Connor McDavid is the single most exciting player of this era. Hands down.
The speed he plays the game at is second to none truly. AND he is hands down best player of this era and is it just 100% true that he worth more than any other player right now....right?
Nope...of course not.
Auston Matthews is showing everyone he belongs right there in that conversation. There are many reasons of course. Some on the ice and some off....
On the ice Matthews teams are just more successful. Now you can't pin all of that on McDavid of course. He doesn't have nearly the talent surrounding him but he also hasn't always shown the ability to raise the levels of everyone around him.
Consider this. William Nylander is holding out for more money and one of the reasons he is doing so is because he showed everyone he could play very well and work with Matthews...and that was a concern why?
Because we have seen lately that not everyone is able to play with superstars. Coaches have spent a great deal of time trying to find Crosby and McDavid line mates who could "keep up." We always hear it mentioned that "It's not easy playing with a superstar player.' Kunitz made a career out of it. right now in Edmonton The Ty Rattie experiment has shown some early promise, but now we are seeing questions again
Not easy to play with the best?
Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't the star player be the one making those around him better? That is what Wayne and Mario always did, and unfortunately for Nylander right now that is what Matthews has shown an ability to do. Nylander's leverage has faded as it seems whoever plays with Matthews does better than the last one..So maybe they won't pay Nylander 8 million per.
Off the ice....
This is Toronto....Matthews helps the Leafs print even more money...
So why is it that there is "Simply no way Auston Matthews gets what McDavid got?"
The answer is obvious.
No one wants that. Well except Auston...
Oilers fans want McDavid to stand alone and Leaf fans want Matthews to take less because they have so many other salary issues coming up... so who exactly is arguing that Matthews is right there with McDavid? Besides me?
And understand me...He might takes less...but he does deserve more.
My next favorite 6-5 game?
In yesterday's blog I asked what was another game I loved that ended 6-5 since so many of the great games have ended with that score...It was January 5th, 2010. CANADA vs USA in the gold medal game for the World Juniors... The Americans had the lead late, but Jordan Eberle scored twice in the last three minutes to tie it 5-5 and send it to overtime. In Overtime John Carlson scored on Martin Jones to give Team USA the rare gold medal win...The win ended Canada's run of five straight gold medals. AMAZING game. Had it all!
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