good move for the organization
GreeningOil
Yarpmeister
Nemesis Prime
Registered User
Should have been Rielly.
Tavares never should have been handed it just for signing and Matthews is not leadership material.
Tavares never should have been handed it just for signing and Matthews is not leadership material.
FoxYou727
Registered User
and some how the Tavares-less islanders were more successful than the Tavares-led Leafs
Golden_Jet
Registered User
- Sep 21, 2005
- 25,129
- 12,769
Ya seems mature enough now to get it, he ruined his last chance by dropping his pants in front of the female security guard,
Couple deep runs for the Isles but neither team won a cup, most teams don't celebrate losing in the conference finals
Your phrasing was "as a fan of not the Leafs" which is kind of setting yourself up for the ridicule. It's like you're replacing the name of your favorite team with "not the Leafs". Clearly a Freudian slip as you apparently didn't notice.
It could also be that you're in every single Leafs topic lamely dumping on them with all the subtlety of a drunken uncle in a TSN Twitter thread.
FoxYou727
Registered User
GMR
Registered User
Leaf Fans
Registered User
- Sep 29, 2017
- 20,977
- 9,100
Leaf Fans
Registered User
- Sep 29, 2017
- 20,977
- 9,100
This is true. He underwear mooned the security guard, and showed his immaturity at the time.
Chant for Pajama Boy's return to the Island
YOU'RE-NOT-THE-CAP-TAIN (clap clap.......clap clap clap)
YOU'RE-NOT-THE-CAP-TAIN (clap clap.......clap clap clap)
Voight
#winning
This thread tells me Tavares is still living rent free in the heads of Islanders fans 
Rabid Ranger
2 is better than one
My boring take is the Leafs are going to shortly move on from Tavares and the team is now Matthews'. He doesn't strike me as a Messieresque motivator, but neither was Tavares. At worst this won't move the needle much. At best it motivates Matthews to take his game to the next level and help the Leafs break through. He's going to need some help though.
benedictTavares
JT's PJ's'
This thread tells me Tavares is still living rent free in the heads of Islanders fans
