Andy said:
Personally for me I feel that it's easy to get lost into what someone makes and looking at point totals (I love Marner, for example, but I also question the seemingly inane amount of turnovers he commits each game and his propensity for shooting directly into shin pads) but I also have to acknowledge that I may have an unrealistic standard based on what I believe to be a very large cap hit for him. As for Nylander, it can be disappointing to see a player with that much skill not show up on the score sheet for multiple games but, again, personally I notice him making multiple unheralded plays, whether it be a back check, forcing a turnover, an effortless 15 foot tape to tape pass or a seamless zone exit/entry. A lot of people have recency and/or confirmation bias and I certainly am not immune to that but I think looking at some of the factors and statistics brought up in the articles mostly posted by Herman can help provide a more rounded analysis.
And speaking of production, I don't think it's irrelevant to mention that the 1st line (Matthews/Marner) each average around 23 minutes per game compared to Nylander's 16. That's almost 50% more ice time for guys that make more than 50% of his salary and who are currently "producing" almost 50% more. So while I definitely agree that it would be nice to see a few more goals/points from that 2nd line I don't see how that production needs to be "questioned." If anything I'm more concerned about the almost complete lack of scoring from anyone outside of the top 6.
Confirmation bias and selective statistics really have a big impact on how someone views a player. High skill players often have giveways because they don't play a simple game. They're trying to create, and that takes risk. Marner doesn't lead the team in points because he's giving the puck away constantly and shooting poorly. Teams have learned that he's trying to get the puck to matthews constantly, so marner has to keep the other team honest by occasionally throwing the puck on net. It's not a big deal, but gets blown out of proportion because as far as most are concerned, Marner shooting at virtually any point and not scoring is a waste of Matthews' talent.
And yeah, Marner gets more minutes, but remember, he plays PK as well. And better players should get more minutes. That's pretty fair, no?