Matthews is such an interesting case. It's almost like he has the hockey equivalent of "the yips." He looks to be hesitating at key points, looks indecisive, which gives defenders time to get their stick in the way of his shot. That old drag and rip move rarely works anymore. Other times he just fumbles the puck away for no apparent reason. I suspect there are a number of things going on - whatever injury he was dealing with last year is probably still an issue, and even if he feels better he's probably hesitating to do certain things physically because of it, afraid to re-injure it.
He can obviously still fire the puck at times - he rang that wicked wrister off the bar a few games ago, and has let loose a few pretty good one-timers (from distance) on the PP. But he generally doesn't look confident in his shot or in his physical engagements. Maybe more time with Nylander (looks like they're making that change) will force defenders to back off him a bit and build his confidence.
