[Alter] Sheldon Keefe on Auston Matthews getting his 69th goal and the reaction every time he touched the puck: Yeah, I mean, obviously, that’s a major distraction. It doesn’t help us, what we’re trying to accomplish on the ice. But it’s exciting. I get it. And it’s– especially when he gets to 69
Sheldon Keefe on Auston Matthews getting his 69th goal and the reaction every time he touched the puck:
Yeah, I mean, obviously, that's a major distraction. It doesn't help us, what we're trying to accomplish on the ice. But it's exciting. I get it. And it's– especially when…
— David Alter (@dalter) April 14, 2024
by DevOpsMakesMeDrink
17 Comments
Full quote that didn’t fit in the title
>Yeah, I mean, obviously, that’s a major distraction. It doesn’t help us, what we’re trying to accomplish on the ice. But it’s exciting. I get it. And it’s– especially when he gets to 69, you can see it. It’s really– it’s growing, anticipating. And now you’re feeding it. I’m feeding it. I want it to happen. But I wanted it for the fans. But I’m glad the game’s over. Let’s move on.”
Tough spot for Keefe.
Should always be playing to win but people want 70.
These last games truly don’t matter but you want the right attitude and momentum going into playoffs. Would the team really be happy if Matthews pots 70 but loses 10-1?
Tough calls all around.
Okay, I’ll start.
Nice.
They lost because they were chasing 70?
Sheldon “Nice”. Probably
Rough spot for Keefe. If Auston pots 70 but the leafs lose in R1 he’s probably cooked as HC. If Auston plays and gets injured he’s probably cooked. But 70 means a tonne to Auston. If Auston sits and then has a rough playoffs there will be questions on if Keefe created a riff by sitting his superstar in games that were extremely meaningful to him.
Keefe stands to take blame however things go wrong but get no credit of anything short of a deep playoff run. I don’t envy him. Plus if you play Matty you need to play other guys to give him a good shot at potting one. Matthews probably can score with the marlies but why play him if you don’t go all in on getting him 70? Which probably means playing all of PP1 plus Domi and Bert.
fans would take the 70 over the win. the win is a nothingburger.
go 70 go go!
Fuck off Keefe. It’s not a distraction at all.
It’s a huge distraction. You can tell the team is torn between trying to score and feeding Auston for 70. It’s why the last two games the goals came out of nowhere
Let him dress for the last two games and only stick him out there on the PP. Easy
There’s nothing to accomplish in the next 2 games anyway, let Auston hit 70
keefe is such a clown
69 hasn’t been done since ’95. 69 is nicer than 70 and much more satisfying.
I don’t really understand what Keefe meant with that. A major distraction from what, since we already have our spot in the playoffs? And a distraction for whom? How exactly is this not helping us, and not helping us to do what?
I’m not sarcastically bitching about it, I’m genuinely confused by his wording, can someone here help me in the interpretation?
I personally hope Papi gets to 70 asap so that he can rest before playoffs and avoid unnecessary injuries, but other than that the chase to 70 has been so exciting and honestly losing a couple of rather useless games isn’t a big deal in my books (but ofc I’m not an authority in hockey by any means so I’m not saying I’m right and Keefe is wrong)
These games at the end of the season where nothing good can happen but injuries could are stressful for a coach. Cut Keefe some slack.
You’re in the room, eh?
Matthews did get hurt, but we wont know the extent of it until offseason. That said, if that crash into the end boards didn’t hurt him, nothing will.