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

[Hellcat]

Health permitting one will be a HOFer one day and the other will be quickly forgotten. Now lets revisit that draft ... said no one ever ...

 

[Niagara Bill]

We still would not have won a Stanley Cup with either decision.
We made a good decision or flipped a coin, we got Marner because of London Knights connections....rest of decisions...hmmmm

 

[Niagara Bill]

What is the difference.
Pens pick Crosbie and Malkin
Oilers pick McDavid and Leon D
Leafs pick Matthews and Marner

Pens management knew how to build a team. = Stanley Cups

Nothing else matters

 

[ACC1224]

What is the difference.
Pens pick Crosbie and Malkin
Oilers pick McDavid and Leon D
Leafs pick Matthews and Marner

Pens management knew how to build a team. = Stanley Cups

Nothing else matters

Who would you have taken instead of Matthews and Marner?

 

[Niagara Bill]

Who would you have taken instead of Matthews and Marner?

Nobody else. Both guys are great great choices. Not one complaint on how either guy worked out.
It is the rest of the job our management team has failed with, just like Oilers.

 

[Morbo]

pour one out for good ol' Gary Lawless. that article he wrote in Winnipeg was all-time.

 

[Aashir]

I can see Marner going 2nd in a 2015 re-draft.

Marner can go anywhere from 2nd-5th. Depends on what you want

Marner, Kaprizov, Rantanen, Aho

Aho is a bit of a stretch, but teams may value him if they are in need of a 1C
That draft class is loaded af, even without Mcdavid

 

[LeafsNation75]

pour one out for good ol' Gary Lawless. that article he wrote in Winnipeg was all-time.

I remember early on in the 2016-17 season when he said Laine would be the runaway Calder Trophy winner that year.

 

[LeafsNation75]

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.

If Toronto had lost all three drawings in the 2016 lottery and were selecting 4th overall, do you think they select Tkachuk or do they take Puljujarvi? I know before the draft the thought was Matthews going 1st, Laine going 2nd and Puljujarvi going 3rd.

However, that changed when Columbus selected Pierre-Luc Dubois 3rd overall and Puljujarvi went 4th overall to Edmonton.

Hindsight being 20/20 it's easy to say that Puljujarvi has been a disappointment. Although at that time no one would have predicted that, so if Toronto was selecting 4th overall do they go into that draft thinking it's Matthew Tkachuk or are they surprised when Puljujarvi is still available when they are on the clock?

 

[ULF_55]

I'm looking for their:

Nick Ritchie / William Nylander review authored by Don Cherry.

 

[Larcos_Unal]

Who would you have taken instead of Matthews and Marner?

He's saying Matthews & Marner were the right draft choices, the rest of the roster has been the problem. Might be a result of being too top heavy and reliant on 4 guys to do everything??

Guess we'll only find out when the next GM shakes up the core