AM34 running away with the Hart

[2014olympicgold]

It's just funny how as soon as Matthews does anything great the hype machine goes to 110%. Lot's of people, and some still think he will be the all time goal leader. It reminds me of when Rory Mcilroy burst onto the golf scene 4 majors in 3 years and people were like he will be the one to beat Jack's record not Tiger. Well turns out neither will. The key is sustained excellence, and the jury is still out on that with Matthews, meanwhile Ovi although has slowed down is still a real possibility of actually breaking the record.

I think there's also a bit of anti-Toronto hate here. Like there's Leaf PumpUp and Leaf Downgrading.

I think real people just like comparing Matthews goal scoring to Ovi's because the Leafs fans don't have much else and it shows what the Leafs have. Like....he's the most talented Leaf of all time likely. He's an actual star that the Leafs haven't had since....Sundin?

The people who dislike the talk don't like it because it's the Leafs. The ones who are talking about it like he's the next Ovi are just Leaf fans not hockey fans. It happens in every sport.

[hockeyrobot]

I always trusted the odds. What were the Matthews Hart odds before the Marner injury?

[2014olympicgold]

I always trusted the odds. What were the Matthews Hart odds before the Marner injury?

During his scoring stretch I think he was minus odds actually.

Grain of salt though with betting odds for top teams like Leafs, Yankees, Cowboys, Lakers...they're influenced by crowd betting. So Matthews could have been -110, but he really should have been +200 kind of thing.

[Canucks_fan18]

I think there's also a bit of anti-Toronto hate here. Like there's Leaf PumpUp and Leaf Downgrading.

I think real people just like comparing Matthews goal scoring to Ovi's because the Leafs fans don't have much else and it shows what the Leafs have. Like....he's the most talented Leaf of all time likely. He's an actual star that the Leafs haven't had since....Sundin?

The people who dislike the talk don't like it because it's the Leafs. The ones who are talking about it like he's the next Ovi are just Leaf fans not hockey fans. It happens in every sport.

Fair enough. I was a little anti McDavid at first too but he's already proven now that he's one of the all time greats. 5 Arts and 3 Harts already. Both better then Crosby and Ovi.

[Invictus]

"Easy" to get to that mark when you're Matthews with a ton of space Marner created.

I know there's regression to normality that happens. But when you watch Matthews the last 2 weeks without Marner, you see he's got 0 space to do much. Marner does a lot of his scoring that I think goes undervalued. That was all the point of my post.

I also only thought Matthews should be in the Hart talk if he hits 70goals. That's really it. If he hits 69g he's not in it.

Was the same when Matthews first won the Hart. Marner had just worked on his shot during the offseason and now it needed to be respected (35g) creating a lot more space for Matthews. Team was more statistically worst with Marner out of the lineup compared to Matthews out of the lineup (although not a super large sample size, drawing stats from previous seasons would say the same giving a larger sample size).

Happy it's not just a one person race this year.

[SeaDawg]

I'm not a huge Matthews fan (just saying that upfront), but seeing the way he has dropped off since Marner's injury makes me wonder if he ever really deserved to be in the Hart conversation if he relies so heavily on Marner.

I suspect that Mackinnon, Kucherov, and McDavid wouldn't be falling off much, if at all, if they lost one of their line-mates.

As an Oiler fan, I want McDavid to win the Hart but I don't think he will.

If I'm completely objective, I think Kucherov deserves the Hart. He's having an unreal season and is really carrying Tampa on his shoulders. Mackinnon and McDavid both have more support than Kucherov. That said, I don't think Kucherov gets the award. It shouldn't be a popularity contest, but Kucherov's attitude stinks and I think some media will vote against him because of that. His behavior at the All-Star Game was embarrassing.

My money is on Mackinnon to win it. First time winner and playing the best hockey of his career.

[blayze]

It's looking like an uphill climb, especially without Marner. 15/15 is well within the realm of possibility for him (he's done 50/50) but without Marner I just can't see it.

He needed to hit 70 to lock it and for a short period I think he emerged as the favourite, but it's looking more like it will be Mack now. Kuch/Mack could have identical stats but they will give it to the latter since there's a general perception that he's deserved it but come away as runner up 3 of the last 4 years.

I don't think McJesus gets anything special for hitting 100 assists and he would have to beat the other 2 decisively to overcome the "McJesus fatigue" factor but there's not enough time left for that.

[rataylor22]

I think the main point is Matthews was never, at any point, running away with it. He was always simply one of a handful of players in contention.

[doulos]

blayze has always been one of my faves here as he knows exactly how to get people riled up with some good old fashioned Leafs hype.

[Invictus]

blayze has always been one of my faves here as he knows exactly how to get people riled up with some good old fashioned Leafs hype.

Ya, he's not sounding as hyped as when he made the thread though.

[Canucks_fan18]

I'm not a huge Matthews fan (just saying that upfront), but seeing the way he has dropped off since Marner's injury makes me wonder if he ever really deserved to be in the Hart conversation if he relies so heavily on Marner.

I suspect that Mackinnon, Kucherov, and McDavid wouldn't be falling off much, if at all, if they lost one of their line-mates.

As an Oiler fan, I want McDavid to win the Hart but I don't think he will.

If I'm completely objective, I think Kucherov deserves the Hart. He's having an unreal season and is really carrying Tampa on his shoulders. Mackinnon and McDavid both have more support than Kucherov. That said, I don't think Kucherov gets the award. It shouldn't be a popularity contest, but Kucherov's attitude stinks and I think some media will vote against him because of that. His behavior at the All-Star Game was embarrassing.

My money is on Mackinnon to win it. First time winner and playing the best hockey of his career.

Exactly the next closest to Kucherov on his team is Point with 75 points, that's a 43 point difference! In comparison Mackinnon has Rants at 93 points (24 point difference) and Makar with the same amount of points as Point as a defensemen. That's why I have always thought the Lindsay/Pearson award is more important as it's judged by the players.

[doulos]

Ya, he's not sounding as hyped as when he made the thread though.

Of course not. That's not nearly as fun and wouldn't have generated all of this good back and forth as it did with the initial hype claims.

[LawMan]

I'm not a huge Matthews fan (just saying that upfront), but seeing the way he has dropped off since Marner's injury makes me wonder if he ever really deserved to be in the Hart conversation if he relies so heavily on Marner.

I suspect that Mackinnon, Kucherov, and McDavid wouldn't be falling off much, if at all, if they lost one of their line-mates.

As an Oiler fan, I want McDavid to win the Hart but I don't think he will.

If I'm completely objective, I think Kucherov deserves the Hart. He's having an unreal season and is really carrying Tampa on his shoulders. Mackinnon and McDavid both have more support than Kucherov. That said, I don't think Kucherov gets the award. It shouldn't be a popularity contest, but Kucherov's attitude stinks and I think some media will vote against him because of that. His behavior at the All-Star Game was embarrassing.

My money is on Mackinnon to win it. First time winner and playing the best hockey of his career.

Agreed with all of this.
I think MacKinnon having a great year, along with never having won, and the Kucherov disklike propels MacKinnon to the win.
Still lots of the season left however. If one guy could pull away in the Art Ross conversation this could change.

[Feenom]

If I was Marner I’d fire my agent and hire Matthews.

If TB makes the playoffs I’d give it to Kooch. My top 3 atm would be Kooch, Mac and MacDavid. AM is falling out of it slowly. Still a tight race but Kooch is in beast mode right now.

[2014olympicgold]

He heard us hating lol