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

[Eternal Leaf]

He's looking like a stud.

 

[nilan30]

How does he compare to the ten most recent first overall forwards? McDavid, MacKinnon, Yakupov, Nugent-Hopkins, Hall, Stamkos, Tavares, Kane, Crosby, and Ovechkin.

If you had to guess, how do you think that group (and Matthews) will be ranked when all their careers are done?

I honestly don't know much about the guy so I'm trying to get a feel for how good he is.

 

[BusQuets]

How does he compare to the ten most recent first overall forwards? McDavid, MacKinnon, Yakupov, Nugent-Hopkins, Hall, Stamkos, Tavares, Kane, Crosby, and Ovechkin.

If you had to guess, how do you think that group (and Matthews) will be ranked when all their careers are done?

I honestly don't know much about the guy so I'm trying to get a feel for how good he is.

1.Ovechkin
2.Crosby
3.Mcdavid
4.Kane
5.Matthews
6.Stamkos
7.Tavares
8.Mackinnon
9.Hall
10.Nugent-Hopkins
11.Yakupov

 

[LeafGm]

Is ZSC already completely done playing hockey this year? If so, it seems kind of odd for the 2016 draft's #1 prospect to be finished playing hockey for the year by early February.

You wonder if it might be to Matthews' benefit to catch on with a different European league team that's still playing, or come back to North America and either hook up with the US NTDP for the remainder of the year, or play out the year in the WHL. Or if he really wants to continue thinking out of the box, I don't think there'd be anything stopping him from signing an AHL contract with somebody for the rest of the season.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Is ZSC already completely done playing hockey this year? If so, it seems kind of odd for the 2016 draft's #1 prospect to be finished playing hockey for the year by early February.

You wonder if it might be to Matthews' benefit to catch on with a different European league team that's still playing, or come back to North America and either hook up with the US NTDP for the remainder of the year, or play out the year in the WHL. Or if he really wants to continue thinking out of the box, I don't think there'd be anything stopping him from signing an AHL contract with somebody for the rest of the season.

That's never going to happen. He will almost certainly be on the U.S. World Championships team though this spring.

 

[Riellyfan04]

1.Ovechkin
2.Crosby
3.Mcdavid
4.Kane
5.Matthews
6.Stamkos
7.Tavares
8.Mackinnon
9.Hall
10.Nugent-Hopkins
11.Yakupov

Crosby>>>Ovi

 

[Demon Eyes]

Is ZSC already completely done playing hockey this year? If so, it seems kind of odd for the 2016 draft's #1 prospect to be finished playing hockey for the year by early February.

You wonder if it might be to Matthews' benefit to catch on with a different European league team that's still playing, or come back to North America and either hook up with the US NTDP for the remainder of the year, or play out the year in the WHL. Or if he really wants to continue thinking out of the box, I don't think there'd be anything stopping him from signing an AHL contract with somebody for the rest of the season.

50 game season, but they still have playoffs

 

[holyprime]

Is ZSC already completely done playing hockey this year? If so, it seems kind of odd for the 2016 draft's #1 prospect to be finished playing hockey for the year by early February.

There is still an 8 team playoffs that usually ends 1-3 weeks before the WHC. European leagues all have a similar schedule (KHL is a bit different).

But that raises an interesting question, could he be a candidate for the US team?

 

[Paxon]

Is ZSC already completely done playing hockey this year? If so, it seems kind of odd for the 2016 draft's #1 prospect to be finished playing hockey for the year by early February.

You wonder if it might be to Matthews' benefit to catch on with a different European league team that's still playing, or come back to North America and either hook up with the US NTDP for the remainder of the year, or play out the year in the WHL. Or if he really wants to continue thinking out of the box, I don't think there'd be anything stopping him from signing an AHL contract with somebody for the rest of the season.

As others have said, there's still the playoffs. ZSC is the best team in the league so in theory they should go deep. Then there's the World Championships. I'd be floored if he wasn't invited to play for the USA like Eichel was last year, having played at an elite level (second-best PPG, just short of leading in goals despite missing many games) in a pro league as an elite prospect.

 

[93LEAFS]

1.Ovechkin
2.Crosby
3.Mcdavid
4.Kane
5.Matthews
6.Stamkos
7.Tavares
8.Mackinnon
9.Hall
10.Nugent-Hopkins
11.Yakupov

Crosby over Ovi if we are just talking about them as prospects, a 17 year old Sid would of gone 1st in 2004. McDavid clearly goes over Ovi and possibly Sid. Kane probably falls behind Mackinnon, 2007 was viewed as a weak class with JVR slightly challenging Kane due to size concerns and belief Gagner, Kostitsyn and Hunter's management style inflated his numbers. Matthews def falls in that Mackinnon, Stamkos, and Tavares tier.

 

[snizzbone*]

There is still an 8 team playoffs that usually ends 1-3 weeks before the WHC. European leagues all have a similar schedule (KHL is a bit different).

But that raises an interesting question, could he be a candidate for the US team?

Pretty easily yes.. Eichel was last year. USA seems to bring a lot of young guys to the WHC lately.

 

[BusQuets]

Crosby over Ovi if we are just talking about them as prospects, a 17 year old Sid would of gone 1st in 2004. McDavid clearly goes over Ovi and possibly Sid. Kane probably falls behind Mackinnon, 2007 was viewed as a weak class with JVR slightly challenging Kane due to size concerns and belief Gagner, Kostitsyn and Hunter's management style inflated his numbers. Matthews def falls in that Mackinnon, Stamkos, and Tavares tier.

That list is where i think they will rank after their careers.

 

[Paxon]

Pretty easily yes.. Eichel was last year. USA seems to bring a lot of young guys to the WHC lately.

And they've been pretty consistently valuable players for them. Gaudreau was great. Granted, he was older than the others we're thinking about, but still had no pro experience. Galchenyuk played after participating in the lockout-shortened season his post-draft year. Last year had Larkin and Vesey, in addition to Eichel, as players without pro experience. It's a definite trend. It doesn't hurt that USA keeps producing more and more high-end youngsters, but also, like Canada, USA veterans just don't seem to care much about the tournament. Having less depth than Canada to handle that, it seems like a no-brainer to work future Olympians ASAP. Like I said, it'd be pretty shocking if Mathews wasn't invited. He's good enough to have a positive impact. He's going to be a key part of Team USA going forward.

 

[Beukeboom]

Tonight he was actually held of the scoresheet for the first time since probably early december. In the league and Swiss cup games that is.

 

[FLYLine27*]

Tonight he was actually held of the scoresheet for the first time since probably early december. In the league and Swiss cup games that is.

Bust.

 

[Mit Yarrum]

Mega bust

 

[WaltWhitman]

He's trying to avoid the Oilers.

 

[AmericanDream]

And they've been pretty consistently valuable players for them. Gaudreau was great. Granted, he was older than the others we're thinking about, but still had no pro experience. Galchenyuk played after participating in the lockout-shortened season his post-draft year. Last year had Larkin and Vesey, in addition to Eichel, as players without pro experience. It's a definite trend. It doesn't hurt that USA keeps producing more and more high-end youngsters, but also, like Canada, USA veterans just don't seem to care much about the tournament. Having less depth than Canada to handle that, it seems like a no-brainer to work future Olympians ASAP. Like I said, it'd be pretty shocking if Mathews wasn't invited. He's good enough to have a positive impact. He's going to be a key part of Team USA going forward.

I would honestly leave HF Boards if Matthews wasn't asked to play (that might make a lot of happy posters!).

I would suggest that Matthews and Vesey are absolute locks for the World Championships. I have to imagine as hilarious as this is that Kyle Connor gets invited as well (Connor on an Eichel freshmen point rate this year).

Tons of young talent is on the way and these kids are more than happy to step up and play in this thing like the names you mentioned last year.

Matthews is simply at another level. He walks away with the calder next year if he is healthy after playing an entire year of pro hockey in a different country. Not many people realize how hard that is to adjust at such a young age and he has done just fine - the NHL will be a cake walk for him next year.

This kid is well on par with Eichel and the future down the middle looks oh so bright for the US : Eichel, Matthews, Larkin, and Colin White dear lord are we finally catching up down the middle.

 

[BM14]

1.Ovechkin
2.Crosby
3.Mcdavid
4.Kane
5.Matthews
6.Stamkos
7.Tavares
8.Mackinnon
9.Hall
10.Nugent-Hopkins
11.Yakupov

Dear God.

Crosby
McDavid
Kane
Tavares
Stamkos
Matthews
MacKinnon
Hall
RNH
Yak

 

[Shrimper]

1 goal and 2 assists in a 5-2 win today.

 

[totozenerd]

Highlights of his time in Switzerland

 

[Demon Eyes]

if Matthews doesn't play well next year and being under 20, where would a team send him? juniors where he didn't play this year? More then likely he will play well, but i'm just curious about a what if.

 

[JJTT]

if Matthews doesn't play well next year and being under 20, where would a team send him? juniors where he didn't play this year? More then likely he will play well, but i'm just curious about a what if.

He can play in AHL too. Same situation as Rantanen/Fiala/Nylander this season. U20 rule only applies to players drafted out of Canadian junior leagues.

 

[Demon Eyes]

He can play in AHL too. Same situation as Rantanen/Fiala/Nylander this season. U20 rule only applies to players drafted out of Canadian junior leagues.

ok, thanks

 

[thethinglonger]

Highlights of his time in Switzerland

Hey friend, just to let you know that embedding a Youtube video, you only need to include the characters between the YT brackets that come directly after the "V=" so in this case it only needs to be "J3t_mkcfFyc" between the brackets. Thanks for the video!