Because four guys make so much money (not their fault blame the team for agreeing to it) they have no depth contributions. They have two goals from the bottom six this series if you count Robertsons goal. Coming into last night Matthews marner knies was + 7 at 5 on 5 in the playoffs.
If you look at Florida they have like 9 forwards with 8+ points. Dallas and Edmonton have gotten depth scoring all playoffs. They’ve consistently won their minutes without top guys on the ice
I think it more so has to do with game to game impact especially in game 7 or closeout games. By sheer minutes and PP opportunities you will accumulate points but with that salary and linemates you need guys to take over games.
He’s not as bad as people make him out to be in the playoffs, but 3 goals in 16 playoff games for a guy who has scored 60+ multiple times making $13M is just plain not good enough.
As the highest paid player in the league, he shouldn’t still be tied with cam fowler for points a round after fowler was eliminated.
For years, whenever the Leafs came to Tampa, I would say to my friends, so the Leafs fans could hear, “Hey, how many goals has Auston Matthews scored in the second round?”
The joke, of course, being that the Leafs never made it to the second round during his time.
Now, they’ve made it a couple times, but the joke still works.
That’s pretty much everything you need to know about Auston Matthews.
It’s not just the numbers. It’s the fact that when the going gets tough and it’s crunch time against a real cup contender (not a pretend cup contender like Toronto), Austin and Mitch never show up. They don’t raise the bar in big moments, they shrink. And it’s been that way for years. It’s not like they were snapping the puck around last night getting robbed by Bob. They didn’t show up at all and spent the whole night running around in their own zone. The points come to an extent, but not when they need it most. Ever.
Do you see those 1 and 2 goals?
Hey we’ll take your center here in Nashville.
Why would Marner do this?
Just doesn’t have the clutch gene like McDavid or Crosby. He can score a bunch of goals when there’s no pressure on, but he’s allergic to the playoffs it seems.
Compare those to his regular season results.
After that, compare his playoffs results with players making more than 10M.
It is a real thing.
He has to dig in.
if anything, those numbers actually make him look better than he is. it was the same thing during the Leafs-Habs series. Him and Mitch were mostly non factors. They will get their ~PPG but those points never seem to be for important goals in important moments. Like they’ll get a point on the 3rd goal of a 4-1 win. After the series you’ll look back at their stats and wonder where these points came from because they’ve been invisible the whole series. Unlike a guy like Nylander who always seems to stand out
Leafs main issues are Marner who is not playoff material, and Matthews who seems to always have an excuse in the playoffs for his poor performance (too injury prone?). Regardless you can’t have a 13.6 mil a year capatain/forward who never has any playoff impact. The leafs management tried their hardest to build their team around these stars, we arguably have the best team we had in years; best goallies, defense (Tanev and Benoit are beasts), some depth scoring with Laughton and Loretz, Knies outperforming his line mates on the first line, yet still they have the same issue year over year with the same common denominator, awful and embarrassing playoff performance from Matthews and Marner. You can’t fix it without trading them or letting them go.
Lot of the points are single game performances or 2 or 3 games out of 7. Every year theyll win a blow out 5-1 with 4 pp goals and 20 pts from one line combined and then nothing as they lose next 2 games and bounced.
Oh yes. Everyone is biased against matthews. The media, the fans, the league, every one of them. I just wish they would stop keeping all of his great shots from going in the net. If it weren’t for that bias keeping his shots out of the net, the series would be over.
it’s not about ppg..it’s about showing up and competing when it matters most..leafs franchise & their fans thought giving matthews the C would tilt the needle but it backfired. i never thought someone would be a worse captain than tavares but matthews says hold my beer
Yes he is a playoff fraud.
I mean, he is an often league leading **Goal Scorer** who has scored 3 goals in 16 playoff games.
Its just not good enough.
What I’ve noticed about matthews is that he doesn’t drive the play. He’s not a possession guy where the plays all run through him. Marner and Nylander are closer to that mold. He’s more of a sniper and a trigger man, which is why a lot of the time he’s invisible out there without someone getting him the puck
Back in the old days we had a term for guys like Mathews and Marner. It was ‘Not a winner’. Can’t (or won’t) raise their game. This has been known for a few years now. Tavares has more compete than either of them. So does Reilly, who should. Be the captain. ime to ditch this core and start over.
Compare games 1-3 stats in a series then 4-7, not the total
Unless the Leafs win the Cup in 16 games, we’ll always hear bullshit
Everything you need to know about Matthews and the Leafs is that in his debut NHL game he scored 4 goals and the Leafs still lost 5-4.
This problem goes way deeper than Mathews, there is an institutional blindness in that organisation that is based in the belief that it doesn’t have to learn anything, because it already knows everything.
It’s the best funded hockey organisation on the planet. It is in the epicentre of global hockey excellence. It has access to the very best of absolutely fucking everything. It is the epitome of what Torontonians mean when they say ‘world class’ when they try to manifest a less provincial vibe for the city.
But it can’t learn. It’s rigid, slow moving, convinced it’s right, projecting a confidence no-one believes and that no-one in the organisation can point out because they have to be perfect.
And that’s how you get the same result over and over…
Best thing for those two is to be separated.
Marner is not that good.
I the regular season, Matthews has tons of time and space. He hasn’t been able to adjust to playoff hockey… He has a fantastic shot and release, but in the playoffs, most of his shots are from the perimeter and he has 2 or 3 shit blockers between him and the goal.
I’m not gonna lie, if I’m the Leafs I think I try to trade Matthews.
The page I saw has him at 20th in active player points/game in the playoff (and if I did my math correctly late last night, lower than any regular season other than his rookie year).
That is simply not good enough for one of the highest paid players in the league, on top of seemingly a lack of leadership that should be expected of a captain.
I think his reputation and value around the league is still high enough that Toronto should trade him.
He’s gone scoreless in his last 10 (!) straight second round playoff game. That is BRUTAL for any top six player, let alone the face of the franchise, former 69 goal scorer
If Hellabuck and Matthews were on the same team, would the universe implode?
All of these points (well a majority of them) are in games that are early in series.
Marner and Matthews have no issues filling the net in Games 1 to 4. But when it’s crunch time in elimination games they disappear.
Hell they were up 3-0 against Ottawa and preceded to them get just 2 points a piece the next three games. Sure they connected to score a goal in the clincher but even in that game it was Nylander and old man Patches that elevated and won the game after the Sens tied it in the 3rd.
They are talented as all heck but they just don’t have that beast mode level when it REALLY counts.
He’s the Aaron Judge of the NHL
The leafs fans are not booing him enough. Negativity strengthens him. Rallying cheers weaken him /s
33 comments
Because four guys make so much money (not their fault blame the team for agreeing to it) they have no depth contributions. They have two goals from the bottom six this series if you count Robertsons goal. Coming into last night Matthews marner knies was + 7 at 5 on 5 in the playoffs.
If you look at Florida they have like 9 forwards with 8+ points. Dallas and Edmonton have gotten depth scoring all playoffs. They’ve consistently won their minutes without top guys on the ice
I think it more so has to do with game to game impact especially in game 7 or closeout games. By sheer minutes and PP opportunities you will accumulate points but with that salary and linemates you need guys to take over games.
He’s not as bad as people make him out to be in the playoffs, but 3 goals in 16 playoff games for a guy who has scored 60+ multiple times making $13M is just plain not good enough.
As the highest paid player in the league, he shouldn’t still be tied with cam fowler for points a round after fowler was eliminated.
For years, whenever the Leafs came to Tampa, I would say to my friends, so the Leafs fans could hear, “Hey, how many goals has Auston Matthews scored in the second round?”
The joke, of course, being that the Leafs never made it to the second round during his time.
Now, they’ve made it a couple times, but the joke still works.
That’s pretty much everything you need to know about Auston Matthews.
It’s not just the numbers. It’s the fact that when the going gets tough and it’s crunch time against a real cup contender (not a pretend cup contender like Toronto), Austin and Mitch never show up. They don’t raise the bar in big moments, they shrink. And it’s been that way for years. It’s not like they were snapping the puck around last night getting robbed by Bob. They didn’t show up at all and spent the whole night running around in their own zone. The points come to an extent, but not when they need it most. Ever.
Do you see those 1 and 2 goals?
Hey we’ll take your center here in Nashville.
Why would Marner do this?
Just doesn’t have the clutch gene like McDavid or Crosby. He can score a bunch of goals when there’s no pressure on, but he’s allergic to the playoffs it seems.
Compare those to his regular season results.
After that, compare his playoffs results with players making more than 10M.
It is a real thing.
He has to dig in.
if anything, those numbers actually make him look better than he is. it was the same thing during the Leafs-Habs series. Him and Mitch were mostly non factors. They will get their ~PPG but those points never seem to be for important goals in important moments. Like they’ll get a point on the 3rd goal of a 4-1 win. After the series you’ll look back at their stats and wonder where these points came from because they’ve been invisible the whole series. Unlike a guy like Nylander who always seems to stand out
Leafs main issues are Marner who is not playoff material, and Matthews who seems to always have an excuse in the playoffs for his poor performance (too injury prone?). Regardless you can’t have a 13.6 mil a year capatain/forward who never has any playoff impact. The leafs management tried their hardest to build their team around these stars, we arguably have the best team we had in years; best goallies, defense (Tanev and Benoit are beasts), some depth scoring with Laughton and Loretz, Knies outperforming his line mates on the first line, yet still they have the same issue year over year with the same common denominator, awful and embarrassing playoff performance from Matthews and Marner. You can’t fix it without trading them or letting them go.
Lot of the points are single game performances or 2 or 3 games out of 7. Every year theyll win a blow out 5-1 with 4 pp goals and 20 pts from one line combined and then nothing as they lose next 2 games and bounced.
Oh yes. Everyone is biased against matthews. The media, the fans, the league, every one of them. I just wish they would stop keeping all of his great shots from going in the net. If it weren’t for that bias keeping his shots out of the net, the series would be over.
it’s not about ppg..it’s about showing up and competing when it matters most..leafs franchise & their fans thought giving matthews the C would tilt the needle but it backfired. i never thought someone would be a worse captain than tavares but matthews says hold my beer
Yes he is a playoff fraud.
I mean, he is an often league leading **Goal Scorer** who has scored 3 goals in 16 playoff games.
Its just not good enough.
What I’ve noticed about matthews is that he doesn’t drive the play. He’s not a possession guy where the plays all run through him. Marner and Nylander are closer to that mold. He’s more of a sniper and a trigger man, which is why a lot of the time he’s invisible out there without someone getting him the puck
Back in the old days we had a term for guys like Mathews and Marner. It was ‘Not a winner’. Can’t (or won’t) raise their game. This has been known for a few years now. Tavares has more compete than either of them. So does Reilly, who should. Be the captain. ime to ditch this core and start over.
Compare games 1-3 stats in a series then 4-7, not the total
Unless the Leafs win the Cup in 16 games, we’ll always hear bullshit
Everything you need to know about Matthews and the Leafs is that in his debut NHL game he scored 4 goals and the Leafs still lost 5-4.
This problem goes way deeper than Mathews, there is an institutional blindness in that organisation that is based in the belief that it doesn’t have to learn anything, because it already knows everything.
It’s the best funded hockey organisation on the planet. It is in the epicentre of global hockey excellence. It has access to the very best of absolutely fucking everything. It is the epitome of what Torontonians mean when they say ‘world class’ when they try to manifest a less provincial vibe for the city.
But it can’t learn. It’s rigid, slow moving, convinced it’s right, projecting a confidence no-one believes and that no-one in the organisation can point out because they have to be perfect.
And that’s how you get the same result over and over…
Best thing for those two is to be separated.
Marner is not that good.
I the regular season, Matthews has tons of time and space. He hasn’t been able to adjust to playoff hockey… He has a fantastic shot and release, but in the playoffs, most of his shots are from the perimeter and he has 2 or 3 shit blockers between him and the goal.
I’m not gonna lie, if I’m the Leafs I think I try to trade Matthews.
The page I saw has him at 20th in active player points/game in the playoff (and if I did my math correctly late last night, lower than any regular season other than his rookie year).
That is simply not good enough for one of the highest paid players in the league, on top of seemingly a lack of leadership that should be expected of a captain.
I think his reputation and value around the league is still high enough that Toronto should trade him.
He’s gone scoreless in his last 10 (!) straight second round playoff game. That is BRUTAL for any top six player, let alone the face of the franchise, former 69 goal scorer
If Hellabuck and Matthews were on the same team, would the universe implode?
All of these points (well a majority of them) are in games that are early in series.
Marner and Matthews have no issues filling the net in Games 1 to 4. But when it’s crunch time in elimination games they disappear.
Hell they were up 3-0 against Ottawa and preceded to them get just 2 points a piece the next three games. Sure they connected to score a goal in the clincher but even in that game it was Nylander and old man Patches that elevated and won the game after the Sens tied it in the 3rd.
They are talented as all heck but they just don’t have that beast mode level when it REALLY counts.
He’s the Aaron Judge of the NHL
The leafs fans are not booing him enough. Negativity strengthens him. Rallying cheers weaken him /s