Ovechkin vs Laine comparison.

[Keduzin]

1. Laine isnt nearly as fast as a young Ovechkin
2. Laine isnt nearly as physical as Ovechkin who can lay hits like the best of them
3. Laine has never had to carry a team, wheras Ovi was THE GUY on the capitals, and for a long time the only star player, he carried the team. Laine meanwhile is sheltered behind Scheifele and Wheeler.

Can you provide a list of the games from last season where Laine played in the same line with Wheeler and Scheiffele ?

 

[Mulletman]

Yeah Laine has one big flaw when it comes to Ovechkin and that is that he's nowhere near as fast as Ovechkin was. And that means he can't be as physical and he can't drive the play. Laine is basically 2-3 steps behind every time. But he's got a fantastic shot and the 52 goals Ovechkin scored in his rookie season as a 20 year old, is something that Laine should be able to match if he's healthy next year.

And if my math is correct those 52 goals should put Laine 3rd all time in NHL goals as a 20 year old. If I'm not missing anybody, only Gretzky and Carson had more goals than that before they turned 21...

 

[Halberdier]

Alex's entire career is on video so it really blows me away how many people seem to have forgotten how good he was in his prime.

I don't think anyone has forgotten that. The point is we haven't seen Laine in his prime. We will see that in about two or three years, unless he is late boomer like Wheeler.

Laine has scored 80 goals, Ovie 0 so far. Age to age comparison. I'm eager to see whether 20-year-old Laine can match 20-year-old Ovie, scoring wise.

Other than being great goal scorers they are so different as players that it's kind of pointless to compare. Apples to oranges.

Young Ovie was an offensive force of nature hitting everything that moves, whereas Laine is a cautiously playing two-way forward, if compared to Ovie.

Even their one-timers are really different.

 

[Halberdier]

at Laine's age, Ovechkin was a monster. He was perhaps the best player ever. I watched him in awe. No player that big and physical should have been able to move that fast, and the fact that he had the best hands in the league was just unfair. He was like Peter Forsberg x2. Over the years, he retained his very high skill level, but lost a step in his skating. He might be 1/3 as effective, but still good enough to be elite, and to win playoff MVP. Laine is roughly equal to what Ovechkin is now

So you watched him playing pre-KHL Russian league? Impressive and interesting.

Or then you missed the fact that you just didn't see him playing 18-19 years old as you have seen Laine to do.

 

[22FUTON9]

Didn't happen so there's no way to prove it but I'd be really really surprised if Ovi didn't reach atleast 80 points if he was able to play in the 04-05 season. He was a finalist for the Lester. B Pearson in his rookie season for crying out loud.
Laine is nowhere near the offensive threat Ovi was and probably not even a top 3 player on his team whereas Ovechkin was probably a top 3 player by the end of his rookie season. Some people really think one more year of development for Laine is suddenly going to close this massive gap?

 

[grieves]

Didn't happen so there's no way to prove it but I'd be really really surprised if Ovi didn't reach atleast 80 points if he was able to play in the 04-05 season. He was a finalist for the Lester. B Pearson in his rookie season for crying out loud.
Laine is nowhere near the offensive threat Ovi was and probably not even a top 3 player on his team whereas Ovechkin was probably a top 3 player by the end of his rookie season. Some people really think one more year of development for Laine is suddenly going to close this massive gap?

Ovi's stats from the 04-05 season:

2004-05

Moscow Dynamo

Russia

37 gp

13 goals

14 assists

27 points

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

There is a gap alright but it's not what you think.

 

[Jarey Curry]

Laine has insane shot, okay passing game and thats about it. I really like him but he's not close. Ovechkins had a period in his career when he had been the best player in the world. With all due respect, I just dont see Laine as even top-5 player in the world at any point going forward.

Several periods where he was the undisputed best offensive player in the world

 

[Neutral Hockey Fan]

Can you provide a list of the games from last season where Laine played in the same line with Wheeler and Scheiffele ?

That’s why he said sheltered BEHIND far superior players in wheeler and Scheifele

Taking second pairing defenders and non-shut down forwards for almost 82 games was great for Laine

 

[Keduzin]

That’s why he said sheltered BEHIND far superior players in wheeler and Scheifele

Taking second pairing defenders and non-shut down forwards for almost 82 games was great for Laine

Oh, misunderstood. Thought he ment that he benefited last season from playing with those two. Instead he had to play with Little and limited icetime...

Far superior ? Hahahahahahaha ! Give me a break..... please

 

[Halberdier]

That’s why he said sheltered BEHIND far superior players in wheeler and Scheifele

Taking second pairing defenders and non-shut down forwards for almost 82 games was great for Laine

Don't ridicule yourself. Playing with ELL and historically low TOI for 40 goal scorer did not help Laine in any possible way.

Laine would have been so much higher in scoresheets had he played with Scheifele. That duo did mesh pretty well on Laine's rookie season until they separated.

 

[22FUTON9]

Ovi's stats from the 04-05 season:

2004-05

Moscow Dynamo

Russia

37 gp

13 goals

14 assists

27 points

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

There is a gap alright but it's not what you think.

Just taking RSL stats and compring it to NHL production is really taking it out of context. I've read more than a few times that guys like Ovi and Geno received limited amount of ice time (I may be wrong with this though) and the league was just low scoring in general. Kovalchuk for example was 2nd in NHL scoring in 03-04 but only scored 42 points in 53 games, Kovalev who was also around a ppg in the NHL after the lockout but only scored 21 points in 35 games in the RSL. Both surely would have been the goto guy for their teams.
Considering how Ovechkin's game is built for NA hockey I think it's essentially impossible for him to score a whole lot less than 106 points even if he came a year earlier.

 

[Plural]

This discussion will go on for few more years I wager. Majority of people think Laine won't ever reach the level Ovechkin did. Then there's a small group of guys who have watched Laine a lot who think he has a real chance to match Ovechkin.

Time will tell which happens.

 

[Halberdier]

Just taking RSL stats and compring it to NHL production is really taking it out of context. I've read more than a few times that guys like Ovi and Geno received limited amount of ice time (I may be wrong with this though) and the league was just low scoring in general. Kovalchuk for example was 2nd in NHL scoring in 03-04 but only scored 42 points in 53 games, Kovalev who was also around a ppg in the NHL after the lockout but only scored 21 points in 35 games in the RSL. Both surely would have been the goto guy for their teams.

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.

Considering how Ovechkin's game is built for NA hockey I think it's essentially impossible for him to score a whole lot less than 106 points even if he came a year earlier.

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).

 

[TRASHCAT]

Yes keep thowing around the 80 goals before ovechkins first like it means anything.

 

[grieves]

If we want to talk about limited TOI, Laine averaged 16:29 min per game with a lot fewer PP opportunities. Like has been mentioned, this is a record-breaking feat regardless of age.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Yes keep thowing around the 80 goals before ovechkins first like it means anything.

80 goals as a teenager is an impressive feat.

 

[Calendal]

Ovi's first year he led his team in points by 59 points, the next highest on his team had 57. It will be hard for Laine to do something more impressive than that this season. Can anyone find the last time their was a gap that big? Maybe Jagr in the 90's, or Gretzky over the league in the 80's.

That gap is actually 49 points unless I'm mistaken (+85%). Taylor hall had a 41 point gap this season (+78%). Ovi seems to have played 10 more games than the 2nd best in his time while Hall played 6 less. Hall is no rookie, obviously. Still, the gaps are fairly similar I'd say.

 

[LaMasquerade]

Where was Laine's "drastic improvement" this year? Worse PPG, more reliant on the PP for production than his rookie year.

While not arguing that Laine is better than Ovie at 20, I don't understand this comment at all. It is like you thought Laine played a bad year.. In G/60 he was miles ahead of anyone in NHL, so obviously, as a goalscorer, if you're already producing in much better pace than anyone else, it is really hard to do "drastic improvement". I mean it is easy to improve if you're 100th or so, but what do you expect from 19 year old guy? 200 goals??

 

[BonAppleTea]

Laine is similar to Ovechkin today. A 32 year old Ovechkin that still won the rocket, that is. Next season will probably show a lot about Laines development, but I doubt he would lead the Jets with 49 points next season if Scheif and Wheeler suddenly stopped producing.
Their similarities really both starts and end with the shot

 

[Alf the dwarf]

Because Ovechkin was the driving force of an entire offense, Laine sits on the 3rd with the luxury having time to pick shots because the other 2 lines are doing the work.

3rd? Dude.. Don't comment on lineups if you don't know them. He played in second line.

 

[Alf the dwarf]

Did you just say Mario Lemieux is the best comparable for Laine? Lemieux was an otherwordly magician with the puck. Laine is a shooter who doesn't have near the playmaking or creativity Lemieux had. The only thing even remotely similar is they both have elite shots.

Laine has generational shot and smooth hands. Playmaking ability is also good. Would have more assists if he was playing with someone who can actually score from his feeds. They both also have in common the size. Just pointing out Laine will be a lot more dangerous when he is full grown with that size and shooting/hands and a with better skating, which he is no doubt working on. NHL experts have compared him to Lemieux aswell.

 

[hatterson]

This up coming season is what you would compare to
Ovrchkin was 20 going into 21, not 19 turning 20

Laine is 2 seasons ahead of ovechkin

It’s really about a season and a half in terms of calendar age.

05-06 Ovechkin had the advantage of about 7 months age.
17-18 Laine has the advantage of a full season in the NHL already under his belt.

I’d consider those things roughly equal and Ovechkin had the much better season. Even if you ignore stats and strength of team, Ovechkin was just straight up dominant in ways that Laine hasn’t yet shown.

 

[Alf the dwarf]

Yes keep thowing around the 80 goals before ovechkins first like it means anything.

It means a lot. If he keeps scoring regulary about 50+ goals a season he might pass Ovechkin in all time goal scorers when its all said and done with his career.

 

[Battle Lin]

nothing wrong with being a poor man's ovechkin, hes a legend, laine is a superstar winger

 

[Peggy]

It’s really about a season and a half in terms of calendar age.

05-06 Ovechkin had the advantage of about 7 months age.
17-18 Laine has the advantage of a full season in the NHL already under his belt.

I’d consider those things roughly equal and Ovechkin had the much better season. Even if you ignore stats and strength of team, Ovechkin was just straight up dominant in ways that Laine hasn’t yet shown.

Ovechkin had 23 points in 53 games
And 27 points in 37 game
While Laine was playing the nhl at the same age

I'm not saying Laine gets 106 points next season, But Laine is having a quicker start