Matthews placed on IR

[Kin]

I guess "to keep him away from the THOTs" wouldn't have played as well.

 

[herman]

I guess "to keep him away from the THOTs" wouldn't have played as well.

Isn?t it a west coast trip? Isn?t that where they are in higher concentrations?

 

[Arn]

https://twitter.com/DamoSpin/status/1062756318933467137

;D : :-\ :'(

Pointless trading him now while injured. Best waiting til he's back playing, prove he's worth the assets he's traded for

 

[cabber24]

https://twitter.com/DamoSpin/status/1062756318933467137

;D : :-\ :'(

Pointless trading him now while injured. Best waiting til he's back playing, prove he's worth the assets he's traded for

Cox is a troll, what a dumb tweet.

 

[Bates]

https://twitter.com/DamoSpin/status/1062756318933467137

;D : :-\ :'(

Pointless trading him now while injured. Best waiting til he's back playing, prove he's worth the assets he's traded for

Cox is a troll, what a dumb tweet.

I think it would be a discussion worth having depending on the return. A number 1 D plus would certainly improve the Leafs.  The obvious being OEL plus.

 

[Kin]

I wouldn't trade Matthews for anything other than McDavid. I wouldn't trade him for Arizona's whole team.

 

[Frank E]

No.

And Arizona still sucks after all these years, it's quite remarkable. 

 

[cabber24]

I wouldn't trade Matthews for anything other than McDavid. I wouldn't trade him for Arizona's whole team.

Absolutely zero scenarios where I would consider trading him.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I wouldn't trade Matthews for anything other than McDavid. I wouldn't trade him for Arizona's whole team.

I don't think for a second that this would actually happen, but just for the sake of conversation what about for MacKinnon? He's only 2 years older than Matthews. After this season he's signed for 4 more years with an AAV of $6.3mil, so you're looking at probably a cap benefit of about $4.5-5mil for those seasons once Matthews signs his extension. He scored 97 points in 74 games last season, currently scoring at a 118 point pace this season.

 

[Kin]

I don't think for a second that this would actually happen, but just for the sake of conversation what about for MacKinnon? He's only 2 years older than Matthews. After this season he's signed for 4 more years with an AAV of $6.3mil, so you're looking at probably a cap benefit of about $4.5-5mil for those seasons once Matthews signs his extension. He scored 97 points in 74 games last season, currently scoring at a 118 point pace this season.

Still no from me. I see that and all I think about is what Matthews might be in his draft+5 and draft+6 years.

 

[Bates]

I wouldn't trade Matthews for anything other than McDavid. I wouldn't trade him for Arizona's whole team.

Absolutely zero scenarios where I would consider trading him.

Zero??  Hedman and Point? MacKinnon and Barrie?

 

[louisstamos]

Someone responded with Eichel and Dahlin.  That's probably the closest I would need to trade Matthews, and a) I don't think Buffalo would do it and b) I'm still hesitant to say yes.

 

[ZBBM]

I don't think for a second that this would actually happen, but just for the sake of conversation what about for MacKinnon? He's only 2 years older than Matthews. After this season he's signed for 4 more years with an AAV of $6.3mil, so you're looking at probably a cap benefit of about $4.5-5mil for those seasons once Matthews signs his extension. He scored 97 points in 74 games last season, currently scoring at a 118 point pace this season.

Still no from me. I see that and all I think about is what Matthews might be in his draft+5 and draft+6 years.

If he's healthy.  His track record so far concerns me, TBH.  That's the only reason I would consider moving him for someone other than 97.

 

[cabber24]

I know it's a discussion forum but I am not going here.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Meh. In 3-4 years, Tavares starts the downswing, and I'd rather have a top 5 player in the league to take over as #1 C rather than gambling on other options. Unless, of course, Matthews would rather be elsewhere.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Matthews took part in practice, with a regular jersey, but didn't take part in line rushes:

https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1063147881455071238

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1063150527465377798

 

[Guilt Trip]

Meh. In 3-4 years, Tavares starts the downswing, and I'd rather have a top 5 player in the league to take over as #1 C rather than gambling on other options. Unless, of course, Matthews would rather be elsewhere.

Matthews is already the Leafs #1 centre so there's no taking over. Would the Oilers trade McDavid? Would Pitts trade Crosby in his prime because they had Gino? Not a chance. Only in Leafland would a troll suggest such a thing.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Matthews is already the Leafs #1 centre so there's no taking over.

Nah, I wouldn't agree with that. It's close to a wash offensively, but defensively Tavares is better at this stage in their careers.

 

[herman]

Yes, let's look at the bright side:
- Babcock forced to not yo-yo Johnsson
- chance to see one of Moore, Grundstrom, Timashov, Marchment for parts of a month
- we basically have one entire line missing now (Matthews-Nylander + their passenger), so the other lines can get into a nice, reasonably stable combination together during this stretch
- Matthews' injury should not affect conditioning (but it will affect his shot)

With Matthews and Nylander not playing this past little while, we've seen the Leafs ice what is basically a pretty good traditional line up: 1, 2, 3, 4.

We're getting very solid contribution from the bottom group, even if their scoring is rare. For the most part, I think we should keep these lines together. I was wrong about bumping Marner to Kadri long term; Kapanen has been a very viable alternative.

With Matthews' return imminent and Nylander's impasse coming to a decision one way or another, the ideal case has the Leafs basically subbing out their 4th line for another 1st. Which is insane.

I propose:
1: Hyman-Tavares-Marner
1: Ennis/Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander
2: Marleau-Kadri-Kapanen
3: Johnsson/Ennis-Lindholm-Brown

Leivo unfortunately gets waived (or finally traded).

This doesn't affect our penalty kill in any way, and both power play units get huge boosts.

 

[Coco-puffs]

I propose:
1: Hyman-Tavares-Marner
1: Ennis/Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander
2: Marleau-Kadri-Kapanen
3: Johnsson/Ennis-Lindholm-Brown

Leivo unfortunately gets waived (or finally traded).

This doesn't affect our penalty kill in any way, and both power play units get huge boosts.

I don't doubt for a second that Goat wouldn't get waived/traded because they want Centre depth, so its probably down to these two.  But why would you keep 29 yr old UFA Ennis over 25 yr old RFA Leivo?  Its not like Ennis has played any better- in fact, I'd say Leivo has been the better of the two most nights.