*Buzzsaw* Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Watching his progress this year, and his general improvement in confidence, I have to believe Shaun Mattias is going to be 2nd line/top 6 either late this season or starting next year. Not only are we seeing the offensive flair from him, he is also becoming better defensively... yeah he is -4 right now, but he is seeing quite a bit of PK time and overall I believe his ice time is up. He has so much upside offensively the defensive gaffes he occasionally makes would be balanced out, especially if he is on a line with forwards who are defensively responsible. He will be 27 years old next year... usually that is the age when mid range players peak... I don't think he'll be any exception. I would like to see him get more PP time on the 2nd unit... I think he might solve some of the zone entry problems that group has been having. Everyone is saying Bonino's move to the unit with Mattias is a demotion, not so sure that is the case... Mattias will make room for Bonino and will be able to utilize Bonino's passing skills. His strength along the boards is a good complement. In many ways the line with Burrows/Richardson/Higgins is the defensive shutdown line... Bonino is now free to focus on offense with Mattias on his line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiboynux4lifee******* Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 So far I enjoyed the vey bonino line with matthias, but I want to see that line versus elite teams. Matthias belongs on the 3rd line not 2nd line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gstank29 Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Everyone was laughing when i said Mathais could get 35-40 points. WHOS LAUGHING NOW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where's Wellwood Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 PK time wouldn't affect his +/-. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tystick Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 He's definitely been a pleasant surprise. I wonder if he was rushed into the league early and couldn't thrive in Florida? Maybe he's a late bloomer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Anyone could play on our second line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliboy Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Mathias is having some Bertuzzi-ish moments, just needs to be more consistant, don't care what line he's on just as long as he's effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OTOWNCanuck Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 How many times have bonino and Matthias played together this season ? Id be interested to see that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monty Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Everyone was laughing when i said Mathais could get 35-40 points. WHOS LAUGHING NOW Everyone, because he's currently on pace for less than 30 this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiboynux4lifee******* Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Everyone was laughing when i said Mathais could get 35-40 points. WHOS LAUGHING NOW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gstank29 Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Everyone, because he's currently on pace for less than 30 this season. Still it's very reasonable for him to get to 35-40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaudette Celly Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I still envision Matthias, Kassian, Virtanen, and Jensen on the wings of our top 2-3 lines. All big and fast and can handle the puck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly_Paragon Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I remember JB saying that he wanted Matthias when he was with Boston. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd. Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Shawn Matthias is doing a better job of being that PWF we envisioned Kassian to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnsey Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I was waiting for a him to be on a line with Bonino and it's look pretty good right now. When that 2nd line first start to struggle Richardson and Matthias were playing amazing. I thought moving Burrows or Higgins down and moving Matthias up could have been a simply yet effective move to get that 2nd line going. Regardless I have been very happy with his play this year and am hoping he gets more offensive output. Him on the top 6 may/would give us the opportunity to let Kass stay on the 3rd line until he is ready. A lot of people have given up on Kass but I always say that when you look at his point totals in his first few years compare to Bertuzzi they are not too different. Bertuzzi was a late 20 guy when he was able to produce top 6 numbers. Kass is still a young guy, only 23. Keep on the 3rd until he is ready. Give him at least another year or two, he could be vital for the future and the future is where we will win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathew Barzal Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 He will, but that's more a testament to our shoddy depth than it is to his acheivements. He's a big guy, works hard, but his vision and passing is on par with Booth's. Not top six material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOL_dre Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 He will, but that's more a testament to our shoddy depth than it is to his acheivements. He's a big guy, works hard, but his vision and passing is on par with Booth's. Not top six material. Even David Booth was able to score 30 goals in one season... Matthias/Higgins will do until some of our prospects are more developed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William_Clarkson Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 2nd powerplay at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabcakes Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 *Buzzsaw* Agreeing very much with this post I think that we have to think of this team as top 3 and bottom 9 (a team in transition). I'm talking about putting players in a position where they will be the most effective. I have said in the past that I thought that Bonino should play with a power forward to give him some time and space to do his thing. I have also thought that the power forward had to be Kassian because of his top 6 skill. However, he doesn't want to embrace the physical aspect of the power forward game. Fine then, I'm not discussing Kassian. Why not pair Matthias with Bonino? This looks like it works well. Also, we have seen over the last month that Vey has worked well with Matthias so we may have a nice line there. It doesn't have to be a traditional 2nd line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sockeye Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Why not? He's looked good on the second line so far. Whether he's a second line player or 3rd line player, I'd like to see him resigned. Great effort by him so far this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.