Ovechkin vs Laine comparison.

[Alf the dwarf]

Man this young laine guy is so impressive. All I hear about is how he scored so many more goals as a teenager, and yet he just lost the rocket to a 32 year old and worse version of the guy people are claiming hes better than....

If he isn't better than 32 year old Ovechkin then there is absolutely no chance hes better than 20 year old Ovechkin. He wasnt this year, he wont be next year.

Damn, those all behind Laine and ovi who scored less must suck.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I watched Ovechkin couple of years prior to NHL, in some RSL games and some EHT tournaments and WJC, WHC. I know exactly who he is and was.

Laine is a different type of player. Much more like Mario than Ovechkin.

Lucia?

 

[Mulletman]

So it took Shanny 7 more seconds in average ice time? Wonder if people were praising him for this stat when he was the apparent highest scorer with the least ice time.

Breaking a Milan Hejduk record. Never thought I'd hear that.

Well expect to hear a lot more about the Milan Hejduk record. Rumor has it that Laine will become the first player to score 50 goals while playing less than 19 minutes per game.

 

[North Cole]

Damn, those all behind Laine and ovi who scored less must suck.

Oh look, a logical fallacy. And I didn't even need to learn scarecrows song....

Didn't say they sucked big guy. Being worse then a first ballot HOF who went toe to toe with Crosby does not mean you suck. Just means you are not as good. I'm not the one reaching and putting my guy on pedestal.

You are comparing a guy who has won nothing individually to a top 30 All time player. Don't get sensationalist when people say he isn't.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Yeah. Hes very much like Mario, in that they are both quite tall on skates.

Unfortunately, laine has about 1/4 of the foot speed and agility, 1/10 the stick handling and a much lower IQ. Mario is top 4 all time and does not have a current comparable. Laine also doesn't use his size at all....

@Empoleon8771
@Sidney the Kidney

You guys wanna teach him about Mario?

He's right. Laine and Lemieux are essentially clones. Both around 6'4, both right handed, both can shoot better than most in the league.

As long as you ignore things like skating, stickhandling, vision, playmaking, ability to move around the ice without looking like someone has the DVR stuck in slow motion, etc. that is.

Laine is a lot closer to a tall Brett Hull than he is Mario (in terms of player style -- he's still got a long way to actually match Hull's on-ice productivity). Quite frankly, it's an odd comparison for people to make and keep on insisting about because of how much more dominant 99% of Mario's game was to Laine's.

 

[oXo Cube]

Well he is not only one to compare. Marian Hossa compared him to young Lemieux at ESPN interview 2016 aswell.

Oh well shit Marian Hossa also said something stupid.

Guess Laine and Lemieux are comparable after all.

 

[psycat]

Ovechkin was an absolute beast. He and Laine are not comparable yet and I doubt they ever will be.

This is one of the best goalscorers of all time we're talking about here. OV is more comparable to McDavid than he is Laine.

Infact McDavid didn't reach the level of peak Ovi yet and I am not entirely convinced he ever will.

 

[Carlzner]

Well he is not only one to compare. Marian Hossa compared him to young Lemieux at ESPN interview 2016 aswell.

Can any1 pull up some transcripts from Marian Hossa's 2017 and 2018 ESPN interviews. Very important evidence and data need to go over them

 

[North Cole]

Well expect to hear a lot more about the Milan Hejduk record. Rumor has it that Laine will become the first player to score 50 goals while playing less than 19 minutes per game.

Rumour has a crystal ball now? The only way I'm going to hear about it, is if it:

A) Happens
B) You make a thread about it on the mains. I'll be sure to make some popcorn before entering.

He's right. Laine and Lemieux are essentially clones. Both around 6'4, both right handed, both can shoot better than most in the league.

As long as you ignore things like skating, stickhandling, vision, playmaking, ability to move around the ice without looking like someone has the DVR stuck in slow motion, etc. that is.

Laine is a lot closer to a tall Brett Hull than he is Mario (in terms of player style -- he's still got a long way to actually match Hull's on-ice productivity). Quite frankly, it's an odd comparison for people to make and keep on insisting about because of how much more dominant 99% of Mario's game was to Laine's.

I like Laine. I like the jets actually. But it's just such disrespect to 66, and then hiding behind the guise of "nostalgia" as a counter argument when people tell you hes nothing like Lemieux. People take this goal scoring craze to a new level.

We understand that scoring is important but there is so much to hockey then slapping on timers. Mario did it all, laine really...doesn't.

 

[North Cole]

Oh well **** Marian Hossa also said something stupid.

Guess Laine and Lemieux are comparable after all.

You'll change your tune when he gets an Analyst job. His credibility will skyrocket, though he may be allergic to sitting by that time.

Can ESPN LTIR him or would he have to work from home?

 

[oXo Cube]

Laine vs Ovechkin is a bad comparison though I understand why it comes up from time to time.

Laine vs Lemieux is legitimately one of the most outrageous things I've ever read on this board, and I've been here for a long time.

 

[Atas2000]

But the topic is not about ovechkins prime or Laines future. It's about them at same age.

When Laine gets a 100pts and 50g season done please notify us. Until then I don't see Laine in the same tier in which I see 4 players for now who all have multiple 100pts seasons to show. As for goalscorers nobody is remotely close to Ovechkin who is basically a 50g per season machine. Laine still has to come close to that mark.

 

[Alf the dwarf]

When Laine gets a 100pts and 50g season done please notify us. Until then I don't see Laine in the same tier in which I see 4 players for now who all have multiple 100pts seasons to show. As for goalscorers nobody is remotely close to Ovechkin who is basically a 50g per season machine. Laine still has to come close to that mark.

You obviously didn't get it.

 

[Alf the dwarf]

Oh look, a logical fallacy. And I didn't even need to learn scarecrows song....

Didn't say they sucked big guy. Being worse then a first ballot HOF who went toe to toe with Crosby does not mean you suck. Just means you are not as good. I'm not the one reaching and putting my guy on pedestal.

You are comparing a guy who has won nothing individually to a top 30 All time player. Don't get sensationalist when people say he isn't.

Laine still was better as teen, that doesn't change, atleast stastically and his accomplishments were better. We don't know yet what he will be now on. Maybe he will flop, maybe he will take huge step forward. Time will show.

 

[Atas2000]

You obviously didn't get it.

I did. Claiming that Laine wudda-shouldda-couldda score as much as Ovechkin at 20-21 is talk. Looking at Laine's game he will prpbably score 50 one day,but won't become as much of a a consistent goal scoring machine as Ovechkin.

 

[Alf the dwarf]

Can any1 pull up some transcripts from Marian Hossa's 2017 and 2018 ESPN interviews. Very important evidence and data need to go over them

Well for sure his knowledge is ahead of any who is posting to this thread.

 

[Alf the dwarf]

I did. Claiming that Laine wudda-shouldda-couldda score as much as Ovechkin at 20-21 is talk. Looking at Laine's game he will prpbably score 50 one day,but won't become as much of a a consistent goal scoring machine as Ovechkin.

You can see the future?

 

[North Cole]

Laine still was better as teen, that doesn't change, atleast stastically and his accomplishments were better. We don't know yet what he will be now on. Maybe he will flop, maybe he will take huge step forward. Time will show.

Was he? Who was Ovechkins centre when he was 19? Who was his coach? What did his ice time look like?

 

[Alf the dwarf]

Was he? Who was Ovechkins centre when he was 19? Who was his coach? What did his ice time look like?

It's pretty silly to even try to argue about this. He was also teen as 18 years old.

If we go with your logic, there might be now some 32 years old player in Russian league playing with less icetime and much worse stats than ovechkin had last season in NHL, who might actually be better if he was playing in NHL with Ovechkins TOI.

 

[Atas2000]

You can see the future?

I can see the past. Laine's past seasons do not suggest an ascention to the level only 4 players are on. And 3 of them for the past 10+ years. Those are rare. Laine is not one of them. But nothing to complain about. He is still a great player and goal scorer.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Laine would benefit greatly from the PP minutes in the 05-06 season. I think he will still beat 52 goals.

 

[North Cole]

It's pretty silly to even try to argue about this. He was also teen as 18 years old.

So same question about Ovechkins 18 year old season.

My point is that you and others are comparing laine in the NHL, during a time where stats are prevalent and heavily used, to a guy that played in a league that doesn't exist and most people here, never watched. His RSL team was junk. Unless you know his usages, among other things, what is the point of this comparison? You cant just look at intraleague box scores and compare them 1:1....

Rookie year NHL is rookie year NHL. If anything, giving laine an extra two years of in-game development hurts Ovechkin more than comparing the rookie years hurts Laine. If he doesn't live up to the comparison in his 20 year old season then it should be viewed as a way worse failure given that hes got 3 years NHL experience at that point.

 

[22FUTON9]

People bringing Ovechkins 27 pts really need to do more research on the RSL. The second leading scorer in the NHL the year before scored 43 in 53 in the RSL while probably getting a lot more ice time than Ovi. It was just a stupidly low scoring league

 

[22FUTON9]

Thanks for bringing Kovalchuck into the discussion. He did come to NHL as young as Laine, and in his last RSL season he far surpassed what Ovy was able to do that young (17-year-old).

40. 28+18=46 (regular season)
12. 14+4=18 (playoffs)

Kovy also made pretty nice records in his 18- and 19-year-old seasons in NHL, just to get eclipsed by Laine:

65. 29+22=51
81. 38+29=67

That's somewhere in TOP-10 for a teenager in NHL and TOP-2 or TOP-3 (after Laine and possibly Jagr) for an European teenager.

So 17-year old Kovy made 42 goals in just 52 RSL games, but somehow 18-year-old Kovy made "only" 29 goals in 65 games. Yet you want us to take face value those claims that 19-year-old Ovy doing 13 goals in RSL would have done at least close to 52 goals in NHL.

No way.



Just no. Nothing within his stats suggests that he would have done even nearly the amount of 106 points one year younger. (Also most probably there weren't insane amount of PP had lockout not occurred).

Kovalchuk had those numbers in 04-05 but whatever
If you're not convinced by this point after all these opinions that Ovechkin maybe, just maybe was a better player than Laine at the same age I guess there's no point in arguing

 

[Psych0dad]

I'm sorry did you just compare Laine to Mario ****ing Lemieux and then attempt to accuse me of not being knowledgeable?

Yeah I did.

Like several hockey experts and former players have.