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8

u/DessertRose17 15h ago

I want more from Matthews.

2

u/ilovetrouble66 Ekman-Larsson 10h ago

This is him now. I know everyone says it was Bérubé, it was the injuries, it was because he lost Mitchy but the true stars in this league perform no matter what. He doesn’t seem to have the passion anymore and doesn’t want to get injured so plays way less aggressive. His shot doesn’t seem the same.

7

u/Grand-Amoeba1832 12h ago

In his 69 goal season he had 6 goals after 3 games. Just a tidbit of info. And he was dominant out of the gates. Not seeing that anymore.

7

u/123jazzhandz321 14h ago

I think unfortunately he’s no longer in that Hart tier of player, he’s still a 1C but more in the way that Sebastian Aho or Brayden Point are 1Cs.

0

u/Particular_Air_3598 14h ago

This sucks so much since we didn't do anything in his prime and it's going to suck even more when we give him 20 million next contract

-2

u/DialedDrawback 13h ago

He's not sticking around after his current deal expires unless we get past round 1(maybe round 2) this year, and I don't think we're getting past round 1 this year without Matthews being a 90 point player.

I won't fixate on goals since Marchenko has the potential to get Matthews a lot of assists, but my point still stands.

8

u/TheGapInTysonsTeeth 13h ago

It's pretty interesting that he would choose to leave for them not hitting an expectation that he himself was largely responsible for them not hitting.

That's basically the same as choosing to leave in my view.

That's why I think he actually stays

0

u/DialedDrawback 12h ago edited 12h ago

Why's it interesting? Matthews can have a good enough season for us not to pin it entirely on him, and they still fall short. Then Auston has to look around and ask if management can add the peices needed to win in the years ahead.

Otherwise, why would he stay? If he really wants to be here, then great. But as good as it is that he wants to be a Leaf, he's supposed to have the competitive fire to want to win more.

Sadly, we have the same shortcomings on the blueline we had 5-6 years ago, and now we have looming issues at centre as JT ages, Bob ages, Tanev ages, and we're 3-4 years away from developing a legit top 6 centre if we're extremely lucky(TLK or Hopkins) without trading assets we will eventually want else where in the lineup(Danford, Cowen, etc.).

Auston may have to come to the conclusion that they won't be able to build a winner around him for another half decade unless they get lucky in free agency.