Auston Matthews
- Thread starter disco
- Start date
LuncheonMeat
New member
Holy crap, this kid blows my mind almost every game.
Highlander
Active member
I don't know about you but I just can't believe our luck in landing this guy. The stars really aligned in a big way. And what really blows my is since Shanahan came in and the hires, Dubas, Hunter, Lou, all aligned to a common purpose and with the ownerships total support, drafting quality skilled players, trading for Hyman who has been a revelation with work effort. The cost? Greg McKegg!
Finally securing a good goalie, and getting Zaitzev for nothing, I almost feel like I woke up from a 40 year coma and things were right on track with 4 Stanleys in 6 years.
Sorry if I am over the top but I like where this train is heading.
Finally securing a good goalie, and getting Zaitzev for nothing, I almost feel like I woke up from a 40 year coma and things were right on track with 4 Stanleys in 6 years.
Sorry if I am over the top but I like where this train is heading.
Zee
Active member
I think the Leafs are over due for years and years of success after all the failure. I used to look around at other teams and other leagues and see teams go from laughing stock to perinniel contenders and I asked why can't the Leafs do the same? Finally it seems like it's going to happen.Highlander said:
disco
New member
Highlander said:
I know, not only that they won the lottery and a player like Matthews was available, but it's also the big and skilled center the Leafs have been lacking and he plugs in right away. Not to mention his maturity and his ability to handle Toronto. The tank year went so well with a competitive foundation being laid, the moving of assets and several prudent acquisitions.
Kin
New member
There's really nothing lucky about it. People have been advocating for years that the Leafs do what other successful teams do and go towards the bottom to draft highly skilled players.
Management had the right gameplan and they played it out. It would be revisionist history to say nobody, including around here, weren't being advocates for Burke's "retooling" or JFJ's "build while competing".
Management had the right gameplan and they played it out. It would be revisionist history to say nobody, including around here, weren't being advocates for Burke's "retooling" or JFJ's "build while competing".
Highlander
Active member
Come on now Nik, this was a lottery and we happened to pick #1 so some luck was involved with what was it a 20% + something chance of having the first choice? I think we all can agree Matthews in the linch pin of this whole rebuilt.
Kin
New member
Highlander said:
The lottery was random, sure, but I have no real problem believing that the team with the highest likelihood of drafting #1 ended up drafting #1.
The reason players like Matthews didn't pass through here in years before isn't because of bad luck or living under a dark cloud, it's because the team was run in a shortsighted way in large part because of impatient fans.
I'm happy things are different but there's nothing magical or hard to discern about it. Things that were done wrong then started to be done right.
Nik the Trik said:
Of course, we are just talking semantics but finishing last and hitting on a 20% chance in a year with a real winner is lucky in my book. Every year, there are multiple teams bottoming out and not all of them snag a real winner at the top of the draft, even after a few years of trying.
herman
Well-known member
Nik the Trik said:
No disagreements here. I would've liked them to roll this way with smart cap/draft/system the whole time. Knowing when to fold is critical in keeping the pipeline properly stocked and pressurized.
Still feels a bit surreal to land one when the lottery rules changed up to not reward tanking so handsomely. And when the draft class was super top heavy, and not a Yak or RNH year where it was a smear.
Kin
New member
herman said:
Maybe. Although it's worth keeping in mind that there's really no way to know what a draft class will ultimately look like for a while. I remember 2003 being sort of dismissed at the time for not having that obvious #1 insta-star at the time too.
I admit I'm maybe parsing language too carefully on this one but there's a certain frustration after for roughly saying for 10 years on this particular board "The Leafs need to do this because it's the only way they'll land a certain kind of player" and then the Leafs doing that, landing that kind of player and hearing "Gosh, who'da thunk it?". Especially when people are then following it up with "Well, things are 100% now. No need for more high draft picks or trading JVR's ever again!"
I mean, it's not Nik the Cassandra.