Every now and again, someone reveals a hockey hot take so bad that you just can't help but point your finger and laugh in their general direction. We were treated to such a hot take yesterday, when a Bruins podcaster shared a tweet from a fan suggesting that he'd take Dylan Larkin over Auston Matthews, simply because of the cap savings.
Let's just pretend for a second that Larkin was even close to as good as Auston Matthews is. Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in the NHL. Based on that alone, even if the two players were comparable, you'd have to give Auston Matthews the edge. There's also the fact that if Larkin was anywhere near as good as Matthews is, he'd be paid similarly.
The fact of the matter is that Matthews belongs in that same tier as Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. These guys are paid the way they are because they can singlehandedly influence the outcome of a hockey game on any given night. While I have nothing against Larkin, he's not even close to the same caliber of player.
Hold on, though - it didn't end there. Sullivan also doubled down on his brutal take, suggesting that the Leafs could have spend the additional cap savings on a number of players including the likes of Alexander Wennberg ($4.5M), Brandon Saad ($4.5M), Tyson Barrie ($4.5M) or Nikita Zaitsev ($4.5M). Folks, you just can't make this stuff up.
Honestly, I'm having a tough time believing he's not simply trolling Leaf fans. If he's not, God help him - and I'd hate to listen to that podcast if I were a Bruins fan.
