Stephen
Moderator
- Feb 28, 2002
- 81,334
- 58,930
If they don't want the fans to whine, they should show up in the playoffs or not try and take every last dollar so we can sign the help they apparently need in the playoffs.
Matthews is fortunate Marner is small, arrogant, a winger and has no years left on his contract because he has been as bad as him in the playoffs.
It's about winning at the end of the day or at least making runs. Toronto appreciated the f*** out of Mats because he was a warrior who showed up in the playoffs, he and Matthews both didn't/haven't won anything though, but the public perception is different because one guy actually showed up in the playoffs and the other guy not really.
For me, it's simple. Auston Matthews has been fantastic his whole career in Toronto up to this point, walked into contract negotiations, dictated a bespoke length that suits his own ambitions, MLSE gave him the highest AAV in the league and everyone walked away happy with those arrangements.
Now go deliver: be up in the Art Ross race and Rocket race. Be in contention for those individual awards, which fuels team success, and go dominate playoffs like your peer group and get after a championship as captain and standard bearer. Why are we whispering load management and bargaining away regular seasons for a playoff run? The AAV doesn't come down, why should expectations?