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The "Mr. T" Man of the Match Thread, 2016-17 Edition + PLAYOFFS!!!

I'd have to go with Matthews myself.  Andersen was very good, and for stretches he played at an elite level for goalies, but overall he provided the Leafs with #1 starter minutes, which is what you want from your #1.  He didn't set records in his performance like Matthews did.  Being the first rookie since Ovechkin to score 40, that's quite the feat.  Ultimately, without Matthews or Andersen, Leafs aren't where they are today, but I think Matthews gets the nod for the records alone at age 19.
 
I understand people not picking him, but for me Kadri absolutely needs to be in the discussion for MVP. Only 8 less points than Matthews, while playing in a much tougher role defensively and playing with slightly worse linemates (they both had to carry a LWer offensively although Komarov is better than Hyman, but Matthews had almost twice the amount of time with Nylander than Kadri did). Basically the same possession numbers too despite all that.

I think that both had incredible seasons and Matthews finishing tied for 2nd in the league with 40 goals at his age is absolutely insane, but I feel like Kadri's role on the team helped allow Matthews to have the season that he did, not the other way around. Maybe Matthews still deserves the MVP regardless, but I'd put Kadri slightly ahead of Andersen on my ranking.
 
Our voting turned out pretty accurate.

PotY: Matthews
HMs: Kadri, Andersen, Nylander
Really good seasons: Marner, Brown, Bozak, JvR, Gardiner, Rielly, Zaitsev, Carrick
Strong Stretches: McElhinney, Hunwick, Polak, Hyman, Leivo

Head rubs: CarltonTheBear, Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate, Zee for grinding out the seasons leading up to this one and sticking with the process.

I was going to vote for Matt Hunwick, for scoring more even strength pts than Shea Weber, or Matt Martin, for being the latest of 11 forwards in the history of NHL stats to record fewer than 10 pts in 82 games played (Colton Orr did it twice before! - hat tip r/leafs) while being our most expensive player per minute of ice time played. #HermanBeingHerman
 
herman said:
Our voting turned out pretty accurate.

PotY: Matthews
HMs: Kadri, Andersen, Nylander
Really good seasons: Marner, Brown, Bozak, JvR, Gardiner, Rielly, Zaitsev, Carrick
Strong Stretches: McElhinney, Hunwick, Polak, Hyman, Leivo

Head rubs: CarltonTheBear, Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate, Zee for grinding out the seasons leading up to this one and sticking with the process.

I was going to vote for Matt Hunwick, for scoring more even strength pts than Shea Weber, or Matt Martin, for being the latest of 11 forwards in the history of NHL stats to record fewer than 10 pts in 82 games played (Colton Orr did it twice before! - hat tip r/leafs) while being our most expensive player per minute of ice time played. #HermanBeingHerman
Click to expand...

Is that really true about Hunwick or are you just hermaning us?
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Is that really true about Hunwick or are you just hermaning us?
Click to expand...

Oh, it's very true. Hunwick had 19, Weber 18. Hunwick played a few less games too IIRC.

Hunwick also had just 3 less even-strength points than Rielly.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Is that really true about Hunwick or are you just hermaning us?
Click to expand...

Oh, it's very true. Hunwick had 19, Weber 18. Hunwick played a few less games too IIRC.

Hunwick also had just 3 less even-strength points than Rielly.
Click to expand...

https://twitter.com/atfulemin/status/851064710938152962
www.twitter.com/atfulemin/status/851064710938152962

Basically, we could have traded Hunwick for Taylor Hall or PK Subban+.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
So the conventional wisdom about Hunwick wasn't so wise.
Click to expand...

You probably couldn't see it, because it's over the Internet and my face is opaque, but that was tongue in cheek :) And the point was to point out that those two vaunted trade pieces were as productive as Hunwick at 5-on-5.

Hunwick had a nice turnaround from his injury-riddled start. Polak too, I guess, when Hunwick was able to make his assignments and Polak started to skate with the puck more, rather than icing it on contact. I think the learning curve on the defensive scheme was higher for them as well (old dogs, new tricks), but I liked the way they played down the stretch.

Would've been nice to see some other players get those chances earlier on so we'd know what we had in Marincin and Corrado/Marchenko, but I get that Babcock was using the vets on the third pair to shelter the younger defensemen in the top 4 from the more thankless assignments and those bubble defensemen were still in pupal form.
 
OK, let's extend the thread into the

PLAYOFFS!!!!!!!!! WAAAAAAAHOOOOOOO

by zero-ing out everyone.

MotM/Win MotM/Loss HonMen Accolades Times Voted Points
Forwards
24 Bryan Boyle 0 0 0 0 0 0
42 Tyler Bozak 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Connor Brown 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 Eric Fehr 0 0 0 0 0 0
33 Frederick Gauthier 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 Zach Hyman 0 0 0 0 0 0
32 Josh Leivo 0 0 0 0 0 0
43 Nazem Kadri 0 0 0 0 0 0
28 Kasperi Kapanen 0 0 0 0 0 0
47 Leo Komarov 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 Mitch Marner 0 0 0 0 0 0
15 Matt Martin 0 0 0 0 0 0
34 Auston Matthews 0 0 0 0 0 0
29 William Nylander 0 0 0 0 0 0
26 Nikita Soshnikov 0 0 0 0 0 0
18 Ben Smith 0 0 0 0 0 0
25 James van Riemsdyk 0 0 0 0 0 0
 
Defensemen
8 Connor Carrick 0 0 0 0 0 0
51 Jake Gardiner 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 Matt Hunwick 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Alexey Marchenko 0 0 0 0 0 0
52 Martin Marincin 0 0 0 0 0 0
46 Roman Polak 0 0 0 0 0 0
44 Morgan Rielly 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 Nikita Zaitsev 0 0 0 0 0 0
 
Goalkeepers
31 Frederik Andersen 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
30 Antoine Bibeau 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
35 Curtis McElhinney 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
40 Garret Sparks 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
BTW I just went back to the start of the thread and had a good laugh reading the votes for Game #1.  Talk about a no-brainer.
 
Wow, tough one to pick.

MotM: Polak on behalf of all the D.
HM: Andersen, despite the 2 weak ones.

Nods to the whole team.  Let's build on this.
 
MotM: Polak
HM: Marner

Head rubs: Andersen, Rielly, Gardiner, Carrick, Hunwick, Marincin, Kadri, Komarov, Brown, Bozak, JvR, Matthews, Nylander, Boyle, Kapanen
 
herman said:
MotM: Polak
HM: Marner

Head rubs: Andersen, Rielly, Gardiner, Carrick, Hunwick, Marincin, Kadri, Komarov, Brown, Bozak, JvR, Matthews, Nylander, Boyle, Kapanen
Click to expand...

In your face, Hyman and Martin.
 
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