Which Duo Would You Rather Have: Matthews/Kappo or J Hughes/Laine?

[klingsor]

I was looking at old polls and this is actually just a rehash of it, Matthews/Kakko won the first one in a landslide. Thought it was an interesting comparison

Now that’s quite reasonable.

 

[Rengorlex]

Well neither did a lot of the leagues highest scorers before 21 years old. He was over PPG in 50 games on a pretty bad team. Id think he can improve on that considering hes still growing muscle.

High scoring season too. Matthews was significantly better early on through his career and has had an insane development curve. He was a superstar when he entered and has gotten consistently better every year of his career.

 

[Tusks Up]

High scoring season too. Matthews was significantly better early on through his career and has had an insane development curve. He was a superstar when he entered and has gotten consistently better every year of his career.

Doesnt mean Jack cant still be an elite, top level player. The original comment was that Jack cant get anywhere near him, which would be ignoring his potential.

An Art Ross winner or contender for multiple seasons would be pretty close to Matthews. Maybe he never ends up better but I wouldnt put it past him to get pretty close.

 

[Blacephalon]

Matthews is by far the best player but Kakko is ass so I’d take Hughes and Laine

 

[Xirik]

the Fact that this is 50/50 is hilarious.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Matthews is by far the best player but Kakko is ass so I’d take Hughes and Laine

Laine is an overpaid one-dimensional slug…

Jack Hughes will always be at least tier or 2 below AM

You take the dude who’s trending to be an all time great…

 

[LongWayDown37]

This shouldn’t be close. Hughes and Laine.

 

[Xirik]

Laine is an overpaid one-dimensional slug…

Jack Hughes will always be at least tier or 2 below AM

You take the dude who’s trending to be an all time great…

Jack can do most of the work and just pass to laine for a one timer

Mathews literally has to do all the work in this duo.

 

[Regal]

Jack can do most of the work and just pass to laine for a one timer

Mathews literally has to do all the work in this duo.

I didn’t take the question to mean that we had to play them together though. I took it just to mean with pair of players would you add to a team/start a team with/etc. Personally I’d start a team with the top 5 player and try to build around him.

 

[Xirik]

I didn’t take the question to mean that we had to play them together though. I took it just to mean with pair of players would you add to a team/start a team with/etc. Personally I’d start a team with the top 5 player and try to build around him.

guess you could interpret it that way. I just think duo means that they play on the same line.

 

[Regal]

guess you could interpret it that way. I just think duo means that they play on the same line.

Fair enough. It’s not particularly clear when the OP just says “which”. But I think it does affect the answer how you read it

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Matthews is the best player by a mile, he's top 3 in the league which is something I highly doubt Hughes will ever come close to. People are pumping Hughes because he went PPG for 49 games last year, but ignoring his SH% jumped from 6.7% (average of his first 2 seasons) to 15.8% last season. Let's see him go PPG over a full season before trying to put him anywhere near Matthews. As for Laine, there's nothing special about him that he's making up the difference between Matthews and Hughes.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

I was looking at old polls and this is actually just a rehash of it, Matthews/Kakko won the first one in a landslide. Thought it was an interesting comparison

Results still didn't go the way you expected I bet lol.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

It's possible but he hasn't done anything close to that.

At the same age(20) you could argue pretty easily hughes put up a better season. Without a Mitch marner.

And at younger ages, Matthews body was much more ready for nhl comp, Hughes still had a lot of maturing/growing.


I imagine hughes 21 season will be better than matthews 21.

 

[TheDoldrums]

At the same age(20) you could argue pretty easily hughes put up a better season. Without a Mitch marner.

And at younger ages, Matthews body was much more ready for nhl comp, Hughes still had a lot of maturing/growing.


I imagine hughes 21 season will be better than matthews 21.

Matthews didn't play with Marner when he was that age. They were even on different PP units. Matthews usage under Babcock was idiotic and it was very predictable that his stats would dramatically improve with a new coach.

Matthews physical advantage is also always going to be there. The centres ruling the league now are McDavid, Matthews, MacKinnon and Draisaitl. Physical freaks, each one. I don't see Hughes getting to that level so he'll need to be that much smarter and more efficient than those superstars to reach that tier. Not going to be easy.

 

[Rengorlex]

At the same age(20) you could argue pretty easily hughes put up a better season. Without a Mitch marner.

And at younger ages, Matthews body was much more ready for nhl comp, Hughes still had a lot of maturing/growing.


I imagine hughes 21 season will be better than matthews 21.

I don't think you fully grasp how good Matthews is.

 

[Habano]

I voted Hughes/Laine because Matthews is paired with a book end. And, despite that, his duo is still ahead. Imagine if he was paired with someone who can actually play hockey.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Matthews is the best player but Hughes is also dynamic and a ppg+ caliber guy easy. Not to mention Laine who just put up a ppg pre Gaudreau and likely gets a major boost in goal totals due to Gaudreau.
Kakko has been a non factor so far

Should not be a factor.
If so, I think Matthews can get 170pts on his own.

 

[Regal]

At the same age(20) you could argue pretty easily hughes put up a better season. Without a Mitch marner.

And at younger ages, Matthews body was much more ready for nhl comp, Hughes still had a lot of maturing/growing.


I imagine hughes 21 season will be better than matthews 21.

Only if you disregard league scoring. Matthews was a better scorer relative to the league, and a much more efficient scorer relative to the league at 5v5.

 

[stevo61]

Should not be a factor.
If so, I think Matthews can get 170pts on his own.

Of course its a factor in how people percieve him. Regardless, Hughes as Laines center is an offensive boost over Boone Jenner. Or is that not a factor aswell?

 

[Lavar Ball]

People in this thread can keep making a fool out of themselves by calling a 21 year old former number 2 overall pick with numerous clear cut strengths in his game already and obvious room for offensive growth worthless. Just because Kakko hasn't lived up to the hype from his draft year doesn't mean he can't become just as impactful a player as Laine by his age. He will never be the same kind of offensive threat but it''s no surprise Laine is a liability in plenty of areas Kakko has already shown serious promise

 

[Blacephalon]

I didn’t take the question to mean that we had to play them together though. I took it just to mean with pair of players would you add to a team/start a team with/etc. Personally I’d start a team with the top 5 player and try to build around him.

Yeah I interpreted the question as having them play together. Obviously if your tryna build a team you take the second duo.

People in this thread can keep making a fool out of themselves by calling a 21 year old former number 2 overall pick with numerous clear cut strengths in his game already and obvious room for offensive growth worthless. Just because Kakko hasn't lived up to the hype from his draft year doesn't mean he can't become just as impactful a player as Laine by his age. He will never be the same kind of offensive threat but it''s no surprise Laine is a liability in plenty of areas Kakko has already shown serious promise

Sure maybe Kakko will improve but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s quite bad right now.

 

[bsu]

Hughes Laine

 

[summer tooth]

Pretty close but Matthews is an expert on defense. Have to go with the pair that has a Selke-level defender.

 

[Tusks Up]

People in this thread can keep making a fool out of themselves by calling a 21 year old former number 2 overall pick with numerous clear cut strengths in his game already and obvious room for offensive growth worthless. Just because Kakko hasn't lived up to the hype from his draft year doesn't mean he can't become just as impactful a player as Laine by his age. He will never be the same kind of offensive threat but it''s no surprise Laine is a liability in plenty of areas Kakko has already shown serious promise

Just like Jack Hughes, they both have a lot of room to grow. And that doesnt include building muscle or mentally changing as you age.

In terms of both I think pair two has more talent. But taking pair one because of Matthews is fair because Kakko will be a top-6, possibly top line player by 25.