Auston Matthews

[Kin]

I'm not worried at all. The key to keeping Matthews will be team success. Crosby, Malkin, Hedman, Stamkos, Toews, Kane and more stars all signed 5 year deals after their ELCs. All of them also had NMC in the 5th and final years. Not one of these stars left their original teams. Tavares was one of the very few. His 2nd contract was for 6 years, with a NMC/NTC in the 5th and 6th years.

"Worried" may have been the wrong word but I think the big exception there is that most of those guys played in places where I don't think it's easy to see a considerable downside. The fact that Tavares was the guy to leave, understandably, I'm not sure makes the point you think it does.

Playing in Toronto has some real downsides. That we know Matthews may have had to deal with. So if there's some concern, it comes from that.

 

[Zee]

I agree.  Other teams have had "succession plans" for captains and have had captains hand over the C at some point.  I think Matthews's next contract will come with him as captain.

Joe Thorton had the captaincy taken away from him and handed to Pavelski while he was with the Sharks.  I think that building a succession plan when it starts to get close to these contract renewals may be a great story.

When Matthews' next contract is set to start, it'll be Tavares's last year so I think the timing would be perfect as a "passing of the torch" type crap.  Of course as others have mentioned it's about team success too.  If the Leafs are still a legit contender by then, and God willing have maybe won a Cup already before his next contract, he'll want to stay and finish his legacy here.  If the Leafs are joke of a team by the time his deal is up, all bets are off.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Knowing Toronto's fanbase demographic... safe was the right choice.

Again, I don't think it's a big deal but knowing Toronto's fanbase demographic, I think smacking them in the face with smart over safe is probably needed to a healthy degree.

It ought to be observed somewhere that Matthews was relatively fresh off the car park mooning incident in Arizona when the captaincy was announced.

 

[herman]

JT staying on @ league min (Spezza style) while Spezza coaches the PP will be amazing.

 

[Kin]

Knowing Toronto's fanbase demographic... safe was the right choice.

Again, I don't think it's a big deal but knowing Toronto's fanbase demographic, I think smacking them in the face with smart over safe is probably needed to a healthy degree.

It ought to be observed somewhere that Matthews was relatively fresh off the car park mooning incident in Arizona when the captaincy was announced.

I think that's what Herman was alluding to in his first response.

Knowing Toronto's fanbase demographic... safe was the right choice. Also, summer drama on the eve of the announcement (which Dubas swears changed nothing).

 

[Kin]

I don't disagree, but I also don't think it would have been fair to make Matthews into that particular cudgel at that stage;

I think that's wildly overestimating the extent to which the Captaincy is seen, among hockey players, as an important community role vs. a position of importance on the team. Besides, much like the idea is true that you don't need a particular letter on your sweater to lead a team I find it equally true that the absence of a particular letter won't shield you from the criticism inbound when you're the most important player on a team.

Like I said, I don't think it's a big deal in the big picture of things and I'm sure that there's a lot of things that went into the decision but if the opinions of the Sun readers who cared about Phil's hotdog habit was the determining factor that would speak much worse to Dubas and how he handled it than just drawing names out of a hat.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Knowing Toronto's fanbase demographic... safe was the right choice.

Again, I don't think it's a big deal but knowing Toronto's fanbase demographic, I think smacking them in the face with smart over safe is probably needed to a healthy degree.

It ought to be observed somewhere that Matthews was relatively fresh off the car park mooning incident in Arizona when the captaincy was announced.

I think that's what Herman was alluding to in his first response.

Knowing Toronto's fanbase demographic... safe was the right choice. Also, summer drama on the eve of the announcement (which Dubas swears changed nothing).

Ah, thanks, missed it.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

I haven't noticed the A on Matthews sweater lately. Is this a choice by Matthews? The team? Am I just not paying close enough attention, and he is still wearing the A when in at home? on the road?

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

I haven't noticed the A on Matthews sweater lately. Is this a choice by Matthews? The team? Am I just not paying close enough attention, and he is still wearing the A when in at home? on the road?

Yesterday:

https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1379281297244364801

 

[bustaheims]

https://twitter.com/jonassiegel/status/1379450446075424775

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I haven't noticed the A on Matthews sweater lately. Is this a choice by Matthews? The team? Am I just not paying close enough attention, and he is still wearing the A when in at home? on the road?

Rielly has the one A, Matthews and Marner still rotate the other. It used to be a home/away split for them but now it looks like they're just changing it every other game. For special jersey nights this season (Reverse Retro, St. Pats) Muzzin and Hyman have been wearing the As.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/jonassiegel/status/1379450446075424775

Still leads the league in goals. He's 5 up on McDavid, that's despite playing 3 less games and the whole wrist thing. 6 goals in the his last 6 games, so looks like the injury problems are behind him. Hopefully he can bring the Rocket home.

 

[ZBBM]

https://twitter.com/jonassiegel/status/1379450446075424775

Still leads the league in goals. He's 5 up on McDavid, that's despite playing 3 less games and the whole wrist thing. 6 goals in the his last 6 games, so looks like the injury problems are behind him. Hopefully he can bring the Rocket home.

PUT THE ROCKET
IN AUSTON'S POCKET

 

[OldTimeHockey]

I haven't noticed the A on Matthews sweater lately. Is this a choice by Matthews? The team? Am I just not paying close enough attention, and he is still wearing the A when in at home? on the road?

Rielly has the one A, Matthews and Marner still rotate the other. It used to be a home/away split for them but now it looks like they're just changing it every other game. For special jersey nights this season (Reverse Retro, St. Pats) Muzzin and Hyman have been wearing the As.

Roger that. Like I said, it was most likely that I wasn't paying close enough attention. I generally don't notice the A's on a team. Doesn't mean a whole lot IMO

 

[bustaheims]

https://twitter.com/mirtle/status/1381027373760581633

https://twitter.com/mirtle/status/1381028648053002241

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

https://twitter.com/mirtle/status/1381031229882036229?s=20

 

[Guilt Trip]

And Matthews does it in 38 games.

 

[Arn]

Lady Byng finalist.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Lady Byng finalist.

And now that other one:

https://twitter.com/PR_NHL/status/1403004428853121039

 

[Kin]

As disappointing as the end to the season was, we really shouldn't overlook just how good a player Matthews is turning into.