What If Matthews Isn’t 100% the Rest of the Way?

[Stephen]

Now you're just shifting the argument again, without addressing your original comments.

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.

You know what a wake up call implies right, it means you were asleep or the assumptions you had were all wrong and you crashed into reality.

The reality being Vegas isn’t an easy team to play against.

 

[Sypher04]

He was asked a direct question and his response was “we feel good about our team (but) this time of year you always see teams adding and you want to add as well.” That’s a very human reaction for a player to have to watching their rivals improve and I don’t see anything wrong with an honest, direct answer

 

[Stephen]

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.

Matthews is obviously not firing at 100% health. But you also have to consider the possibility that his goal scoring crash and inability to shoot has something to do with the rest of the league finding ways to shut down his preferred shooting lanes and angles. To cut down on a goal a game vs the Maple Leafs you just have to apply a Boston playoff coverage on Matthews to make sure he isn’t getting the looks he likes. And he hasn’t had a response this year.

 

[Stephen]

He was asked a direct question and his response was “we feel good about our team (but) this time of year you always see teams adding and you want to add as well.” That’s a very human reaction for a player to have to watching their rivals improve and I don’t see anything wrong with an honest, direct answer

His words are not important and not in question. It’s the actions on the ice that don’t back up the weight of the request to add players to compete for a cup.

 

[Sypher04]

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?

For whatever it’s worth, I’m sure the comments Matthews makes in the room and what he feeds to the Toronto media are quite different.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

If Matthews never finds his goal-scoring touch again like he did for that brief period in January, the least he can do is provide the Selke level defence we know he's capable of. He did it at the 4 Nations, Championship winning OT goal notwithstanding.

It'll be much more difficult to win, but it's not impossible. Lest we forget our only series win in this era came during one of Auston's down years where he "only" got 40 goals. It'll just be on everyone else to provide the offence. Mitch is having what looks to be a career year and the 4 Nations success could be a catalyst to a better playoff performance. Willy is usually good for a decent amount of offence too when healthy, and Knies just keeps improving and has shown he has a playoff clutch gene.

 

[Stephen]

For whatever it’s worth, I’m sure the comments Matthews makes in the room and what he feeds to the Toronto media are quite different.

The only thing that matters is he finds a way to pick up his game, become a high impact scorer and has a big emotional uplift on his team as they go into the playoffs. Wherever his game was at at Game 82 of the 2023-24 season entering the Boston series coming off 69 goals, that’s the starting point. He’s taken many steps back since then and it’s up to him to realize it and do something about it. Has nothing to do with whether we go get a Laughton or a Tanev Jr.

 

[57 Years No Cup]

Well said. You're on fire today Stephen!

 

[keonsbitterness]

Fire him into the sun if he's not. Even 99% doesn't cut it.

 

[Dekes For Days]

You know what a wake up call implies right, it means you were asleep or the assumptions you had were all wrong and you crashed into reality. The reality being Vegas isn’t an easy team to play against.

Every team goes through ups and downs throughout a season. Every team talks about getting wake up calls. They went from facing the worst team in the league to one of the best, and they didn't adjust fast enough. You keep trying to paint these narratives that every common occurrence is indicative of X and Y, but it's not.

And again, if you're directing anger at this towards anybody, it should be Berube, not individual players. Much less one that scored one of our two goals.

 

[indigobuffalo]

If we have Holmberg in the top 6 we’re doing something wrong.

 

[Stephen]

If Matthews never finds his goal-scoring touch again like he did for that brief period in January, the least he can do is provide the Selke level defence we know he's capable of. He did it at the 4 Nations, Championship winning OT goal notwithstanding.

It'll be much more difficult to win, but it's not impossible. Lest we forget our only series win in this era came during one of Auston's down years where he "only" got 40 goals. It'll just be on everyone else to provide the offence. Mitch is having what looks to be a career year and the 4 Nations success could be a catalyst to a better playoff performance. Willy is usually good for a decent amount of offence too when healthy, and Knies just keeps improving and has shown he has a playoff clutch gene.

Very true and insightful but I guess the problem is you don’t actually pay a Selke level guy best contract in the game… And as good as Matthews usually is defensive, he’s prone to some catastrophic breakdowns as a guy who still has his mind on offense. If he ever becomes a primarily defensive center I think there’s going to be a couple more down offensive seasons before he has to make that full commitment to mid career transition.

 

[Rare Jewel]

I'm at a weird spot with Matthews. He needs a big playoff performance, but I'm not sure if he's capable of it.

 

[Stephen]

Every team goes through ups and downs throughout a season. Every team talks about getting wake up calls. They went from facing the worst team in the league to one of the best, and they didn't adjust fast enough. You keep trying to paint these narratives that every common occurrence is indicative of X and Y, but it's not.

And again, if you're directing anger at this towards anybody, it should be Berube, not individual players. Much less one that scored one of our two goals.

We (they) are not every team.

This era of the Leafs had the potential to be the class of the era, managed to choke away a decade of contention on their own BS and judge jury executioner are not winners.

Now they are on some kind of year 5 redemption arc but are on course to go Columbus 2020 and Montreal 2021 again. Same bad habits, same unserious players.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I'm at a weird spot with Matthews. He needs a big playoff performance, but I'm not sure if he's capable of it.

His game is going to fall off faster than Mitch's or Willy's IMO. The chronic injuries are what they are.

 

[Rare Jewel]

His game is going to fall off faster than Mitch's or Willy's IMO. The chronic injuries are what they are.

It's hard to say what his arm injury even is. Is it his wrist, elbow, or shoulder? It is possibly fixable if he gets surgery.

However, my concerns have more to do with his play style and the pace and intensity of it.

 

[Dekes For Days]

We (they) are not every team.

Yeah, most teams are worse than us, and do these things you point at more than us. The dramatic negative perceptions you have do not match what we actually are, and your comments about Matthews were not justified.

 

[Jojalu]

It's pretty simple guys, MLSE does not have the stones to make a drastic change. They'll keep giving the core what they want until they retire, leave via free agency, or demand a trade.

Just sit back and enjoy the cupless ride

It feels like this might be it. I might be reading into what I would do instead of what they are going to do, but I now believe if it goes sideways again they might just go a different way.

Whether it's letting Tavares walk or making a move in the offseason. With the rising cap and some decent guys available as UFA's this might be their best shot to re-tool