It was literally impossible for you to draft Matthews

What if leafs passed on Matthews? lol

What if the oilers had passed on McDavid?

What if the leafs lost the draft lottery??

we never had a chance with Matthews, TOR wasn't going to pass on a potential franchise centremen since Sundin
as for DeBrincat way to unrealistic ... every team pretty much passed on him twice

Laine was the right choice back then. After watching him play for 4 years IMO he has as much potential as Matthews with his gamechanging shot, extremely underrated playmaking abitity and honestly decent 2 way game.. (obviously CBJ fans didnt see alot of that Laine this year)

but its his drive, attitude and work ethic that severely hold him back from reaching his potential

So maybe the theoretical is:

"What if the Jets won the lottery?"

Yeesh again 🙄

The DeBrincat thing is really reasonable like I had him about 18th on my draft list. Naturally. I'm no wizard I just have no size bias and value NHLe scoring rates.

Independent of McDavid he had an NHLe in the 80th percentile at ~ point/game each season... similar to Konecny, Duclair, etc. 1st rounder worthy. 🥇

His skating mechanics won me over too, how balanced he was & easily able to accelerate with few strides, puck control & finishing out the whazoo etc.

So yeah like it would've been easy to achieve that

But no they had to take 21st century Boris Valabik

I have to disagree. Laine simply isn't as gifted as AM34. Drive does have a lot to do with it, but AM34 is gifted in many areas. Laine is simply a finisher.

I have to disagree. Laine simply isn't as gifted as AM34. Drive does have a lot to do with it, but AM34 is gifted in many areas. Laine is simply a finisher.

I hate that glitch LMAO

Laine was always the jets target as was matthews for the leafs. Jets at the time needed a top 6 sniping wing which was Laine, leafs needed a guy to replace Bozak in the top 6 that was Matthews.

basically he was the last piece they wanted for their rebuild to be complete

leafs needed a top 6 center to ease bozak into a 3c role

Than Laine was going #1OA, if u listen to Kevin Cheveldayoff interviews Laine was always the target as in his eyes he was the last piece required to complete the rebuild.

yep

Kevin Cheveldayoff had his sights on Laine from day 1 so instead of Matthews going in 2016 it was going to be Laine

You absolutely can't say Laine has as much potential as Matthews. It's been almost 5 full seasons and everything that makes Laine special Matthews does better and with way more consistency. He's also great defensively, developing into a leader and hasn't been a coaches nightmare for 2 teams already.

This sounds a lot like Burke saying he would have drafted Rielly no matter what as well. Granted in hindsight it looks rather smart but Burke also always knows best even when he doesn't. Still thinks the Leafs should have taken Hanafin over Marner because "he skates like a deer!" What the hell does that even mean?

What is Matthews if not a top 6 sniper?

Marner and the leafs were destined

Marner grew up a leafs fan, was from Toronto, and was basically the guy Hunter looked at and went I want this kid. And thank **** he did it. Sure Barzel or Rantanen would have been nice, but then we wouldnt have had this

The bond between Matthews and Marner is unreal pic.twitter.com/gSxZDFGkXv

— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) April 10, 2021

The guy who can score from everywhere and is basically the Canadian Ovie

Marner is the right choice. Many will say Rantanen or Barzal are better and you can make a case they are right there with him but it doesn't matter. I personally think Marner is better than Rantanen and Barzal is equal to but I like Marner where he is.

But American

hes playing for a Canadian team so I call him Ovie of the North or the Canadian Ovie due to him being part of the leafs which are based in Toronto

Okay, I get the comparison but I will say he's far more complete a player at his age than Ovie. Ovie is the single greatest goal scorer ever but hes a winger and you just don't have to do as much as a winger.

I think you mean American
In which case I would personally say he's the American Stamkos. But thats more due to me thinking Ovi is the all time best goal scorer in Hockey

yeah mb, shoud prob change "has" to "had"

the 1st and 2nd year they were pretty close put the next 3 put Matthews ahead by leaps and bounds

Drive, attitude and work ethic are HUGE in hockey and r an extremely big reason Matthews pulled so far ahead

Or just Ovi 2.0