• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

Laine v Matthews

BKerr said:
Exactly

Go back 12 months and you can find articles about Eichel being better than McDavid.

Go back to the Tavares draft and you can find the whole Hedman thing, some even pimped Matt Duchene as the best of the three.

Go back to the Patrick Kane draft and you had people saying that JvR and Kyle Turris were better.

Crosby is the only draft where it was pretty undisputed in the media who the number 1 guy was. But every other year they try to sell suspense on who the draft pick will be. With the Leafs now number 1, i expect that they will push Laine even harder now, cause they will want Leaf fans to tune into the draft for the suspense of which player is taken?
Click to expand...
The fact "Eichel over McDavid" was even whispered by media ppl, tells you how far the media would go just to create stories out of nothing.

Matthews is a clear #1.

And someone was saying Matthews was 48 hours away from going 3rd overall? I don't think so. McDavid was generational talent that AM is not, but by that theory McDavid would have made Stamkos, Tavares etc. a 2nd overall pick too.

As for Eichel vs. AM, pretty clear AM has been a better prospect than Eichel at 16 and 17 in the same program (US hockey development program) ... he has a pretty clear advantage offensively from the stats, he's a much better defensive player.. All these considered, AM would be drafted over Eichel if they were in the same draft year. I think that is very clear.

I think AM can quite easily step in and score 20ish G, 50ish points for us next season in his rookie year.

Off the ice I really like AM's maturity as a 17 year old too, you never draft or not draft a player for these reasons, but I think that's just another reason I believe AM will be a fitting franchise player in this city. His leadership, personality, maturity, and his work ethics, his passion for the game ... all of them are nice bonus to add to his overall package.
 
Last edited:
All these considered, Eichel would be drafted over AM if they were in the same draft year. I think that is very clear.
Click to expand...

If Matthews was 2 days older, and they were taken in the same draft year, Eichel would have been 324 days older than Matthews on the day they were both drafted. Functionally a year older than Matthews. McDavid would have been about 110 days olders.
 
MindzEye said:
If Matthews was 2 days older, and they were taken in the same draft year, Eichel would have been 324 days older than Matthews on the day they were both drafted. Functionally a year older than Matthews. McDavid would have been about 110 days olders.
Click to expand...
My bad, it's a typo. I meant AM would be drafted over Eichel if they were the same draft year, not the other way around.
 
It'd have been a toss up imo....Eichel being the slightly safer more polished & complete product this time last year, with Matthews having the superior two way game......offensive potential very similar....a slight edge to Matthews for possible upside.
 
Deckie007 said:
Feel like you capitalized THE wrong word there.

I'd probably take Matthews, and I quite like Eichel.
Click to expand...

Yea my bad. Never proofread. WOmp womp. If we get a player comparable to Eichel in his rookie year i'd be pretty damn happy.
 
Adjusting Eichels pre-draft numbers to the NHL, I projected a 53pt season....he had 56......Taking Matthews NLA #'s and projecting them to NHL (a less exact science given how extremely rare it is for someone Matthews age to be going from NLA to NHL).....you're looking at a 42 point season.

I think rookie year, anywhere from 40-60 is likely from Matthews.....depending on whether Babcock uses him primarily as our third line center to start, with lots of defensive zone starts to have him work on his defensive game......or if he's a 2nd line center, with PP time that can take the #1 job by seasons end....
 
Can't believe we won still. I really want Vesey and Stamkos now. Our top 6 would be ridiculous.

Can we talk D options? Any UFA dmen of note?
 
hockeylover said:
Can't believe we won still. I really want Vesey and Stamkos now. Our top 6 would be ridiculous.

Can we talk D options? Any UFA dmen of note?
Click to expand...

It's not pretty. Keith Yandle is probably the best option. Now if we talk about trading for an RFA, some more options open up.
 
hockeylover said:
Can't believe we won still. I really want Vesey and Stamkos now. Our top 6 would be ridiculous.

Can we talk D options? Any UFA dmen of note?
Click to expand...
I do hope Vesey signs here, although I'm not really sure how good he will be. He may be Blake Wheeler, but he can also turn out to be Bozak. I REALLY, REALLY want Stamkos to sign here though, and I think we got a pretty decent shot. I think getting the #1 overall pick helps Stamkos see how the Leafs can contend again sooner than later.

If we get Stamkos, we'll have Stamkos, AM, Nylander and Kadri down the middle. That is a very solid group of C's. We could switch marner to the W and play him as a winger (he may be a winger in the NHL afterall) and/ or we can trade one of these 3 younger C's for a D ... sorta a Seth Jones kind of trade.
 
yandle would be a good Chicago Cambell-esq signing. But you'd have to be able to dump his contract at some point so it's a risk.

I'd love to take advantage of the Avs or Ducks being dumb enough to trade Barrie or Vatanen.
 
Deckie007 said:
It's not pretty. Keith Yandle is probably the best option. Now if we talk about trading for an RFA, some more options open up.
Click to expand...

Yandle is going to get paid large. The defensemen market is pretty trash this year. Demers might be had but even he'll cost big money. I don't think free agency is the best route to go. We don't want to end up with a Komisarek type anchor on our blueline.
 
Yandle's the only UFA defenseman of note that'd be worth signing---but I'm not really interested in handing a massive contract to a guy who's turning 30 in training camp next year. I don't think that's really the right move for this organization at this point.

If they do want to bolster the defense in a more meaningful way than just signing Zaitsev, I think the trade route is the way to go. Get someone who's younger, more controllable and who's going to come at a more reasonable cap hit for the next bunch of years.
 
And speaking of Campbell isn't his contract finally done this year? That would be a savvy, short term pick up. He's been great for Ekblad.
 
Jeremy said:
Are we sure Matthews isn't a generational player? Eichel has been called one.
Click to expand...

Depends on your definition of generational. I'm of the mind that the term is reserved for the legitimately elite of the elite. The best player of an entire generation. Gretz, Mario, Jagr, Crosby, Ovy, Lidstrom, Bourque, Roy, Hasek types. Guys who are legitimate threats to win a handful or more MVP's, scoring titles, Norris', Vezina's, etc.


By that measure, no, I don't think Matthews is that level of prospect. He's definitely a legit franchise level prospect though. Kane, Getzlaf, Young E Staal, Benn, Malkin, Datsyuk type outcomes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top