I think McDavid, Eichel, MacKinnon and Matthews might be the only ones going ahead of him based on the center position and similar achievements at the same age.
F Alexis Lafreniere - Rimouski Oceanic, QMJHL (2020 Draft) Part 2
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Curufinwe
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- Feb 28, 2013
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Philly probably will, too, assuming they also miss the playoffs and win the 1st overall pick.
Mario le Magnifique
Habs apologist, closet Pens fan
19 points in 8 games so far this season ... Kid is too much for the Q. Journalists think he wouldn't even look out of place in the NHL right now.
Pittsburgh is going to be awful and win the lottery and draft this kid. Yet another’s franchise talent drops into their laps. It is written.
Scuba-Steve
Registered User
Mackinnon put up 63 points in the NHL whereas Lafreniere is still in the Q. It's Mackinnon easily IMO.
I'd take McDavid, Matthews, Eichel, MacKinnon in that order at their draft dates. Then some grouping of Hughes, Laf, Kakko, and Laine. I'd add, I'd take Dahlin over him, and I would strongly consider Seth Jones over him. Now, Laf has the rest of the year to move up or down (which is less likely). I'd say he's around a similar level to Taylor Hall as a prospect.
I mean, he wouldn't look out of place if put in the right role, but I can think of a few highly hyped late-birthdays who had to play their 18-year-old season elsewhere I could easily say the same about. For example, Matthews, Eichel, Tavares, and Taylor Hall. Also, guys who entered as either consensus #1's or in Eichel's case #2 behind the best prospect of the decade. He's not Crosby, but, Crosby was only 2 months older during his rookie season. A more reasonable comparison is MacKinnon who was only 7 weeks or so older during his 63 point rookie season.
You'd take QMJHL Lafreniere over MacKinnon winning Calder in NHL? That's bold.
At Lafrenière's age Mackinnon was just starting his rookie season, so it can't really be used for comparison. And IMO Lafrenière has been a better player in the Q than Mackinnon was, though not by much.
Still, in that giant forward draft scenario, Mackinnon would likely still get picked before Lafrenière. He was a very "safe" elite prospect, in that his qualities are easy to project at the pro level. For the same reason (and because he's a center), I wouldn't be surprised to see Byfield picked first this year, even if Lafrenière has a better season.
TheBeastCoast
Registered User
They both produced around the same clip of like 1.7 ppg. Mackinnon was on one of the greatest teams in CHL history though, but also played center and was obviously a large reason the team was as dominate as it was. Lafreniere put up similar numbers on a very good team but one not even in the same stratosphere as Mackinnon's Moose team. Mac's tools screamed much louder at you, like you didn't need to be paid to scout to see the kid was special you just watched him skate once. I would say Mac was the better player at 17 but I don't think it is exactly a large gap.
It's hard to imagine a scenario where Lafreniere will put up a season this year in the Q that will compare to Mackinnon's Calder season. If we compare 17 year old seasons, both had around the same PPG through the regular season, but Mackinnon dominated in the playoffs and the Memorial Cup, though he did play on a significantly better team. Like you said, Mackinnon's tools projected very easily making him (in my opinion) the better prospect, though hindsight may cloud my opinion.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
I'd definitely take Laine over him. Guys who can put the puck in the net 40-50 times per season are extremely valuable. There's usually not more than one per generation who can do that.
Mario le Magnifique
Habs apologist, closet Pens fan
I dont know yet if Lafrenière could make as much an impact as Matthews did for the Leafs from the start, but that kid is the next great generational French Canadian talent and Quebec being what it is he's like the second coming of Jesus Christ for Quebec hockey fans.
There's more than that generally. I mean, Stamkos/Ovi. Matthews and Laine from the same draft.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Stamkos has been a 40 goal scorer 5 of 11 seasons. Matthews and Laine have combined for two out of six seasons as 40 goal scorers.
You just called Laine a consistent 40 goal scorer. So now he doesn't qualify as one? Matthews has at least scored at that rate every season. Stamkos scores at a 40 goal pace every season but 2. I mean, no one is as consistent or stays as injury free as Ovi, but even Ovi hasn't scored 40 every season.
JiricekSaveUs
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Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Then you misinterpreted what I said. I was projecting that he will be. He obviously has to prove it, and may never do so. Even so, that's one guy in this generation. Matthews has a career high of 40 goals. I wouldn't start expecting a lot of 40-50 goal seasons, unless scoring stays very high, and potentially even goes up from what it was last year.
Matthews has one 40 goal season. It'd be the same thing with calling Stamkos a 40 goal scorer every year. He isn't. You don't get free goals added to your stat line because you were injured. Ovechkin has been a 40 goal scorer 11/14 seasons. Thats a much higher percentage than Stamkos.
I don't get how anyone can predict Laine to be a consistent 40 goal guy at this point and say Matthews won't be. But, that's a discussion for another thread. Matthews has more goals in less games.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
I guess everything is always about Matthews and how he’s better than Laine to Leafs fans. How could I possibly have a different opinion on a player with all of 1 less goal entering this season? All I heard all offseason from Leaf fans was that everything that could involve these players in any comparison was always in favor of Matthews and there’s no debate. Now I’m being told by you, probably the least prone Leaf fan on the website to being a total homer, that a player with one less goal entering the season has no argument for being a better goal scorer than a player with one goal more.
Laine had a bad season, yet I guess there’s an opportunity to win a Matthews vs. Laine contest for Leaf fans entering this season, so that takes precedent. It takes such precedent that every discussion on this website has to become a debate on this topic. If you’ll notice, I didn’t mention Matthews in my post. I think he’d be drafted before Lafreniere. I think most would agree with that. Leaf fans certainly will never agree on anything that makes Laine look good.
And I’ll mention again that you usually don’t stoop to this kind of rhetoric. I don’t know why you’ve now decided it’s time to join the homer brigade as anti-Laine with an immediate comparison to Matthews.
The kids numbers are even better then McDavids in Junior. Everyone talks about him being a year older then McDavid was but it’s only 3 months. I don’t see him as a McDavid level prospect but I see him above Taylor Hall. Also rate him higher then Jack Hughes. Especially for the NHL game.
Agent Zuuuub
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He's so smart he could be a first line NHLer right now. He doesn't need to rely on his game/body to mature unlike others imo.
Better skating Mark Stone.
Better skating Mark Stone.
TheBeastCoast
Registered User
Yikes you went full nuclear here for really no reason
you do realize he didn't say anything negative about Laine right? What an odd and incredibly pointless rant.
Son of Donegal
Stay-at-home defenseman with zero upside.
Lafreniere is going to get Cedric Pare signed to an NHL deal this summer and my gut tells me it will be MTL.
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