C Auston Matthews - ZSC Lions, NLA (2016 Draft) II

[Coedae]

NLA better than Liiga? No way. NLA have some stars, but overall wise Liiga is easily ahead. Liiga and AHL is kinda same level, it's very hard to compare. For example Corey Locke was dominating AHL, but was really bad in Liiga. I'll say NHL, KHL, SHL/AHL/Liiga (these three leagues have really small gap), then bigger gap to NLA, DEL etc.

Anyway, Matthews is great. Pretty sure he's going to be 1st overall, big franchise center. The other prospects competing 1st overall are d-man and wingers.

 

[jacobhockey13]

Scored another goal in today's 2-1 win.

 

[Farnham4top6]

nla better than liiga? No way. Nla have some stars, but overall wise liiga is easily ahead. Liiga and ahl is kinda same level, it's very hard to compare. For example corey locke was dominating ahl, but was really bad in liiga. I'll say nhl, khl, shl/ahl/liiga (these three leagues have really small gap), then bigger gap to nla, del etc.

Anyway, matthews is great. Pretty sure he's going to be 1st overall, big franchise center. The other prospects competing 1st overall are d-man and wingers.

nla>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>shl

 

[Farnham4top6]

NLA is probably the most attractive league to foreigners, but mostly because of the money, short distances and living standards.
SHL is better than the Swiss League, and I'm a regular watcher of the NLA.

NHL
KHL
SHL
AHL/NLA
Liiga

Have you ever watched SEL?
It's horrible, there is a reason they are doing everything in their power to destroy allsvenskan, so allsvenskan doesn't take all their fans.
SEL teams all about trap and standing behind the net looking at each-other and if some team actually dear to forecheck, they are accused of being a boring trap team.
NLA have much better quality of hockey.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Have you ever watched SEL?
It's horrible, there is a reason they are doing everything in their power to destroy allsvenskan, so allsvenskan doesn't take all their fans.
SEL teams all about trap and standing behind the net looking at each-other and if some team actually dear to forecheck, they are accused of being a boring trap team.
NLA have much better quality of hockey.

Try make a more objective post next time, with less emotions involved

Such bs

 

[TheZec]

Scored another goal in today's 2-1 win.

And the only post discussing Matthews play is being ignored...

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

What's that? 3 + 2 in 4 gp?

 

[Plub]

What's that? 3 + 2 in 4 gp?

Does it matter? The better he does the more Euros will come in here to say how the NLA isn't a good league (of course it was a good league prior to Matthews) and that the Finnish prospects are playing much better competition and that is the only reason 10/10 scouts (per Mckenzie) chose Matthews as the consensus number one pick for next year's draft.

 

[Farnham4top6]

Try make a more objective post next time, with less emotions involved

Such bs

in what way is boring trap hockey with zero fan culture that shl is trying to create good hockey?

 

[Farnham4top6]

Does it matter? The better he does the more Euros will come in here to say how the NLA isn't a good league (of course it was a good league prior to Matthews) and that the Finnish prospects are playing much better competition and that is the only reason 10/10 scouts (per Mckenzie) chose Matthews as the consensus number one pick for next year's draft.

it's only misguided swede's and nationalistic fins. NLA is a very good league, a step above ahl, shl and on par with fhl.

 

[FiLe]

NLA has the best individuals, SHL has the best depth, Liiga has the best training and coaching. Hard to tell 'em apart, because none of them is clearly the best choice in everything.

That being said, Matthews looks nice. People are too fixated on who should go 1OA, because that matters very little in the end. It's only tells who's been the best kid in the year leading up to the draft, not necessarily who's gonna be the best all his career. (Though I can see why some Finns get riled when an ignorant, cocky American calls Laine and Puljujärvi "2nd tier".) All of these kids in contention will go high and likely see some NHL time. Then it's up to them what they make of it.

 

[scipio]

Important win tonight! First NLA goal for former Guelph Storm player Pius Suter and game winning goal for Matthews after a rebound!

 

[Jussi]

Have you ever watched SEL?
It's horrible, there is a reason they are doing everything in their power to destroy allsvenskan, so allsvenskan doesn't take all their fans.
SEL teams all about trap and standing behind the net looking at each-other and if some team actually dear to forecheck, they are accused of being a boring trap team.
NLA have much better quality of hockey.

That's modern day puck possesion hockey for you. There's a reason the Swiss clubs have trouble beating the Finnish and Swedish clubs who use such tactics.

 

[swissexpert]

NLA better than Liiga? No way. NLA have some stars, but overall wise Liiga is easily ahead. I'll say NHL, KHL, SHL/AHL/Liiga (these three leagues have really small gap), then bigger gap to NLA, DEL etc.

"easily ahead" "big gap" are kind of big words when everyone else agrees that the NLA has overcome Finnish Liiga in recent years.
You're point is that a good AHLer sucked in Finland? There are plenty of them in the NLA.
I'm not saying NLA>>>>Liiga but the gap between them is closed. To put the NLA on a stage with DEL shows that you're not valueing NLA enough.

To add something on topic: Matthews is great, gonna be a really special player. Can't wait to see him live in 2 weeks!

 

[BusQuets]

"easily ahead" "big gap" are kind of big words when everyone else agrees that the NLA has overcome Finnish Liiga in recent years.
You're point is that a good AHLer sucked in Finland? There are plenty of them in the NLA.
I'm not saying NLA>>>>Liiga but the gap between them is closed. To put the NLA on a stage with DEL shows that you're not valueing NLA enough.

To add something on topic: Matthews is great, gonna be a really special player. Can't wait to see him live in 2 weeks!

You have right to defend NLA but why are you fabricating such things? Even the big bosses of CHL have said numerious times that they hope other leagues would find a way to challenge SHL and Liiga teams. Honestly there's no way to come to that conclusion if you watch even a couple chl games. Shl and Liiga are flat out dominating that league and they are the ones who even "care" the least.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Any potentially defamatory statements must be backed up by links to legitimate media outlets.

 

[swissexpert]

You have right to defend NLA but why are you fabricating such things? Even the big bosses of CHL have said numerious times that they hope other leagues would find a way to challenge SHL and Liiga teams. Honestly there's no way to come to that conclusion if you watch even a couple chl games. Shl and Liiga are flat out dominating that league and they are the ones who even "care" the least.

How would you know how much each league "cares" about the tournament?

Agreed that SHL and Liiga ere dominating it, completely disagree that this is evidence for Liiga beeing far ahead of the Swiss League.
And yeah, I've watched a few games, the level of play is horrible, refereeing is even worse, most of the players see it as an exhibition tourney.

Sorry for this last off-topic post, comparing European leagues has nothing to do with Matthews. I think the Swiss League is perfect for developing a young player, especially under ZSC and Crawford.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

NLA has the best individuals, SHL has the best depth, Liiga has the best training and coaching. Hard to tell 'em apart, because none of them is clearly the best choice in everything.

That being said, Matthews looks nice. People are too fixated on who should go 1OA, because that matters very little in the end. It's only tells who's been the best kid in the year leading up to the draft, not necessarily who's gonna be the best all his career. (Though I can see why some Finns get riled when an ignorant, cocky American calls Laine and Puljujärvi "2nd tier".) All of these kids in contention will go high and likely see some NHL time. Then it's up to them what they make of it.

As of right now? They are second tier. There is a single first tier player in Matthews. Everyone below him is second tier or below. Matthews is far and away the best player in the draft and has been looked at as the 1OA for a long time now.

Perhaps other players can shorten the gap between the tiers, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Frankly, it's far more "ignorant" and "cocky" to consider players like Laine and Puljujärvi to be the equal of Matthews right now. No clue why Finnish posters would take offense to second tier players being called second tier players. It's not like they are referred to as borderline first round picks or something.

 

[Morning Dart]

As of right now? They are second tier. There is a single first tier player in Matthews. Everyone below him is second tier or below. Matthews is far and away the best player in the draft and has been looked at as the 1OA for a long time now.

Perhaps other players can shorten the gap between the tiers, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Frankly, it's far more "ignorant" and "cocky" to consider players like Laine and Puljujärvi to be the equal of Matthews right now. No clue why Finnish posters would take offense to second tier players being called second tier players. It's not like they are referred to as borderline first round picks or something.

Frankly, players like Laine and Puljujarvi are going to have to show me more to consider them the equal of Chychrun right now. Laine and Pulju are the clear 3-4 as of now as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Jussi]

As of right now? They are second tier. There is a single first tier player in Matthews. Everyone below him is second tier or below. Matthews is far and away the best player in the draft and has been looked at as the 1OA for a long time now.

Well BobbyMac, or rather the scouts he's interviewed, disagees with that as they're saying there's a "big 4".

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Well BobbyMac, or rather the scouts he's interviewed, disagees with that as they're saying there's a "big 4".

That's nice. 10/10 scouts have Matthews as the #1. He's the consensus #1 overall. Right now, there's Matthews and then the next tier.

Frankly, players like Laine and Puljujarvi are going to have to show me more to consider them the equal of Chychrun right now. Laine and Pulju are the clear 3-4 as of now as far as I'm concerned.

I would probably agree with this.

 

[BusQuets]

That's nice. 10/10 scouts have Matthews as the #1. He's the consensus #1 overall. Right now, there's Matthews and then the next tier.



I would probably agree with this.

Just because there is consensus doesn't mean Matthews would be on his own tier. Actually if Bob's says there is a big-4 it would imply that they are close to each other or atleast in the same tier. I think you are reaching here without any actual content. I agree though that Matthews is #1 pick atm but they are pretty close. Puljujarvi for example was more impressive in the u20 but Matthews and Laine were more impressive in the u18. Can't say much about Chychrun.

 

[FiLe]

Compare last year, when McDavid was considered the clear-cut #1 with Eichel as his only challenger. It would have been a) still a surprise if somebody had settled on Eichel before McDavid and b) a MASSIVE surprise if somebody else had got picked ahead of either of them.

Even if most have Matthews pegged as the 1OA now, there is a handful of other players who have it within the realms of possibility to overtake him as the season progresses. Therefore calling these players "2nd tier" IS a bit belittling and ignorant.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Just because there is consensus doesn't mean Matthews would be on his own tier. Actually if Bob's says there is a big-4 it would imply that they are close to each other or atleast in the same tier. I think you are reaching here without any actual content. I agree though that Matthews is #1 pick atm but they are pretty close. Puljujarvi for example was more impressive in the u20 but Matthews and Laine were more impressive in the u18. Can't say much about Chychrun.

No, they really aren't in the same tier. Matthews also hasn't been the #1 for just "at the moment." But a number of years, now. Enough about the Finnish prospects. I'm sure they have their own threads.

 

[FiLe]

No, they really aren't in the same tier. Matthews also hasn't been the #1 for just "at the moment." But a number of years, now. Enough about the Finnish prospects. I'm sure they have their own threads.

First he tells us that Matthews is in a tier of his own, and only then he tells us to stop comparing, because the others "have their own threads". How convenient.