Suntouchable13
Registered User
Hindsight is 20/20, but anyone saying it wasn't close for the first 2½ years of their NHL careers is kidding themselves. There's a spot in time in late November 2018 when one of them was leading the league in goals since beginning of 16/17 season, about 180 games into their careers. That guy was not Matthews.
Obviously Matthews is the better player now, and probably was even back then, mostly by virtue of being a center, but whoever you had 1st back then, if it was "AINEC" you weren't being very objective.
Funny thing is I actually thought Laine would turn out better in the end, I thought he had higher ceiling and saw Matthews as being closer to his eventual peak level. How hilariously wrong was I Not even embarrassed about it, I had my reasons and I could not foresee the massive amount of injuries Laine has had since then.
No way it was possible to foresee the injuries and the mental issues. BUT from what I have seen early in his career is that he was a great shooter but his overall game was severely lacking. I think he has rounded his game a lot, but then injuries and the other issues hit. Sucks. He is a good/great talent.