thomast
Registered User
- Oct 23, 2009
- 3,838
- 787
One plays against kids and another against adults and even thrives there. Would they play the same level of competition, it'd be far easier to put things into perspective. Still for Button to make a claim for Matthews being "by far the best prospect of this draft", it only indicates he hasn't seen Puljujärvi in action much if at all. But that's not abnormality, European players don't get the spotlight the Americans do at this age. Even having him top4 at the moment is a bit of a suprise. A Year ago he was barely top20 in some lists eventhough the potential and ability had been displayed, only not enough for the NA scouts.
Also if Puljujärvi's projected height will be 195cm (as he has stated himself) it's going to be damn hard to surpass him, given the skating and skill set.
Like thomast said, will be a thrill seeing those two collide in the WJC.
Game of the year for me after McDavid vs Eichel at WJC.
You're right about Puljujärvi being such a complete package. He has size (might be close to 6'4 right now), is really explosive especially his first steps, has sniper shot and can make really high end plays with his vision. One of the best thing about Puljujärvi is that he can play in really fast tempo. Haven't seen that in finnish prospects for ages. He can slow down the tempo and suddently explode with his accerelation which gives him some momentum. He is really smart too, very high hockeyIQ. One negative thing might be him not being overly physical. He seems to be Hossa like player who outworks opposite players but i'd like him to throw some hits too. He might be best 98 born prospect in the world right now. Matthews can be tier above that. We will see that in WJC.