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The Hockey Writers: Revisiting the 2016 Draft Debate: Auston Matthews vs. Patrik Laine

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LeafsNation75

LeafsNation75

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Jan 15, 2010
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Laine Over Matthews?​

Given Matthews’ #1 rating and Laine’s #2 rating heading into their draft, it was probably a no-brainer that the Maple Leafs selected Matthews. Some experts at the time stated they would have gone with Laine, which often happens when the top-ranked player isn’t clear-cut.

Can we imagine what the Maple Leafs would have looked like if they had chosen Patrik Laine over Auston Matthews?

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Revisiting the 2016 Draft Debate: Auston Matthews vs. Patrik Laine - The Hockey Writers Toronto Maple Leafs Latest News, Analysis & More

The Toronto Maple Leafs chose Auston Matthews over Patrik Laine in the 2016 NHL Draft. What if they would have chosen Laine instead?
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BertCorbeau said:
This seems like an article that should be written in the off-season :laugh:
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They claim this was written now due to the recent home and home series with the Leafs and Blue Jackets.

The recent home-and-home series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Columbus Blue Jackets, which ended in a disappointing split, made us think back to the big debate heading into the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. Who was the better player between the #1 ranked Auston Matthews and the #2 ranked Patrik Laine?
 
Nylander would probably have to be playing centre on a full-time basis. Realistically, the only way in which the Leafs end up with Laine is if they lose the ability to draft first overall.
 
Stephen said:
That's not close either. Right now Marner has a 101 regular season points lead on Eichel in only 31 more career games.
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Is Eichel better than Laine?

Was funny to hear the fans in Columbus give him a rough ride on Friday.
 
Larcos_Unal said:
All I remember is first time Laine & Matthews faced off in Winnipeg, Laine scored the winner in OT for his hat trick. Oh the 'Laine's better' chants were out in full force and Jets fans were pretty insufferable.

Luckily, we dodged a bullet with this guy cause he's a shell of what he once was.
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He's not the 40-goal+ sniper he was touted to be after his second year, but he's had a resurgence in Columbus. PPG last year (26 goals in 56 games). And this year he's at his career pace of 0.81 PPG. Still a very good offensive play, top line winger. But defense remains an issue and he's not the elite, top of the league player he was hyped up to be.
 
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Altair said:
What's there to revisit?
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My thoughts exactly. Prior to the draft I thought that the "debate" was a stretch generated by the media so that they would have something to talk about and generate interest. Matthews looked like the better player and was a center to boot while Laine was a winger. The only thing that Laine appeared to have going for him was that he looked like he might be a better goalscorer... Since the draft there really has been no comparison
 
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Christ said:
My thoughts exactly. Prior to the draft I thought that the "debate" was a stretch generated by the media so that they would have something to talk about and generate interest. Matthews looked like the better player and was a center to boot while Laine was a winger. The only thing that Laine appeared to have going for him was that he looked like he might be a better goalscorer... Since the draft there really has been no comparison
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Which is funny because this team came out of an era where they were desperately looking for that franchise centre after acquiring their elite scoring winger (Kessel) but that never really came to fruition.

.. so the media's idea was to repeat history by drafting a high scoring winger. After drafting Marner the year before and having Nylander in the system?

:laugh:
 
BertCorbeau said:
He's not the 40-goal+ sniper he was touted to be after his second year, but he's had a resurgence in Columbus. PPG last year (26 goals in 56 games). And this year he's at his career pace of 0.81 PPG. Still a very good offensive play, top line winger. But defense remains an issue and he's not the elite, top of the league player he was hyped up to be.
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In some ways I feel like any team that has Laine should just build him up as a pure cherry picking goal scorer and not worry about the other stuff. He's not going to be a serious two way player so why not just maximize what he's good at?
 
Only way this would have happened is if the Leafs lost the lottery. Hindsight applied this was known as the “big 3” draft. Matthew’s, Laine, Puju, but the 2nd best player of this draft(to date) is actually Tkachuk. Losing the lottery would have been future altering.
 
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Leafs87 said:
Only way this would have happened is if the Leafs lost the lottery. Hindsight applied this was known as the “big 3” draft. Matthew’s, Laine, Puju, but the 2nd best player of this draft(to date) is actually Tkachuk. Losing the lottery would have been future altering.
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There's an argument to be made that the second best player in the 2016 draft is Charlie McAvoy... or maybe even Adam Fox. But yeah, Tkachuk is a good candidate as anyone.
 
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