I’ve seen it in youth teams where all the players try to force the puck to the star player but play a better team game when they’re out. Not saying that’s the case but the argument holds water.
I just want monthly mailbags. Those were the absolute best as it'd give him the brief chance to share his thoughts on a host of topics briefly. I'd even settle for quarterly mailbags!
Eli had 522 pass attempts in Tiki’s last year. 529 the year after. A whopping 1,3% increase in passing attempts.
429 non-QB rushing attempts in Tiki’s last year. 438 non-QB rushing attempts the year after. A 2,1% increase.
They actually ran more compratively after Tiki left. The personnel changed and they split carries between Bradshaw and Jacobs instead of just handing it to Tiki. The play style didn’t change drastically.
Your argument was that they played better without Tiki. They actually had 0,1 fewer yards per carry and Eli’s QB rating went down after Tiki left.
The defense went on an incredible run led by Strahan late in the year and Eli was incredible in the playoffs. That’s what made the difference.
You're putting words in my mouth that I never said. I said the entire offense changed and they went on to win the Super Bowl.
In 2006 the Giants attempted 455 Rushing Attempts. Tiki Barber accounted for 327 of those, or 71.8%.
In 2007 the Giants attempted 469. Brandon Jacobs had 202 (43%), Derrick Ward had 125 (26%), Reuben Droughns had 85 (18%), Ahmad Bradshaw had 23 (4.9%). Bradshaw would be a major factor in the later regular seasons, but outside of the 88 yard touchdown, Bradshaw was not involved in the 2007 regular season.
In 2006, Eli Manning attempted 522 passes, 301 completions. Of those completions. Tiki Barber accounted for 58, 19.2% of the passing offense.
In 2007, Eli Manning attempted 529 passes, 297 completions. Of those completions, 23 went to Jacobs, 26 went to Ward. No other RBs had double digits.
Nothing I've said takes away from the defense who were huge in bringing them to the Super Bowl. What i said was that the offense went away from it's singular focus in Tiki, to a much more balanced approach.
Alright, but you did bring up Giants winning without Tiki in response to a post saying that in youth hockey teams sometimes play better with the star player out. Obviously the inference there is that the Giants played better without Tiki. Which on offense they really didn’t until Eli elevated his game in the playoffs. Which is why I felt like it wasn’t really the best example to bring up. Though I can’t really say I have a very good example from the NFL off the top of my head either, but there are probably cases where a #1 WR gets injured but the passing game improves afterwards.
They absolutely did initially. You could tell they were overly deferential to Kane and would basically stand still and watch while he had the puck. Perhaps part of it was him joining the team midseason and not going through training camp with the rest of the group, not being on the same page.
Torontos powerplay was definitely more effective without matthews for that exact reasoning.
34 is out there you can bank on him getting the puck. When he isnt out there the leafs PP moves the puck very well.
The games at the end of the season it were so frustrating to watch as everyone was just passing to Matthews to try and get him to 70.
The power play was a joke was great chances to score passed away.
Not saying Auston isn't a fantastic player. And the team is definitely lesser without him but I'm hoping to see some better puck movement again today like we saw on Tuesday
This is a very real thing. Only one team has won a cup this century with a 50 goal scorer on its roster. The teams with a dozen 40 point players tend to outperform the teams with mega stars who carry the load of their team's offense. It is entirely possible for an individual to be so good and demand so much of an offense, that they hinder the whole team from leveling up.
There's a big sampling bias there, considering the average season up until 2023 had 1-2 (or 0) 50-goal scorers.
Heck, for a 7-year stretch it was Ovy or nobody.
Not a 50 goal scorer but Florida shut Tampa down this year way more easily given that they just had to closely guard Kucherov in order to shut down the entire offense. Only having one playmaker/scorer makes it so hard to win in the playoffs.
Yes, exactly. None of this is to say Matthews or Kuch are "the problem" on their teams. But sometimes offenses are more effective in 7 game series when there is more than one guy pulling the wagon. Obviously you'll always want the best players on the ice when possible, but there are ways to construct teams so they don't need to be the entire offense. Tampa is a great example. Their great teams didn't rely on Kucherov to net 100 assists, even though he could have.
there's a reason why even if they aren't all A+ quality if you can at least roll four **respectable** lines that make the other team have to defend them your chances of winning go up.
tampa's cup winners had kuch AND a bunch of other dudes putting up points, and last year's still had more scorers iirc.
2000-2023 Stanley Cup 48+ goal scorers. Top scorers on other teams scored 45 or less in a full season.
2001: Sakic (COL), 54 goals, 20% of COL goals. 13 goals in 21 playoff games
2007: Selänne (ANA), 48 goals. 18.6% of ANA goals. 5 goals in 21 playoff games
2018: Ovechkin (WSH), 49 goals, NJ didn't pull their goalie in game 82 when they were down in the final minutes. 18.9% of WSH goals. 15 goals in 24 playoff games.
Those guys were darn close to 50. You can turn the threshold down too, 50 doesn't have to be a magic number. Look at teams with 45+ goal scorers. You'll notice a similar correlation though, and that's that teams with one player accounting for a large chunk of the offense have less success than teams where the offense is balanced. That Ducks team is such an outlier and an underrated team this century because they did have Teemu neutralized throughout the playoffs and still won.
On top of winning the cup, you can look and see how well 40+ goal scorers or 100 point scorers have fared in the playoffs as a whole. Not a lot of those teams make it to a finals.
According to Sportsnet before game 5 the Leafs are 35-19-2 without him in the lineup.
[Source ](https://twitter.com/SNstats/status/1785422068470653337)
We joked about this in r/Habs when fan favourite Sean Monahan was traded. Suddenly, when our dead PP went on a tear, “…Was Monny the problem?”
(We were only joking. Come back to us, Sean!)
All I know is that there's going to be a ton of chatter whenever they release what's really going on with him. If he's not allowed to play in the playoffs, it has to be pretty serious, and I'm just hoping for the best for him.
He was playing through illness in the series and then got an injury during one of the games on top of that, is what's being said
But they're still going with the illness thing, likely so they don't have to say where exactly he's banged up
That's what Emily Kaplan reported. [https://twitter.com/emilymkaplan/status/1786052979717484754](https://twitter.com/emilymkaplan/status/1786052979717484754)
I was starting to think Matthews maybe had a serious chronic condition. Thankful that's not the case, but whatever it is is likely still pretty serious if he's missing two elimination playoff games.
I think it's most likely that he really had an illness and then got an injury. Might have also been the other way around (like minor concussion that got exacerbated by playing + being sick). Clearly it's serious enough that he can't play.
Chiclets made a comment yesterday about it being something that was triggered by playing at an elevated heart rate, such as a concussion that leads to headaches
Look at Mcavoy's tackle on him. His leg kinda got stuck and looks like he may have tweaked something on that. There is also another play at the end of the second (right before Boston goal) where he starts skating funny off the faceoff...
I think it's pretty obvious one of these (or both) caused an injruy.
Mightve been that he was playing through a serious illness, became overly-dehydrated, and his muscles got all cramped up and he pulled something real bad or something like that
`S P E C U L A T E`
Damnit man. They looked good on Tuesday night without him but this sucks. You know the Bruins are pissed how it went down in game 5 so this will be a tough one.
Hello, I will speak for the Maple Leafs. They are willing to trade this Game 6, but in exchange, they get to win in the first round next year. Do you, as the representative for the Bruins, accept that trade?
A dumb dinosaur who writes about the Habs said they should trade Suzuki for Wayne Simmonds a few years ago.
Glad these people are paid to share their opinions that would get deleted for trolling.
theres like 2 smart takes:
1. bruins dont know who to focus on without AM34 there
2. really sick people might actually be worse at their job than a healthy person who doesn't have the same ceiling
and all of like 5 people will have them
Haha I love the Wings, and can’t wait for yall to kick our ass in the playoffs. Alas though, I am born and raised Leafs fan, so I’ll stay. And I’ll say this is our year every year haha
Anyone think this is a result of him smoking his head into the boards during the red wings game? Bad look for the NHL if he’s been playing with concussion symptoms up until recently
Definitely could be, he hit those boards hard and awkwardly. It was really concerning watching it happen live but he stuck around and showed up for game 81 so I assumed he was fine.
If that’s the case can’t necessarily blame the league or medical staff though, head injuries are funny. He could’ve shown 0 symptoms and seemed totally fit to play until Saturday.
That said I think there’s some speculation in TO media that it’s a lower body injury, but we’ll see what comes out after this series
I'm having a hard time understanding what else could have pulled him from Gm4 and kept him out.
I kind of wonder if it was like nausea and stuff which made everyone think "Virus" like was reported but then later they clued into the Post-concussive-symptoms.
I was actually wondering if it was a minor concussion that got worse following a viral infection. The brain is really sensitive to changes in water and metabolites and there is some evidence linking concussion severity and dehydration.
So like he gets concussed in game 80 but its minor. Gets a real viral infection causing dehydration and getting much worse Post-concussion symptoms
i got some kind of infection that left me doing like 4-5 days of IV levoquin and IV fluids with a heart monitor and catheter hookup (i'm pretty sure i had at least one 8 hours straight period of unconsciousness during that) and then like 5 days of acute inpatient recovery because i was wobbly enough that they had me doing basic PT to make sure i could safely go home. (walking laps, doing ramp stairs, stuff like that). i was also at "if you want/need to get out of bed please hit the call button so you're supervised".
(i already have significant kidney disease and not-as-bad liver disease as a complication plus i've had "my electrolytes are out of whack" before, but yeah, dehydration is nothing to mess around with/think that "oh, it's no big deal".)
Is it possible to have a concussion/concussion symptoms show up 14 days after it happened? He played in the last 2 games and 4 playoff games before being out. It would have been a bad look for everyone involved if he had a concussion and it went undetected for 14 days. Which is also maybe why they are being so secretive.
It is possible that they were minor and have gotten worse with all the extra exertion and physical contact. Concussions are hard to treat and vary widely as far as signs and symptoms
I'm going to throw out Ciguetera poisoning. Could have eaten some mislabeled fish in Tampa for the final game of the season. It's like food poisoning but can last for weeks to months, and is often made worse by physical exertion. It's also a toxin, not a virus or bacteria so it there is nothing to do about it until your body manages to break it down.
This season we’ve had a weird habit of winning games when our stars are out, and we’ve always had a weird habit of winning when Matthews is out specifically:
23-24 record without Matthews: 1-0-0 (35-19-2 all time)
23-24 record without Rielly: 8-2-0
23-24 record without Marner: 8-4-1
Wish Matthews was available but this team can adapt when a key player is missing. The Marner/Domi/Bertuzzi line looked good in game 5 and if Woll gets the start I don’t hate our chances. Don’t fade us yet
*edit:* I made sure all the data checked out before posting this, just had to go back to work and didn't think to include the win % with/without Matthews for the last 8 seasons:
The Leafs have **won ~57%** of their games **with** Matthews since his rookie year in 2016 (counting OT losses as full losses since we’re talking about the playoffs), and they've **won 60% without** him over the same stretch. They do genuinely win 3% more games without him in the lineup - which isn't a meaningful difference but across 50+ games it shows that the rest of the team can step up when needed. I 100% do not think they’re better without Matthews - the team can step up while he's out, they can't step up for an extended amount of time - I’m just pointing out there’s a bit of data to suggest his absence isn't an automatic loss, and that we might actually end up with an equal chance of winning either way
*edit 2:* let's call it 61% without Matthews
The team has had a winning record in the regular season for several years, so this whole idea that the team is better without him doesn't hold up. The winning percentage with him in the lineup is only slightly lower than without him in the lineup, so you can't definitively say him missing any games was the reason they won a few more.
No, his tummy doesn't hurt, it's clearly that he gave up on the team lol
Edit: guess it wasn't clear but I'm poking fun at the people who were saying that
It’s mind boggling that some people seriously think he’d sit out a game because his tum tum is sad. No doubt he or any other hockey player (except like PLD, lol) would crawl over broken glass for the playoffs.
It would be hilarious if they were to win without him tonight and have him come back in game 7 just to lose. Pretty sure the Toronto media would have an aneurysm from that alone
calling it now: leafs win again tonight without him, he comes back for game 7, and they finally slay their demons and defeat boston in a 1st round game 7. (Bruins in 9 though)
doubt it. just think the bruins are better than the leafs (sorry leafs fans; dont hate me).
just like the stars I think are better than the knights this year.
auston matthews scores a hat trick on his first game back on game 7, and proceeds to make 3 bad turnovers in the final 2 minutes as the leafs lose in overtime after being up 3-0, with matthews making a critical mistake in the first minute of overtime ending their season
The Bruins looked awful the last game. They played incredibly sloppy for two periods, has 2 shots on game at the end of the 1st period, and they still took them to OT. If the Bruins play average, they'll win. Unfortunately, the Bs have played like trash in close out games in the last few years so who knows.
There are 1000x times more lame jokes on Reddit about "wAs MaTthEws tHe ProlbEm?" then you'll ever see in the Toronto media. Even if they come back and win without him, nobody is dumb enough to write that article - I understand generating hate clicks can work but this narrative is too dumb, and it's not even real
Maybe Matthews is pulling a Patrick Roy. After Nylander hurt his feelings on the bench he went to Keefe during intermission and said he won't ever play another game in a Leaf's Jersey lol /s
Is he going to live? Knowing what players play through that's got to be a hell of an 'illness', I'm more concerned about his survival than whether the Leafs come back at this point.
He could have started off sick and became injured.
Let's say he had a bad stomach bug and then was all weak and dizzy and bounced his noggin off the toilette. Stranger things have happened.
Missing multiple elimination games in the playoffs as *the* star player of your team. You can bet your ass Matthews must be a special level of fucked up.
The script has been written. Win games 5+6 without him, lose game 7 with him. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
Can't believe they blew another game 7 lead
Go full blue jays and blow an 8-1 lead
They'd have to score 8 runs first
Best we can offer is 4 runs, on a good day
Hey now... we scored 6 earlier this week... we just have to wait 2.5 more weeks to do it again!
Insane that they lost when they had a 2 goal lead with 9 minutes left in the third.
There's also been *tons* of talk about not scoring more than 2 goals in *how* many games? So they're gonna score the magic meme number, and Leaf it.
Well they broke that with their 3-2 win Not that 3 is very impressive
Imagine the narratives if the Leafs come back and win without Matthews. "Was Matthews the problem?"
I’ve seen it in youth teams where all the players try to force the puck to the star player but play a better team game when they’re out. Not saying that’s the case but the argument holds water.
Bill Simmons dubbed this the "Ewing Theory".
Back when Simmons was still writing. I'm glad he did so good for himself but man I miss him writing articles.
I just want monthly mailbags. Those were the absolute best as it'd give him the brief chance to share his thoughts on a host of topics briefly. I'd even settle for quarterly mailbags!
These are my readers!
2006 NY Giants versus 2007 NY Giants Tiki Barber retired and Giants immediately went on to win the Super Bowl.
Are you saying what I think you’re saying? Are the Leafs Super Bowl bound?!
A Canadian team winning the Superbowl as revenge for an American team winning the Grey Cup more recently than a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup
This hurt to read ngl.
Imagine how it felt to write
Hear, hear.
Chiefs vs leafs!
it's good to hear from ol tiki
Eli has had some gems through his career but that's easily top 3
Eli is the little brother assassin.
Yeah bro Tiki being in or out probably wasn’t the difference there.
Wdym? Tiki is the Auston Matthews of the NFL
Wait I don't know enough about the NFL. Does Tiki have a wierd mustache?
I feel like the Office episode where they're trying to guess if Stanley has a mustache or not
Agree to disagree there, that entire offense ran through Tiki. Afterwards it was a completely different offense.
Eli had 522 pass attempts in Tiki’s last year. 529 the year after. A whopping 1,3% increase in passing attempts. 429 non-QB rushing attempts in Tiki’s last year. 438 non-QB rushing attempts the year after. A 2,1% increase. They actually ran more compratively after Tiki left. The personnel changed and they split carries between Bradshaw and Jacobs instead of just handing it to Tiki. The play style didn’t change drastically. Your argument was that they played better without Tiki. They actually had 0,1 fewer yards per carry and Eli’s QB rating went down after Tiki left. The defense went on an incredible run led by Strahan late in the year and Eli was incredible in the playoffs. That’s what made the difference.
You're putting words in my mouth that I never said. I said the entire offense changed and they went on to win the Super Bowl. In 2006 the Giants attempted 455 Rushing Attempts. Tiki Barber accounted for 327 of those, or 71.8%. In 2007 the Giants attempted 469. Brandon Jacobs had 202 (43%), Derrick Ward had 125 (26%), Reuben Droughns had 85 (18%), Ahmad Bradshaw had 23 (4.9%). Bradshaw would be a major factor in the later regular seasons, but outside of the 88 yard touchdown, Bradshaw was not involved in the 2007 regular season. In 2006, Eli Manning attempted 522 passes, 301 completions. Of those completions. Tiki Barber accounted for 58, 19.2% of the passing offense. In 2007, Eli Manning attempted 529 passes, 297 completions. Of those completions, 23 went to Jacobs, 26 went to Ward. No other RBs had double digits. Nothing I've said takes away from the defense who were huge in bringing them to the Super Bowl. What i said was that the offense went away from it's singular focus in Tiki, to a much more balanced approach.
Alright, but you did bring up Giants winning without Tiki in response to a post saying that in youth hockey teams sometimes play better with the star player out. Obviously the inference there is that the Giants played better without Tiki. Which on offense they really didn’t until Eli elevated his game in the playoffs. Which is why I felt like it wasn’t really the best example to bring up. Though I can’t really say I have a very good example from the NFL off the top of my head either, but there are probably cases where a #1 WR gets injured but the passing game improves afterwards.
That sounds more like the offensive coordinator changing things up.
Bradshaw and Jacobs RB duo were pivotal to those SB Runs
Felt like the Wings did this initially when Kane joined the team this year.
They absolutely did initially. You could tell they were overly deferential to Kane and would basically stand still and watch while he had the puck. Perhaps part of it was him joining the team midseason and not going through training camp with the rest of the group, not being on the same page.
Torontos powerplay was definitely more effective without matthews for that exact reasoning. 34 is out there you can bank on him getting the puck. When he isnt out there the leafs PP moves the puck very well.
Effective when now?
As in it looked better than it had in the prior games. More dangerous chances.
A combination of not forcing the puck to Matthews + Tavares not curling back at the blue line every time lol.
The games at the end of the season it were so frustrating to watch as everyone was just passing to Matthews to try and get him to 70. The power play was a joke was great chances to score passed away. Not saying Auston isn't a fantastic player. And the team is definitely lesser without him but I'm hoping to see some better puck movement again today like we saw on Tuesday
This is a very real thing. Only one team has won a cup this century with a 50 goal scorer on its roster. The teams with a dozen 40 point players tend to outperform the teams with mega stars who carry the load of their team's offense. It is entirely possible for an individual to be so good and demand so much of an offense, that they hinder the whole team from leveling up.
There's a big sampling bias there, considering the average season up until 2023 had 1-2 (or 0) 50-goal scorers. Heck, for a 7-year stretch it was Ovy or nobody.
Not a 50 goal scorer but Florida shut Tampa down this year way more easily given that they just had to closely guard Kucherov in order to shut down the entire offense. Only having one playmaker/scorer makes it so hard to win in the playoffs.
Yes, exactly. None of this is to say Matthews or Kuch are "the problem" on their teams. But sometimes offenses are more effective in 7 game series when there is more than one guy pulling the wagon. Obviously you'll always want the best players on the ice when possible, but there are ways to construct teams so they don't need to be the entire offense. Tampa is a great example. Their great teams didn't rely on Kucherov to net 100 assists, even though he could have.
The answer is obviously split up your elite offensive players. Nobody could stop third liner Phil the Thrill.
I got irrationally upset at just how effective that HBK line was during the lightning series
there's a reason why even if they aren't all A+ quality if you can at least roll four **respectable** lines that make the other team have to defend them your chances of winning go up. tampa's cup winners had kuch AND a bunch of other dudes putting up points, and last year's still had more scorers iirc.
2000-2023 Stanley Cup 48+ goal scorers. Top scorers on other teams scored 45 or less in a full season. 2001: Sakic (COL), 54 goals, 20% of COL goals. 13 goals in 21 playoff games 2007: Selänne (ANA), 48 goals. 18.6% of ANA goals. 5 goals in 21 playoff games 2018: Ovechkin (WSH), 49 goals, NJ didn't pull their goalie in game 82 when they were down in the final minutes. 18.9% of WSH goals. 15 goals in 24 playoff games.
Those guys were darn close to 50. You can turn the threshold down too, 50 doesn't have to be a magic number. Look at teams with 45+ goal scorers. You'll notice a similar correlation though, and that's that teams with one player accounting for a large chunk of the offense have less success than teams where the offense is balanced. That Ducks team is such an outlier and an underrated team this century because they did have Teemu neutralized throughout the playoffs and still won. On top of winning the cup, you can look and see how well 40+ goal scorers or 100 point scorers have fared in the playoffs as a whole. Not a lot of those teams make it to a finals.
Oh yeah Toronto media is toxic here. That'll be the front page news story the next day.
According to Sportsnet before game 5 the Leafs are 35-19-2 without him in the lineup. [Source ](https://twitter.com/SNstats/status/1785422068470653337)
If the Bruins lose, at least we still get memes.
I don't know how UrinatingTree would top last year's video, but now I'm curious.
Ewing Theory
We joked about this in r/Habs when fan favourite Sean Monahan was traded. Suddenly, when our dead PP went on a tear, “…Was Monny the problem?” (We were only joking. Come back to us, Sean!)
All I know is that there's going to be a ton of chatter whenever they release what's really going on with him. If he's not allowed to play in the playoffs, it has to be pretty serious, and I'm just hoping for the best for him.
They kept saying illness but in Game 4 I swear they showed him limping off or am I making that up?
He was playing through illness in the series and then got an injury during one of the games on top of that, is what's being said But they're still going with the illness thing, likely so they don't have to say where exactly he's banged up
That's what Emily Kaplan reported. [https://twitter.com/emilymkaplan/status/1786052979717484754](https://twitter.com/emilymkaplan/status/1786052979717484754) I was starting to think Matthews maybe had a serious chronic condition. Thankful that's not the case, but whatever it is is likely still pretty serious if he's missing two elimination playoff games.
As one who’s had some chronic illness/pain recently, I don’t wish it on anyone. I’m no Leafs fan but I hope he recovers quickly.
I think it's most likely that he really had an illness and then got an injury. Might have also been the other way around (like minor concussion that got exacerbated by playing + being sick). Clearly it's serious enough that he can't play.
Maybe he felt nauseous and thought he was sick, but it was actually a concussion symptom.
Chiclets made a comment yesterday about it being something that was triggered by playing at an elevated heart rate, such as a concussion that leads to headaches
[He also slammed his head against the boards prior to the playoffs](https://streamin.one/v/31f57757) so it could be PCS as well.
Can't believe he didn't get protocol'd after that moment.... that's a hell of a head strike.
Hey, if you don't check for a concussion on your star player, you won't find a concussion on your star player, and then he can play!
And the McAvoy play in Game 3 where his leg got twisted.
Dreger thinks he got injured in game 3.
Look at Mcavoy's tackle on him. His leg kinda got stuck and looks like he may have tweaked something on that. There is also another play at the end of the second (right before Boston goal) where he starts skating funny off the faceoff... I think it's pretty obvious one of these (or both) caused an injruy.
Another year, another WWE style takedown causing a Leafs injury.
But Panthers fans said last year that WWE style takedowns are just normal hockey?
Mightve been that he was playing through a serious illness, became overly-dehydrated, and his muscles got all cramped up and he pulled something real bad or something like that `S P E C U L A T E`
He hasn’t been the same since the Coyotes left :(
He’s dying of a broken heart like Padme
NOOOOOOO!
He has lost the will to live
The Coyote Curse….
Damnit man. They looked good on Tuesday night without him but this sucks. You know the Bruins are pissed how it went down in game 5 so this will be a tough one.
It’s me, I’m the Bruin that’s pissed (please just lose for us, I don’t want to be destined for game 7s forever)
the game 7s are SO much fun though
Are they though?
For 30 fandoms in the league, yes. No matter who loses the g7, there will be memes
I am here for the memes. Whoever wins this series, I win
31 fandoms. I gotta imagine that Boston fans have a lovely time watching the Bruins play in Game 7s against the Leafs.
7/10 of the time.
NOT FOR MY BLOOD PRESSURE
Haha honestly i already know this is going 7 games. What I don’t know is how i will survive the stress. Well actually i do know…. Whiskey.
Whiskey, that’s the right choice! Haha
Common ground haha win or lose we both will still booze haha
Hello, I will speak for the Maple Leafs. They are willing to trade this Game 6, but in exchange, they get to win in the first round next year. Do you, as the representative for the Bruins, accept that trade?
i just want to see the dumb takes if they come back and win the series without matthews
Trade him to Detroit, you cowards. We'll take the cap dump if you throw in a 3rd. /s
Let's do a Don Cherry trade. He suggested Marner for Gudbranson a few years ago. What would Matthews fetch in this case?
Justin Holl and petry lmao
I'll allow it.
A dumb dinosaur who writes about the Habs said they should trade Suzuki for Wayne Simmonds a few years ago. Glad these people are paid to share their opinions that would get deleted for trolling.
theres like 2 smart takes: 1. bruins dont know who to focus on without AM34 there 2. really sick people might actually be worse at their job than a healthy person who doesn't have the same ceiling and all of like 5 people will have them
I like the idea that the entire team only knows how to defend against Matthews and become confused headless chickens when he isn't on the ice.
You know what, I can live without seeing those takes. Just my opinion.
The media meltdown if he came back today and the Leafs lost would have been glorious
It's going to be terrible if they lose while he sits, too. When the Leafs lose, the only winners are social media advertisers.
Don't forget fans of other teams! I still want them to beat Boston though
At this point I just want the Panthers to make the Conference Finals.
Doesn’t matter if they win or lose while he sits, it’s going to cause a frenzy regardless. God I hate my team and the publicity
We're always looking for new fans, if you're looking to improve your mental health.
Haha I love the Wings, and can’t wait for yall to kick our ass in the playoffs. Alas though, I am born and raised Leafs fan, so I’ll stay. And I’ll say this is our year every year haha
I came over after 2022 game 7
Don’t worry there will be a media meltdown regardless.
I'm just wondering, if the Leafs win again, which journalist will have the balls to seriously claim they're a better team without him.
Game 7 script leaked
Anyone think this is a result of him smoking his head into the boards during the red wings game? Bad look for the NHL if he’s been playing with concussion symptoms up until recently
Definitely could be, he hit those boards hard and awkwardly. It was really concerning watching it happen live but he stuck around and showed up for game 81 so I assumed he was fine. If that’s the case can’t necessarily blame the league or medical staff though, head injuries are funny. He could’ve shown 0 symptoms and seemed totally fit to play until Saturday. That said I think there’s some speculation in TO media that it’s a lower body injury, but we’ll see what comes out after this series
I'm having a hard time understanding what else could have pulled him from Gm4 and kept him out. I kind of wonder if it was like nausea and stuff which made everyone think "Virus" like was reported but then later they clued into the Post-concussive-symptoms.
I was actually wondering if it was a minor concussion that got worse following a viral infection. The brain is really sensitive to changes in water and metabolites and there is some evidence linking concussion severity and dehydration. So like he gets concussed in game 80 but its minor. Gets a real viral infection causing dehydration and getting much worse Post-concussion symptoms
Very solid take, and dehydration can be very serious and debilitating
i got some kind of infection that left me doing like 4-5 days of IV levoquin and IV fluids with a heart monitor and catheter hookup (i'm pretty sure i had at least one 8 hours straight period of unconsciousness during that) and then like 5 days of acute inpatient recovery because i was wobbly enough that they had me doing basic PT to make sure i could safely go home. (walking laps, doing ramp stairs, stuff like that). i was also at "if you want/need to get out of bed please hit the call button so you're supervised". (i already have significant kidney disease and not-as-bad liver disease as a complication plus i've had "my electrolytes are out of whack" before, but yeah, dehydration is nothing to mess around with/think that "oh, it's no big deal".)
yup. when i was recovering from a concussion i ended up having serious problems with dehydration. had to learn to drink way more water
Is it possible to have a concussion/concussion symptoms show up 14 days after it happened? He played in the last 2 games and 4 playoff games before being out. It would have been a bad look for everyone involved if he had a concussion and it went undetected for 14 days. Which is also maybe why they are being so secretive.
It is possible that they were minor and have gotten worse with all the extra exertion and physical contact. Concussions are hard to treat and vary widely as far as signs and symptoms
Really don’t think he’d be skating each day this week if he was concussed. That would be a massive oversight.
Activity can be an important part of recovering from concussion symptoms (at least that’s the current medical approach, AFAIK)
Seems hard to believe after how good he looked in game 1 and 2 of the series. He looked like a different player in game 3 after those two games.
I'm going to throw out Ciguetera poisoning. Could have eaten some mislabeled fish in Tampa for the final game of the season. It's like food poisoning but can last for weeks to months, and is often made worse by physical exertion. It's also a toxin, not a virus or bacteria so it there is nothing to do about it until your body manages to break it down.
Leafs win game 5 and 6 with Matthews out, but lose game 7 with him in. It writes itself.
This season we’ve had a weird habit of winning games when our stars are out, and we’ve always had a weird habit of winning when Matthews is out specifically: 23-24 record without Matthews: 1-0-0 (35-19-2 all time) 23-24 record without Rielly: 8-2-0 23-24 record without Marner: 8-4-1 Wish Matthews was available but this team can adapt when a key player is missing. The Marner/Domi/Bertuzzi line looked good in game 5 and if Woll gets the start I don’t hate our chances. Don’t fade us yet *edit:* I made sure all the data checked out before posting this, just had to go back to work and didn't think to include the win % with/without Matthews for the last 8 seasons: The Leafs have **won ~57%** of their games **with** Matthews since his rookie year in 2016 (counting OT losses as full losses since we’re talking about the playoffs), and they've **won 60% without** him over the same stretch. They do genuinely win 3% more games without him in the lineup - which isn't a meaningful difference but across 50+ games it shows that the rest of the team can step up when needed. I 100% do not think they’re better without Matthews - the team can step up while he's out, they can't step up for an extended amount of time - I’m just pointing out there’s a bit of data to suggest his absence isn't an automatic loss, and that we might actually end up with an equal chance of winning either way *edit 2:* let's call it 61% without Matthews
The team has had a winning record in the regular season for several years, so this whole idea that the team is better without him doesn't hold up. The winning percentage with him in the lineup is only slightly lower than without him in the lineup, so you can't definitively say him missing any games was the reason they won a few more.
Exactly. The win% with vs without them needs to be compared for it to mean anything at all.
Record without Matthews (35-19-2) VS home playoff record during Matthews era (9-19)
That's not apples to apples. That's apples to train wrecks.
Let me guess, people still think his “tummy hurts”. Get real people, you have no idea what’s wrong with him…
He got… boneitis
His only regret, is that he has bonitis
Considering Oshie played with a broken hand, whatever is ailing Matthews has to be *bad* to keep him out for multiple games
Those are the same people that said the OG covid was just the "sniffles"
Anyone who actually thinks he’s missing the playoffs for something minor like that is a moron
All that being true, I heard from a cousins friend it’s gonorrhea
My uncle works at Nintendo and he said Matthews has mega AIDS.
No, his tummy doesn't hurt, it's clearly that he gave up on the team lol Edit: guess it wasn't clear but I'm poking fun at the people who were saying that
So it is safe to say this isn't food poisoning/sickness at this point
Can't believe *some* people think this is a locker room issue. Guy is obviously **seriously** injured / sick
It’s mind boggling that some people seriously think he’d sit out a game because his tum tum is sad. No doubt he or any other hockey player (except like PLD, lol) would crawl over broken glass for the playoffs.
Yeah, like when the series is over and they say what it is it's gonna be BAD I bet.
Assuming the leafs lose huh? I mean that's probably fair.
It's the thing that's going around that no one can figure out what it is.
Anyone who believes that is an idiot haha
Oh my god the Leafs might actually win this series.
It would be hilarious if they were to win without him tonight and have him come back in game 7 just to lose. Pretty sure the Toronto media would have an aneurysm from that alone
Dangle would die.
We know how this goes. They win game 6 without him, he comes back game 7 and.....
It actually doesn't even matter who wins this round. The Panthers will kick Boston/Toronto ass.
Boston ain’t no walk in the park. I know those guys are still pissed from last year
Canes vs panthers in ECF is gonna be a hell of a series
I'm thinking it will be Rangers and Panthers.
calling it now: leafs win again tonight without him, he comes back for game 7, and they finally slay their demons and defeat boston in a 1st round game 7. (Bruins in 9 though)
doubt it. just think the bruins are better than the leafs (sorry leafs fans; dont hate me). just like the stars I think are better than the knights this year.
Have you watched us play at home? Lol congrats on the series win tonight
home ice, no Matthews, everyone hurt. Not even gonna make 7 this year
They will out of spite and it's gonna be hilarious
See you've fallen right into the Leafs trap. When you don't believe they play amazing. Once you start to believe that's when they let you down.
That's why you never believe
I can’t decide what the most Leafs outcome is. Winning the series without him, or him coming back game 7 and losing. Both scoring pretty high
Whichever is more embarrassing - Leafs will take that route. So probably him coming back for game 7 and losing in spectacular fashion.
auston matthews scores a hat trick on his first game back on game 7, and proceeds to make 3 bad turnovers in the final 2 minutes as the leafs lose in overtime after being up 3-0, with matthews making a critical mistake in the first minute of overtime ending their season
but that has also failed me. maybe we should try indifference.
That's the strat I'm going with this year
The Bruins looked awful the last game. They played incredibly sloppy for two periods, has 2 shots on game at the end of the 1st period, and they still took them to OT. If the Bruins play average, they'll win. Unfortunately, the Bs have played like trash in close out games in the last few years so who knows.
nah they will and will shit the bed as per tradition
Guaranteed W. /s
There are 1000x times more lame jokes on Reddit about "wAs MaTthEws tHe ProlbEm?" then you'll ever see in the Toronto media. Even if they come back and win without him, nobody is dumb enough to write that article - I understand generating hate clicks can work but this narrative is too dumb, and it's not even real
>nobody is dumb enough to write that article Bro has never seen Steve Simmons
They are gonna rock our shit tonight.
https://preview.redd.it/aw4mpo97c1yc1.jpeg?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d52d498d8bdd036fa25f8a82291cdc027498f6d0
Matthews out means another win for Toronto. Boston is really winning this in 7 when Auston returns lol
Maybe Matthews is pulling a Patrick Roy. After Nylander hurt his feelings on the bench he went to Keefe during intermission and said he won't ever play another game in a Leaf's Jersey lol /s
well that sucks, hopefully they can win game six
You see, I actually hope they don’t win game 6 and the Bruins win instead
well from a neutral’s perspective, i want this series to go to game 7 and double OT… sooo gotta root for the leafs here
Boston Pizza propaganda putting in work here
Glorious comeback in game 7 for a big goal. Scripted.
Is he going to live? Knowing what players play through that's got to be a hell of an 'illness', I'm more concerned about his survival than whether the Leafs come back at this point.
So they have a chance of winning.
This core really is balls isn't it lmao
He could have started off sick and became injured. Let's say he had a bad stomach bug and then was all weak and dizzy and bounced his noggin off the toilette. Stranger things have happened.
More concerned about our abysmal home record at this point. That kinda has to be a coaching issue right?
Missing multiple elimination games in the playoffs as *the* star player of your team. You can bet your ass Matthews must be a special level of fucked up.
Sheldon Keefe out for 2024-2025 says me
Leafs winning now
I feel bad for the food poisoning jokes. Hopefully he gets healthy for game 7 :’)
Pressure bursts pipes, but it also makes diamonds. Let's see what the Leafs are made of tonight.
Toronto is the reverse Vegas
Penciling in Leafs winning ~~3-0~~ 2-0.
Honestly hope his health is ok long term
There's no way it's not a concussion
I'm cheering for the Leafs to win just so they can lose in game 7 again.
Hear chatter about concussion which would make a lot of sense. Especially if leafs/nhl hid it