Since +/- is the NHL's worst stat, I thought it would make sense to appropriate it and make it useful as we review the best and worst of the past week in the NHL.
PLUS: Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs.
I don't even really know how to put into words how important/awesome/amazing this is.
First, the Leafs are always losers. They don't win awards or Championships or get the best players or anything else. Being a Leafs fan is like intentionally hating yourself; I mean, any of us could just say __ it! and start cheering for the Penguins. But losing - always - just makes winning more sweet. And so, as this thing just seems so surreal.
Second, the Leafs have never had a player who is among the best in the league. Yeah, they had Mats Sundin - and he's in the Hall of Fame - but Sundin was never in that first tier of players that includes guys like Gretzky, Lemieux, Hall, Forsberg, Lindros.
With Mattews, they now have the chance to do have that type of player.
Make no mistake: Auston Matthews is worthy of the dreaded "generational" talent label. He's somewhat less than Connor McDavid, likely superior to Jack Eichel. Anyone who thinks he isn't the consensus #1 pick is just trying to drum up false drama. Don't be a drama-llama. There is no question he's the #1 pick. There isn't even a slight chance that the Leafs pick someone else.
This is a kid who when everyone else his age was in junior, he played against men, in a men's league and put up more than a point per game. He finished tenth in league scoring, but second in points-per-game.
For a team that's never had a Calder winner, an Art Ross winner or a (recent, post-six-team) Stanley Cup, this is the best thing that could ever happen to them.
MINUS: The Coyotes will draft seventh, which, given the quality of their team this year, is way too high. Would a been nice for them to move up, but at least they didn't move down.
Seven will still give us a good pick, and maybe it's possible to use the Rangers' pick to move up and select the top rated defenseman in the draft Jakob Chychrun.
MINUS: The NHL's process for deciding awards winners. This week, some nominations were released, and they were embarrassing. Jonathan Quick for Vezina? Are you kidding me?
Where is Joe Thornton's Selke nomination and why is Kesler nominated instead?
As for the Norris, Burns should be replaced with Letang, Brodie, Lindholm or Muzzin.
PLUS: The Leafs now have William Nylander, Mitch Marner and Auston Mattews.
Let that sink in for a minute.
They also have Morgan Reilly, Jake Gardiner, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komorov and James Van Riemsdyk.
They also have sure-fire NHL prospects: Kasperi Kappanen, Connor Brown, Jeremy Bracco, Nikita Shoshnikov, Brendan Leipsic, Andreas Johnson and Travis Dermott.
It is finally, finally a good time to be a Leafs fan.
PLUS Drake has a new album, Raptors Game Seven is Tonight, and the Jays have a great team .......so pretty good week for Toronto.
MINUS: Bob Murray. What is this guy thinking? Bruce Boudreau is a top 3 to 5 coach in the NHL. Sure, he lost four game sevens, but unless you're incapable of critical thinking, all you have to do is look at the save percentages of his goalies in those games vs the competition or understand that a game seven against two relatively evenly matched teams is basically a coin flip.
To blame the coach is just sad. Boudreau couldn't coach Corey Perry into scoring and it isn't Bruce Boudreau that Josh Manson, the best defenseman in the NHL at limiting shots against in 2015-16 missed the entire series.
Firing Boudreau is one of the dumbest things of all-time.
PLUS: Anyone who thinks the draft lottery was in any way shape or form a conspiracy. You're an idiot. You are making my day even better with your laughable theories and sad-sack sore loser whining. I can't honestly believe there is a single person in the entire world who actually thinks the NHL would rig a lottery.
All you have to do is think for two seconds how many people would need to be involved in this conspiracy, think about the odds of all of them keeping it a secret and then consider the billions in dollars in law-suits and loss of integrity it would cost the game.
Just a ridiculous idea.
PLUS: The Chicago/ St. Louis series. Most Finals aren't that good. Then, the fact that we get Washington / Pittsburgh this round is amazing. I don't know how the third round or the Final will possibly come close to replicating this, but it's been amazing so far.
MINUS: It is a bit of a bummer for Coyotes fans to have the #1 overall pick be a kid who grew up in Arizona and cheered for the Coytoes. That sucks. But, it also sucked for the Leafs when Tavares and Stamkos went to other teams. Such is life.
MINUS: The ridiculous trade proposals. The Coyotes are not going to trade OEL straight up for Auston Mattews, and certainly aren't going to include the seventh pick as well. Neither will they offer up Domi, Strome or any combination of players in exchange for Auston Mattews.
Sure, it'd be nice to have him, but tearing your roster apart for a single player makes no sense. Just look at the Lindros to Flyers trade: The Avalanche ended up the better overall team for over a decade because the Flyers paid a ridiculous price to get him.
This will never happen. The Leafs are not going to move this pick anyways. 0% chance.
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