Who Would You Rather Have Going Forward? Drai or Matthews

Who Would You Rather Have Going Forward?

  • Neutral fan voting Drai

    Votes: 160 43.5%
  • Neutral fan voting Matthews

    Votes: 130 35.3%
  • Oilers fan voting Drai

    Votes: 48 13.0%
  • Oilers fan voting Matthews

    Votes: 8 2.2%
  • Leafs fan voting Drai

    Votes: 14 3.8%
  • Leafs fan voting Matthews

    Votes: 29 7.9%

  • Total voters
    368

Regal

Registered User
Mar 12, 2010
26,494
16,390
Vancouver
I’d probably take Drai. He’s a more versatile offensive player, has shown better in the playoffs and I like his contract situation better. He’s on one more year at 8.5 and then 3 years where he’ll be making only 0.75 more than Matthews, then Matthews will likely want another raise and could possibly walk at that point. The upside to Matthews is he’s 2 years younger and I think he’s shown to be a better 5v5 player in the regular season, but I’d like to see him continue that in the playoffs. Can’t really go wrong with either though.
 

Lemontree

Fire Dubas
Feb 12, 2018
1,415
1,580
Draisaitl owns Matthews in the playoffs
They never met in the NHL playoffs.

Draisaitl did however put up this impressive stat line in his first trip to the NHL finals:

0 points in game #1 (Oilers lose 3-0)
0 points in game #2 (Oilers lose 4-1)
0 points in game #3 (Oilers lose 4-3)
2 assists in game #4 (Oilers win 8-1)
0 points in game #5 (Oilers win 5-3)
1 assist in game #6 (Oilers win 5-1)
0 points in game #7 (Oilers lose 2-1)

Connor McDavid does the heavy lifting for the Edmonton Oilers, Draisaitl gets to ride shotgun.
 

Coffey

☠️not a homer☠️
Sponsor
Sep 27, 2017
11,522
18,438
Circuit Circus
Drai. Playoffs. Hair. Face.
Fiance.

They never met in the NHL playoffs.

Draisaitl did however put up this impressive stat line in his first trip to the NHL finals:

0 points in game #1 (Oilers lose 3-0)
0 points in game #2 (Oilers lose 4-1)
0 points in game #3 (Oilers lose 4-3)
2 assists in game #4 (Oilers win 8-1)
0 points in game #5 (Oilers win 5-3)
1 assist in game #6 (Oilers win 5-1)
0 points in game #7 (Oilers lose 2-1)

Connor McDavid does the heavy lifting for the Edmonton Oilers, Draisaitl gets to ride shotgun.
Nobody is perfect.

Look at young, uninjured Crosby when they won the cup despite him.

1727468962671.png


And the year after against MTL.

1727469019249.png


Guess he stinks too cause he had some shitty rounds?
 

Plural

Registered User
Mar 10, 2011
33,829
5,016
Neutral fan voting Matthews. Almost a coin toss for me. I picked Matthews purely on bias.
 
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Lemontree

Fire Dubas
Feb 12, 2018
1,415
1,580
Fiance.


Nobody is perfect.

Look at young, uninjured Crosby when they won the cup despite him.

View attachment 910320

And the year after against MTL.

View attachment 910321

Guess he stinks too cause he had some shitty rounds?
If you want to make the argument that a 3 time cup champion and 2 time Conn Smythe winner "stinks" then go ahead. There was nothing impressive about Crosby's 2009 finals and if you made that argument in 2010 you might be on to something but you can't make that argument in 2024 because we have the hindsight to see what Crosby has accomplished.

If you want to use the argument that we need to wait and see what Draistail will do going forward, no problem with that as that is a rational position. If Draistail is provided that then Matthews also needs to be, the fact that we do not know what either will do/produce in the future.
 
Last edited:
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Coffey

☠️not a homer☠️
Sponsor
Sep 27, 2017
11,522
18,438
Circuit Circus
And to answer the thread, even if regular season is a wash.
Drai elevates his game in the playoffs, which Auston hasn't been able to do yet.
 

Lemontree

Fire Dubas
Feb 12, 2018
1,415
1,580
Exactly what I'm saying.
I know it's a dumb excuse but his injury really messed him up, you can see exactly the area where his points start to go downhill.

View attachment 910333
It might be the injury, it could also be a case of no longer getting to beat up on weak teams like the Kings and the Canucks. Dallas and Florida are much stronger teams.
 

zar

Bleed Blue
Oct 9, 2010
7,529
7,594
Edmonton AB
They never met in the NHL playoffs.

Draisaitl did however put up this impressive stat line in his first trip to the NHL finals:

0 points in game #1 (Oilers lose 3-0)
0 points in game #2 (Oilers lose 4-1)
0 points in game #3 (Oilers lose 4-3)
2 assists in game #4 (Oilers win 8-1)
0 points in game #5 (Oilers win 5-3)
1 assist in game #6 (Oilers win 5-1)
0 points in game #7 (Oilers lose 2-1)

Connor McDavid does the heavy lifting for the Edmonton Oilers, Draisaitl gets to ride shotgun.
Drai’s stats in the Conference or Cup finals is irrelevant in this discussion because there is nothing to compare to for the other half of the argument.

Either way, these players are fairly comparable with different strengths/weaknesses. The contract aspect and having Draisaitl locked up long term at a known fair market amount is what sways me to choose Leon.
 
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Soundwave

Registered User
Mar 1, 2007
74,165
30,351
Draisaitl was basically unable to shoot the puck in the Finals. He had a broken rib which was bad enough but then broke a finger on his hand and then basically couldn't get any push on his shot.

His playoff track record in other rounds speaks for itself.
 

Namikaze Minato

Registered User
Apr 30, 2009
5,185
6,904
Beautiful B.C.
I'm a Homer who leans Matthews but understands and have 0 problem with anyone picking Drai. They're both fantastic, top 5 players in the league who can win a Hart any given season.
 

Sidney the Kidney

One last time
Jun 29, 2009
56,753
49,152
I’d probably take Drai. He’s a more versatile offensive player, has shown better in the playoffs and I like his contract situation better. He’s on one more year at 8.5 and then 3 years where he’ll be making only 0.75 more than Matthews, then Matthews will likely want another raise and could possibly walk at that point. The upside to Matthews is he’s 2 years younger and I think he’s shown to be a better 5v5 player in the regular season, but I’d like to see him continue that in the playoffs. Can’t really go wrong with either though.
This is where I am. I'm always in favor of someone who is elite (or very good) at both playmaking and goal scoring over someone who is elite at one but only average (relatively speaking) at the other.
 
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AvroArrow

Registered User
Jun 10, 2011
18,935
20,179
Toronto
Matthews because he's the better goal scorer, better defensively and doesn't heavily rely on the PP. Drai is great though and has been a beast in the playoffs, but if we were to take both Matthews and Drai off their immediate teams for example, and put each guy on a neutral team, say Calgary. I think Matthews scores more, he creates his own chances and doesn't need an insane amount of PP time. I understand anyone voting Drai based on Drai having won rounds and made the finals, but context matters.
 
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McVespa99

Registered User
May 13, 2007
6,052
2,795
They never met in the NHL playoffs.

Draisaitl did however put up this impressive stat line in his first trip to the NHL finals:

0 points in game #1 (Oilers lose 3-0)
0 points in game #2 (Oilers lose 4-1)
0 points in game #3 (Oilers lose 4-3)
2 assists in game #4 (Oilers win 8-1)
0 points in game #5 (Oilers win 5-3)
1 assist in game #6 (Oilers win 5-1)
0 points in game #7 (Oilers lose 2-1)

Connor McDavid does the heavy lifting for the Edmonton Oilers, Draisaitl gets to ride shotgun.
Drai had 2 injuries but you already knew that

Fiance.


Nobody is perfect.

Look at young, uninjured Crosby when they won the cup despite him.

View attachment 910320

And the year after against MTL.

View attachment 910321

Guess he stinks too cause he had some shitty rounds?
The hair and face comments were a shot at Matthews. Not a desire for Drai:)
 

ricky0034

Registered User
Jun 8, 2010
15,473
7,941
They never met in the NHL playoffs.

Draisaitl did however put up this impressive stat line in his first trip to the NHL finals:

0 points in game #1 (Oilers lose 3-0)
0 points in game #2 (Oilers lose 4-1)
0 points in game #3 (Oilers lose 4-3)
2 assists in game #4 (Oilers win 8-1)
0 points in game #5 (Oilers win 5-3)
1 assist in game #6 (Oilers win 5-1)
0 points in game #7 (Oilers lose 2-1)

Connor McDavid does the heavy lifting for the Edmonton Oilers, Draisaitl gets to ride shotgun.

all that and he still managed to have more points in this years Playoffs than Matthews has in the last 4 years combined
 

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