Once again this season, true to form, the Toronto Maple Leafs are having an excellent regular season.
They are currently in first place in the Atlantic Division ahead of the Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers, and in 6th place in the entire NHL.
In short, things are going very well in Toronto, even if Auston Matthews has been injured quite often this season, missing 12 games.
Everything is going well for the Maple Leafs even without Auston Matthews, who will miss a few more games in the coming days.
He won’t play this evening, but he skated for a few minutes during optional practice this morning.
In short, even if Matthews is not healthy this season, the Leafs are performing, and even performing even better than usual when number 34 is not in the lineup.
Talk to Mitch Marner, who is having the best season of his career right now, while Matthews is out of the lineup quite often.
Marner also produces more when Matthews is not in the lineup.
Indeed, it really seems that Marner comes out of his shell even more when he becomes the best player on the team, while Matthews is on the bench.
Marner is currently playing his best career hockey, while he is THE star of the Maple Leafs when Matthews is absent.
With his 49 points, including 13 goals, in 36 games, number 16 of the Leafs is currently on a momentum of 111 points, which would represent his best career season, and his first of 100 points or more.
And when we analyze it even further, we realize that this season, 10 of Marner’s 13 goals were scored while Matthews was not in the lineup.
Add to that that in 8 of the 12 games without Matthews, Marner scored more than one point.
In short, Marner really seems at his best when Matthews is not there, which clearly increases the market value of number 16 for the Leafs.
We remember that Marner still does not have a contract for next season, and that this is therefore an issue that remains to be followed very closely.
The Leafs forward is currently pocketing around $10.9 million per season, and if he continues like this, he will really be entitled to ask for a salary increase.
In short, when Matthews the maverick is not there, Marner seems to play with much more freedom and ease, without having the pressure of producing number 34.
Marner thinks more about scoring than finding Matthews, which really seems to help his production.
In Burst
– Very bad news for Canada.
– Note among the Leafs. Auston Matthews wore a gray sweater.
– For those interested.
– Here is new information on the new acquisition of CF Montréal.
