So I was thinking about Willie's game over the last few weeks, and how most of us used to see him. How frustrating he could be whether it was taking shifts off or worse taking whole games off.
Now it's like the old question who's the best of the three big draftees, for so long it was mostly Matthews or occasionally Marner who was top dog, with Will only getting the honourable mention citing his shortcomings.
I believe as I've always believed that Marner is the best of 3 truly great players. Will in my opinion is only a step behind Mitch now and a half step ahead of Matthews. This change in the pecking order is more about Will and how he now effects the game. Teams used to have to prepare for Matthews, how to limit his shots from the slot anywhere between the dots, which is tough to do but the NHL I think has caught up.
Wills game has more twists and turns than a snake pit, and how do you prepare for that. He's added the ability to make those Marner type of set-ups, those unexpected passes that suddenly end up in the back of the opponents net. Is he the fastest Leaf, most likely. Does he have the most accurate shot on the team, and is it the hardest shot, yes and most likely at least this year. His so called hockeyQ is elite who can say it's best, who knows, but he always seems to be in the right spot, and the defensive side of his game may only be exceeded by Mitch's JTs or Knies who's come a long way.
Either way it's really great to see Will reach his potential and hopefully there's more there. The other thing is I'm relieved the Leafs didn't listen to me that whole year after his hold-out.
If Auston can find his complete game very soon you'd want to think with the rest of the teams strengths, and just a little bit of luck.......
