Quoting: howmuchcurrycanyoueat
Wouldn't you rather have a 50 goal guy who's been one of the better defensive forwards over the last couple years at 13M over the chance of McTavish even becoming an 8M player? Not too mention, Matthews has the name brand to fill seats and sell jerseys and bring in more money for the franchise than MacTavish and Zellweger would. This seems like an underpay for Matthews.
It's pretty obvious I would rather keep McTavish, Zellweger, and the picks, since I said I would rather keep McTavish, Zellweger, and the picks..... So I'm going to assume you want details as to WHY I keep the pieces I have if I am Anaheims GM.
It has been shown, over and over again in this league, having too top heavy of a team is not a format for playoff success. Leafs, Oilers, even the Rangers are testaments to this. In order to get it done, you have to have a deep roster. Scoring from all four lines, no glaring weaknesses in matchups, no highly exploitable defensive pairings
Matthews doesn't hate to loose. In 50 playoff games, he has 22 goals, 22 assists, and a +1 rating. In 50 playoff games. A +1 over a most of a seasons worth of playoff games doesn't scream elite offensively or defensively, it's pretty meh. Now let's compare that to Ryan Getzlaf. 125 playoff games played, 120 points, +12 rating. Connor McDavid, 49 GP, 75 points, +16 rating. Patrice Burgeron, 170 GP, +42 128 points. Kucherov 142 GP, +38 160 points. Crosby 180 GP, +18 201 points. Matthews is supposed to be an elite player, elite players are supposed to shift the fortunes of their teams on the ice. Matthews has no evidence of doing that in his career when it really counts, in the playoffs. Rocket Richard trophies are great consolation prizes, but all of us hockey fans want the cup.
For the amount of salary that Matthews commands, he has to be able to overcome the deficiencies created because the GM can't afford to properly flush out the roster, and he simply doesn't.
I would rather take my chances developing the kids we have in the hopes that they turn into ~80 point +5/10 on a season players that earn 7-9 million that I can adequately flush out a team around, than give them up to acquire a piece I know will hamstring my ability to put a roster together.