Thing is, even if he scored a hattrick against the panthers in game 7, the result would likely be the same. I feel like Leaf Fans have historically never had higher expectations than of this era. Mats Sundin was never criticized to this level, and the expectations for him seem to be lower. Maybe it’s because social media didn’t exist back then.
The expectations were certainly higher when they had two dynasties 15 years apart.
Totally agree with you, I was just joking on that one but to me, every game 7 I watched from the Leafs the past couple of years, Matthews has been inexistant. Matthews need to show that he does everything to win, I haven't seen that yet. I get that the Leafs needs to change the DNA but letting go Marner and sign Bennett to a 7 years deal close to 9M or so won't solve anything because Bennett is effective in Florida because there is other ''Bennett'' in the team (Tkachuk,Marchand,Greer), if you put everything on his shoulder comes PO time I don't think he will be that effective. Matthews need Marner. If Matthews keep Marner and they bring some puck moving dmen and good gritt on the bottom 6 we might have something. Goaltending is also an issue, I don't think Stolarz is the answer long term.
Salming had the misfortune of playing over half of his career during the Make Believes era.
Salming was a great player. Easily take him over Matthews.
Those guys played hard and honestly played on mediocre teams, they still managed to produce equal/better results than Matthews.
According to Rick Vaive he was a huge drinker and played many games hungover. Have to wonder how much it may have hampered his career (assuming it's true).
He strikes me as another Spezza. World class talent, probably believes he is playing his absolute best but fails to understand he's missing that competitive fire that the all times greats have in any sport.
That’s an excellent comparison. Immense talent. No willingness to fight. Not likeable either. Seeing him posing in his fashionable clothes only makes him easier to not like. If he played tough, no one would blink an eye. But combine his “Dandy” fashion and lack of toughness, and that’s a recipe for a guy to not be well liked.
Bingo.
Yup. If you’re going to strut like a peacock then you better damned sure play like one. Imo there’s a lot of fans who don’t like Matthews because of his “foppish” fashion. Then he plays soft. Not a good combination.
The Hockey Department tells them so I'm sure but he's still a money maker for them, a big name to associate with their brand and so the Marketing Department says "Nope!"
Hard to be a fan when accepting ownership sees the bottom line from the “penny pinchers” as more important in hockey ops than the Coaches, Scouts, and GM views of building a winning roster.
True.
The 92/93 leafs and 93/94 leafs went back to back conf finals on the backs of gilmour, Clark and andreychuk. Between those 2 playoffs, the leafs were 3-1 in game 7’s. That group had killer instinct. Gilmour nickname is even killer. This leaf group has basic instinct.
