Shayne Corsi
Registered User
- Oct 17, 2017
- 362
- 351
I think another poster correctly pointed out that the OPs (somewhat clickbait-y thread title can only intelligibly be construed as: whose style of play do I prefer? Because, otherwise, the question is spitting distance from: if Matthews becomes as good as McDavid, who is better? In any case, to answer the OP: McDavid is a marvel whose greatness just screams at you every time he touches the puck. Matthews is more like a fine wine -- it takes some time to appreciate just how much he tilts the ice in your favour. If I had to choose who to watch, it would be McDavid; but, if I had to choose what style of play I suspect would be less vulnerable to adjustments or tightening D etc., I would probably go Matthews. Though keep in mind that this is ceteris paribus, which leads me to my next point ...
As an aside (which may or may not be an actual aside lol), it would take a mighty leap for Matthews to get on the same trajectory as McDavid, impact wise. That said, if you look at Matthews' underlying metrics, consider the goal total, the relative lack of ice time and first unit power play time, and the unusually bad luck with respect to secondary assists, Matthews' rookie season--which, notwithstanding all of these qualifications, was still amazing--looks even more promising. So I don't think it's totally without the realm of possibility that Matthews does make such a leap. Right now, though, McDavid is clearly better. This season will give us a lot more information about whether Matthews is "merely" a franchise #1c or whether he's a true competitor for the baton that Sid handed off to McDavid last season. Should be fun to see how it plays out!
As an aside (which may or may not be an actual aside lol), it would take a mighty leap for Matthews to get on the same trajectory as McDavid, impact wise. That said, if you look at Matthews' underlying metrics, consider the goal total, the relative lack of ice time and first unit power play time, and the unusually bad luck with respect to secondary assists, Matthews' rookie season--which, notwithstanding all of these qualifications, was still amazing--looks even more promising. So I don't think it's totally without the realm of possibility that Matthews does make such a leap. Right now, though, McDavid is clearly better. This season will give us a lot more information about whether Matthews is "merely" a franchise #1c or whether he's a true competitor for the baton that Sid handed off to McDavid last season. Should be fun to see how it plays out!