WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
Highlander said:
That's awesome, good on him.
Auston Matthews
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That's awesome, good on him.
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
It's really quite remarkable watching him do his thing, I think it all tracks back to the origins of his game.
Playing against bigger, older players most of his formative years on a 3 on 3 rink taught him how to operate in extremely close quarters when he couldn't simply use his body to dominate, his puck retrieval with his stick is absolutely Datsyukian.
I think it's one of the main things that has helped him transition to the NHL. A lot of his peers who follow a traditional development curve and have spent all of their formative years learning the game on a full sheet of ice, so when they get to the NHL and they don't have the time and space that lower leagues afford you, they struggle.
Not Matthews, the very foundation of his game is based on that up close and personal NHL style. He is already world class at extricating the puck from the opposition and finding little pockets of space, that only the great players seem to be able to take advantage of, so that he can let that shot go.
It's a lot like soccer where they heavily limit the pitch size at youth levels to make sure that players are constantly in each other's faces and having to learn the key components of passing, moving and being able to take on the opposition one on one.
Playing against bigger, older players most of his formative years on a 3 on 3 rink taught him how to operate in extremely close quarters when he couldn't simply use his body to dominate, his puck retrieval with his stick is absolutely Datsyukian.
I think it's one of the main things that has helped him transition to the NHL. A lot of his peers who follow a traditional development curve and have spent all of their formative years learning the game on a full sheet of ice, so when they get to the NHL and they don't have the time and space that lower leagues afford you, they struggle.
Not Matthews, the very foundation of his game is based on that up close and personal NHL style. He is already world class at extricating the puck from the opposition and finding little pockets of space, that only the great players seem to be able to take advantage of, so that he can let that shot go.
It's a lot like soccer where they heavily limit the pitch size at youth levels to make sure that players are constantly in each other's faces and having to learn the key components of passing, moving and being able to take on the opposition one on one.
Zee
Active member
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
This is the thing that excites me most. He's already this good at 19, and he's not physically a man yet. As he ages, puts on strength he'll be an absolute beast when he realizes he can muscle guys off the puck. He should be an extremely dominant center when he's 23-24.
Zee
Active member
herman said:
Thing that stands out for me on that highlight reel is the shift against Detroit where the Leafs, and Matthews specifically just kept the Wings hemmed in until they scored. Also notice that both Polak and Hunwick were off the ice during that sequence, and the Leafs had defensemen who could actually help Matthews keep the puck in.
mr grieves
New member
Zee said:
He's on pace for 40, which would beat out Crosby's rookie season (39). That'd be the best rookie goal scoring in 25 years, top 5 all time.
bustaheims
Active member
Nik the Trik said:
And, that's with a 13 game goalless drought. He's been scoring at an incredible pace since that ended - 21 goals in his last 36 games.
Coco-puffs
New member
mr grieves said:
Ovechkin had 52 his rookie year, so it wouldn't be the best in the last 25 years. Top 5 all time:
1. Selanne: 76
2. Bossy: 53
3. Ovechkin: 52
4. Nieuwendyk: 51
5. Robitaille, Hawerchuk: 45
40 goals would put him tied for 12th all time with 3 other players.
Coco-puffs said:
All of those players, with the exception of Hawerchuk, were 1-3 years older than Matthews is during their rookie seasons though.
If you limited that to teenagers Matthews would be right near the top.
Kin
New member
When it's just a matter of goals by teenage rookies Matthews would still be behind guys like Lemieux or Gretzky...
Which is probably the point where we're nitpicking over the larger point that Matthews is very good and while I'm not saying I will start a new religion with him as our messiah I'm not not saying that either.
Which is probably the point where we're nitpicking over the larger point that Matthews is very good and while I'm not saying I will start a new religion with him as our messiah I'm not not saying that either.