Insider Shares Troubling Theory Regarding Maple Leafs Captain Auston Matthews
Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman has shared a troublesome and frustrating suggestion regarding Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews and his health.
The Leafs are currently slumping worse than they have at any other point during the season, and there appears to be a lot of unrest and frustration surrounding the team because of it.
After dropping a 4-2 decision to Ottawa on Saturday, the Leafs slipped to a 1-5 record across their last 6 games. That is simply not good enough, especially at this point of the year.
A huge reason for the Leafs' ups and downs this season has been the play of Auston Matthews in his first season as captain of the team. Matthews will be lucky to hit 30 goals this season, and his persistent health issues appear to be playing a huge role in that.
Per Elliotte Friedman in his most recent edition of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Matthews is still very much dealing with something, and Friedman has also presented a theory as to why the Leafs' captain refuses to sit out and recover.
"There's no question now -- I think the biggest thing that everyone's looking at Toronto is Matthews. And he's missed time this year. Of course, he went overseas, went to Germany to get looked at.
He missed that one game during the 4 Nations... You can sense that Matthews, as captain -- this is my guess -- whatever he's dealing with, he wants to show that he can push his way through it, or deal with it as best he can while he's in the lineup...
I think he sees it as leadership by example, push his way through... But it's clear that he's bothered by something and wants to attack it the way he feels a captain should, which is to play his way through it."
He missed that one game during the 4 Nations... You can sense that Matthews, as captain -- this is my guess -- whatever he's dealing with, he wants to show that he can push his way through it, or deal with it as best he can while he's in the lineup...
I think he sees it as leadership by example, push his way through... But it's clear that he's bothered by something and wants to attack it the way he feels a captain should, which is to play his way through it."
If that's Matthews' outlook, one way to look at it is to celebrate his courage and heart. Another way to look at it is that he might be hurting his team more than he is helping them in a lot of ways.
Sure, Matthews' defensive play is strong, but as the NHL's highest-paid player this year, the team needs him to be scoring goals the way that only he can. If there's an injury preventing him from doing that, which there appears to be, he's not doing his team any favours by refusing to rest it for the sake of trying to "lead by example" and play through the pain.
This team needs their captain at the top of his game come playoff time, and while the pursuit of a division title is certainly notable, if you give any player the choice between winning their division or potentially competing for a Stanley Cup, it's pretty clear which goal they'd rather set.
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MARS 17 | 1 ANSWERS Insider Shares Troubling Theory Regarding Maple Leafs Captain Auston Matthews Do you think Auston Matthews is refusing to sit out and heal because he wants to lead by example as the captain of the team? | ||
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