The Toronto Maple Leafs are back, baby!
The regular season is gradually reaching the winter break, and the Editor in Leaf staff have been working around the clock to bring you, our loyal readers, right into the middle of the action. Every angle has been covered, and every stone has been overturned.
With so many stories hitting the wall all at once, it’s easy to lose a few in the shuffle. So, enjoy this roundup of this week’s notable pieces.
Auston Matthews Will Win the Rocket Richard Trophy
Auston Matthews is pretty darn good at hockey. We can all agree on that, right?
The guy is averaging over a goal per game this season and remains on pace to finish with 68 when all is said and done. Keep in mind, Matthews has missed half of the season. We’ve literally never seen a player of this calibre in Toronto. He’s special.
In his latest piece, Wilbert argues why Matthews’ injury layoff doesn’t matter and he will, in fact, win the Rocket Richard trophy at the end of the year. It’s a tall ask to expect him to do it. But if anyone can, it’s Matthews.
Give it read.
“Auston Matthews goal-scoring pace is easily explained with his successful shot percentage of 30%. I know every fan of any other team that has a player in the “running” for the trophy will instantly say that percentage will drop over the season.
That’s true, it’ll probably correct itself, but his high shot percentage isn’t mere luck. Like the success of Laine’s and Ovechkin’s one-timer isn’t explained by luck, neither is Matthews wrist-shot which leaves many goals baffled. It’s the sort of skill you only see on generational talents.
Auston Matthews key to the success of winning this season is more than his wrist-shot. It’s finding success on the power play.”
Putting William Nylander’s 61 Points in Context
You know who is also pretty good at this hockey thing? William Nylander.
Before you even say it, I’m going to stop you right there. Nylander has played 2 games this season, suiting up for the first one without having experienced so much as a full-team practice. You simply cannot expect him to tear the league up when facing opponents who have a 3-month head start.
But Nylander will return to form. And, honestly, he’ll probably look even better than he did the last two years, in which he scored 61 points each.
In James’ latest piece, he dives into just how impressive those 61-point outputs truly are, and why you should be pretty excited that the Leafs have someone capable of exceeding them.
Check it out.
“Last year, Nylander had 45 5v5 points. Now, 5v5 points are important because they are far more repeatable than power-play points. Scoring power-play points have more to do with opportunity to be on the power play, and the system the coach employs than individual talent. Also, the game is played mostly at 5v5, and while almost any NHL player can be effective on the power play, it is much harder to be consistently effective 5v5.
As I said, Nylander had 45 5v5 points, and that ranks him 24th in the league, but it’s the 11th highest total. Only eight players exceeded 49 5v5 points. Nylander also played without Auston Matthews for over 25% of the season. And, almost all the players who scored more than him played one to two minutes more per night.”
The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Too Good to Focus on Grit
I usually shy away from including my own stuff in our content roundups, but after last night, it seems as if most of this fanbase should see this one.
The Leafs do not need to concern themselves with grit. They can’t die on every hill. Employing face punchers for the sole purpose of punching faces makes absolutely no sense in the modern NHL and likely withholds a roster spot from an infinitely more deserving player.
The Leafs are good. Good enough, in fact, to beat teams with their unmatched skill rather than getting suckered into a UFC match. Relax, enjoy the season, and stop complaining about sending a message.
“Watching Kronwall lay a dirty hit on Auston Matthews is a lot like when an egg avatar on Twitter goes after Chrissy Teigen for feeding her child some actual human food and not the 100% free-range, non-GMO, flavour reduced drivel she apparently should be.
Chrissy Teigen is a best-selling author, model, and internationally renowned celebrity. Her life is pretty great. That egg avatar, on the other hand, is almost certainly some guy named Gary who lives in Delaware and uses his Twitter account as his only source of attention.
Now, Chrissy Teigen is not going to add someone to her payroll whose sole job is to eviscerate all the Garys from Deleware that troll her online. That just wouldn’t make any sense.”
Thanks for reading!