He should be ltired into the playoffs anyways, but it's Toronto we love playing against the odds while already playing against the odds (a faulty roster).
What If Matthews Isn’t 100% the Rest of the Way?
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Racer88
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DarkKnight
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I don't buy he's injured, he played 26 minutes the other night. If he's hurt, he ain't PKing, on top of his regular minutes, it's not like he essential there anyways. It's between the ears, he's burnt out right now, he has no joy out there. If he's hurt and Berube is playing him that much against the worst team in the league, fire him immediately. The worst.
Thank god someone said it. I honestly thought this would get put to bed after him getting green lighted for the 4 nations but still people are just blatantly ignoring what's in front of them.
Hellcat
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It's not that they dont have the stones, it's illogical to walk away from a close to 100 point guy in Marner and close to a 70 point guy in Tavares and think you'll find that scoring magically on the UFA market. Building a roster is not playing a game of Jenga on easy mode. If they sign Rantanen in the off season that considerably changes the calculus on if you walk from Marner and/or Tavares. Change for the sake of change, thinking that is sure fire bet for improvement, is illogical and irresponsible.
Making the playoffs every year with Tavares/Marner, the big five, is certainly a better option that what Boston is going through right now, and their management group is actually competent, imagine what stupid moves we do next year if we are fighting for a wild card like Boston is. Boston this year is our future without Marner and Tavares next year. What we do needs to be thoughtful, purposeful and effective.
Stephen
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My man. The Four Nations tournament consists of 4 games total and seemed like something he was hell bent on participating in all season long and had to get right for to represent his country.
You don’t skip 25% of that tournament because it’s suddenly not meaningful based on some calculation. Because I wonder what else might be meaningless for an athlete who struggles to find reasons to compete. Plus it’s not exactly like Matthews is clutch when the games are meaningful either.
Complete nonsense response
Several US players were held out of the game vs Sweden because literally no result in the game could have made any difference whatsoever to the tournament. The clear definition of a meaningless game.
Stephen
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Team USA was plowing through the tournament with momentum after beating Canada on the Saturday and went full load management and lost to Sweden. Lost to Canada in the finals too. Maybe those things are connected, maybe not.
There are games with no implications on standings but there’s always meaning in competing and to bring your best to show you are the best. That’s why some superstars hit 150 points a year and still go deep in the playoffs. Because they aren’t circling the calendar for days when they can mail it in.
End of the day, why do fans go games? Why do people invest hours out of their events to watch Game 57 on a Monday night? It’s meaningful. If the best players like Matthews struggle to find meaning in what they do, don’t be surprised if people hesitate to find reasons to invest their time, money and emotion following your team.
It’s such an incredibly flimsy argument using not playing vs Sweden as a means to criticize a player.
It’s hard to have quality conversations with people on here when they manufacture issues to suite their posting agenda like you are choosing to do right now.
It's disgusting to see people bash Matthews for doing what was best for his team. You sit out the completely meaningless game so you're in better condition for the game that actually matters. And he was arguably their best player in the final. Your second sentence perfectly captures what's happening here. I wonder if they also think Tkachuk "struggles to find meaning in what they do" and is "circling the calendar for days when they can mail it in".
Stephen
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The first person to play the “agenda” card usually loses the argument so we can stop this back and forth any time you want.
The Leafs are not championship caliber. Their best players are always questioned for their ability to win because they never win in pressure moments. That’s when it “matters”. Then we have a culture of when it “doesn’t matter”. We have a load management culture and a no-show culture and this all seems so normative.
But the darlings are tired! Come on man. It’s low expectations, low standards and junk results every year.
Stephen
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It's disgusting to see people bash Matthews for doing what was best for his team. You sit out the completely meaningless game so you're in better condition for the game that actually matters. And he was arguably their best player in the final. Your second sentence perfectly captures what's happening here. I wonder if they also think Tkachuk "struggles to find meaning in what they do" and is "circling the calendar for days when they can mail it in".
What a load of crap. Getting load managed for the Sweden game isn’t best for Team USA, it’s throwing away a “meaningless game” because the results don’t matter. And when the results did matter, they lost to Canada. If the guy isn’t playing 4 games out of 4, he’s not playing 7 out of 7. And guess what, he didn’t vs Boston.
Commander Clueless
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If Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Rielly aren't playing their best hockey this postseason, we likely just lose. Pretty simple.
Unless our opponent has similar troubles with their core players I suppose...
Unless our opponent has similar troubles with their core players I suppose...
3blizzard4
Registered User
Even with prime Matthews all these years it has been nothing to write home about.
We are screwed.
Unless the Leafs pull out the reverse UNO card and play gangbusters as they do when Matthews is not the lineup.
So who the hell knows.
We are screwed.
Unless the Leafs pull out the reverse UNO card and play gangbusters as they do when Matthews is not the lineup.
So who the hell knows.
The only "load of crap" is claiming that a player "struggles to find meaning in what they do" and is "circling the calendar for days when they can mail it in" because they were injured and were one of multiple players to sit out a meaningless game in a tournament. The game that mattered was the Canada game. Being in the best condition for that game is what most helps his team. And Matthews was one of the best players in that game.
Sometimes players get injured. That's not a reason to bash them, especially when it's team doctors making the decision. The Sweden game is not comparable to a playoff game. All playoff games matter.
Stephen
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Playing a team like Vegas, which was a benchmark game against a Western contender on the eve of the trade deadline, Matthews says of his team’s effort level, maybe we were looking for an easy game. If that isn’t a country club mentality I don’t know what is.
You. Were. Hoping. It. Would. Be. Easy.
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews on VGK loss: 'Maybe we were hoping for an easy game' | TSN
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews lamented a weak effort from his team in Wednesday night's 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
www.tsn.ca
You know what else is easy, getting load management.
Playing a team like Vegas, which was a benchmark game against a Western contender on the eve of the trade deadline, Matthews says of his team’s effort level, maybe we were looking for an easy game. If that isn’t a country club mentality I don’t know what is.
You. Were. Hoping. It. Would. Be. Easy.
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews on VGK loss: 'Maybe we were hoping for an easy game' | TSN
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews lamented a weak effort from his team in Wednesday night's 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
You know what else is easy, getting load management.
Okay it would be easy? Leafs were playing against one of the best teams in the league..... that seems like a bad comment from a captain...
Tie Domi Esquire
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Nothing. If the Leafs are out early people will say Matthews is hurt. If the Leafs gave some success people will say it's because of Matthews. It's the same thing as every year.
Not looking to offend, but the theme of your posting lately has been undeniable, so you can claim that me calling out your agenda as I see it is me “losing the argument” if you so wish but the reality seems pretty clear to me.
Obviously there are historical problems and I don’t even disagree with everything you’re saying, but imo you are manufacturing an issue where there isn’t one with regards to the 4Nations to support your negative position and a personal attack on Matthews drive and character.
Stephen
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He also lobbied for help at the deadline in the afternoon. So if you’re serious and committed to winning and hitting higher levels and want that GM to invest heavily group, don’t actions and words need to work in tandem, go play the hardest, most serious game vs Vegas? Don’t you as a captain have to come out harder than anyone else?
I don’t doubt he isn’t 100% but I don’t think load management culture is actually the solution here because I don’t see the seriousness in the things he has in his control.
Stephen
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I don’t like our players progression towards a championship and I don’t think they’re serious and expectations vs results they are a disappointment. I can’t be more plain than that in voicing my displeasure at Auston Matthews, his captaincy and his team.
It's ironic how the highest paid player in the league is lobbying for help when he is taking away all the cap space...... Still disappointed how he's never signed 8 year deals with the Leafs. No commitment to the team
Can’t judge them until the glaring hole on the baccend is actually filled it’s been 9 years with the core and it hasn’t been
Now you're just shifting the argument again, without addressing your original comments.Playing a team like Vegas, which was a benchmark game against a Western contender on the eve of the trade deadline, Matthews says of his team’s effort level, maybe we were looking for an easy game. If that isn’t a country club mentality I don’t know what is.
You. Were. Hoping. It. Would. Be. Easy.
You know what else is easy, getting load management.Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews on VGK loss: 'Maybe we were hoping for an easy game' | TSN
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews lamented a weak effort from his team in Wednesday night's 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
For the record, what he actually said is:
"I just thought we were pretty flat at the start and, hey, that's a good team over there," the 27-year-old Matthews said. "They're a standard of the league, and I don't know, I just don't think we came out ready to play. Maybe we were hoping for an easy game."
And what you and the article also left out in pursuit of the soundbyte for your narrative was:
"That's on us. That's a good wake up call for us. The slide here, we gotta regroup and be better here Saturday." Later rejecting the idea of using the schedule as an excuse, or taking consolation in the comeback.
Statements like these after a loss are not abnormal, or indicative of a "country club mentality". Losing a regular season game in March is not abnormal. If you dislike how prepared the team was for this level of opponent, your anger should be directed at Berube, the coach, not an individual player.
Also, playing injured is far from easy.
Stephen
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I think he’s doing his job asking for help from the GM to improve the team.
But don’t you have to also feel the responsibility make sure your team is ready to play the kind of game that tells your GM “yeah let’s move Minten, Cowan and a 1st because these guys are dialled in?”
Like you said the right words but your actions were not correct. For the record I thought they came out pretty well but Will screwed them. But as captain isn’t there a level you want to hold the troops and yourself to when things are 1-0, 2-0?
