Matthews

Eichel just barely tho -pens/avs fan

I think the main point is that ...if Matthews is a great defensive player than he would play PK(77.7% seems to be pretty bad to average)....I think some stats are misleading or not worth mentioning. saying Matthews is a better defensive player might be true but how much is that him actually being really good defensively...or does he excel at one thing really well and have great possession numbers

Matthews is a meter and Eichel is a yard...

has nothing to do with their contract status or salary, Eichel is on a better contract no question. purely going off of their skillset's and overall impact on the game I have Matthews slightly ahead.

Except that it isnt. PK defence is significantly different than 5v5 defence. That is why teams often have guys who specialize in it, especially when their top guys are already playing 20ish mins a night and getting power play time. Why would you run your offensive star out on the pk when you can have someone less valuable blocking shots?
At even strength, where 80% + of the game is played, matthews is significantly better than eichel

nor am i giving him the selke, nor even putting him in the conversation right now, but there are lots of good defensive players that dont get nominated, just because youre not the best doesnt mean you cant be good or getting better,

exactly my point throughout this whole thing, mcadvid plays with scrubs, crsoby won a cup with sheary and dom simon as his wingers, chris kunitz is who he is because of sid, matthews played with kap and johnsson last year, arent bad players but there are better he could have been playing with, he still did ok, tavares played with scrubs in new york, still managed to do ok for himself, people love to use this argument for eichel and also for taylor hall but its pretty bs if you ask me,

1. matthews

2. not an acgm

Matthews is better

so again with a terrible pk % of 77.7% why not use your best "defensive" players to improve that number. Star players don't block ****s? Ovechkin even blocks shots and hes a generational talent.... and 5v5 defense is easier or more scheme based. im not saying Matthews isn't better at defense by why mention it? its not like Matthews is a selke type defensive center?

You really don’t have to look that hard into it. Relax bud.

matthews is 9th in blocked shots amongst centers

oh I completely agree with you. ovechkin had Dainius Zubrus Jeff Halpern on a line with him his rookie year and put up 100 and 50 goals. I think its unfortunate that Buffalo constantly cant figure out how to put together a good team but im not going to diminish Matthews bc he has better linemates. imo they benefit each other Matthews doesn't carry them and they don't carry him its a mutually beneficial relationship

Yeah, maybe you should look harder into it, bud

I wasn't saying he didn't block shots. I was responding to the guy saying "Why would you run your offensive star out on the pk when you can have someone less valuable blocking shots?"

yeah i just think its a lame copout, everyone acts like eichel is lebron with the 2018 cavs

its people arguing that a meter is way longer than a yard....

no i know i was just pointing out that he does in fact block shots lol

Cripes. Well, for one, eichel and matthews dont play on the same team so you wouldnt be using one over the other on the pk.
Two, to be better than eichel at defense doesnt mean matthews is better than everyone on his own team, so i really don't know what point youre trying to make since no one said anything about matthews being the best defensive player on the leafs.
And three, oveckin plays even less pk time than matthews, so again, what is your point?

because if you can limit the time a player is put into blocking shots the more you do it? Like, the leafs lost both their top defense men to shot blocking injuries, why on earth would they want matthews blocking shots if they can help it?

even then LeBron was the best player and put up elite numbers. it makes me laugh though bc even if Matthews has way better players around him whats he suppose to do... like refuse to play with them. like "throw me out with spezza and Clifford. I don't want people thinking i need help scoring"

Or maybe you're looking way wayyyyyyyyyyyy too hard into it. Like WAAAYYYY too hard.

1) when did I say or imply they were on the same team.... just an obviously dumb thing to make a point about.
2) to be better at defense than Eichel isn't hard. but when you focus and bring up being better defensively you should at least be a very good at defense or be at least known for your defensive game. Matthews defensive game has improved but its not something I would say he excels at....or that he is exactly know for....
3) I bring up the PK bc Toronto is …. not good at the PK so someone with good to great defensive ability … like Matthews should be able to improve it. that would be obvious unless the coach doesn't trust him in that type of situation.. obviously I dnt know the exact reason why he doesn't play it and no real need to speculate.
4) you suggested that superstars shouldn't block shots "Why would you run your offensive star out on the pk when you can have someone less valuable blocking shots?" that's why I brought up Ovechkin... hes terrible on defense and he even blocks shots....hes not terrible anymore just less bad

"matthews is 9th in blocked shots amongst centers" so seems like that shouldn't be an excuse ,right?

1-you literally used pk time to compare them like one getting more meant the other was being played less because of it
2- except that the point was that hes better than eichel. So he's better than eichel defensively, like by a good bit.
3- what does that have to do with Matthews being better defensively than eichel? Which is literally the only point. Again.
4-i suggested superstars shouldn't be forced into situations where they need to block shots if you have better options because them breaking a hand blocking a low percentage shot from the point limits their abilities to do the actual things that make them super stars. Limiting exposure to it is a good things, you see.