Eichel vs Matthews

[kk87]

Eichel proved last year that he's poised to be a top 5 player in the league for a long time. They're in the same tier but given Matthews' obscene goal scoring ability (especially 5v5), he should still have the edge.

 

[Sweetpotato]

Eichel. More well rounded player and his skating challenges other teams more.

With that said, if we're talking who id rather have on my team it's Matthews. Him and Connor would torch the league(chemistry at world Cup and obvious play styles meshing).

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

They never played played together until Babcock got fired.

Rarely would be more accurate than never. They played almost 250 minutes together at 5on5 prior to Keefe being hired.

 

[Hockey Crazy]

Dude. No offense but what is your end game here? Most people on this chat respect both these players a lot but you seem to be really going out of your way to crap on one.

Both players are awesome. End of story.

He's one of bigger leafs haters on this site. And his Oilers suck, so he's extra cranky.

 

[rosscow]

I'm pick Matthews but it might be a homer vote. I'm sure if I watch Eichel every game or if he was on my team he would be my pick. Both top 5 centers.

 

[MattySnipes]

Like both players. Two superstar American C's.

Love that he plays for Sabres. Auston for Leafs.

It has re-ignited the rivalry between these two teams. Too bad Buffalo got moved this year.

 

[Beukeboom]

I'd say Eichel is the more dominant force in terms of driving play. However Matthews' insane goal scoring ability is not to frown upon. Pretty even as of now. I prefer Eichel though.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

As others said no wrong answer, I watch both guys a lot, I always say this because I feel beyond my obvious bias i for a big fan of one of the two guys probably watch both guys closer then a lot of people in here. This doesent mean I know more it’s just it’s important to me in determining who has the edge. I still believe eichel excels at more aspects of the game and in some ways just barely but Mathews goal scoring can give him the edge since it’s such an important part of hockey. Eichels goal scoring was insane last year given he didn’t really have a great playmaker with him, if he can get back to that it will still be close but I’d be confident in saying eichel for sure if he does.

Matthews always dominates to the 15 goal mark. Not saying it’s going to drop off by some huge amount, he’s an absolute beast but for whatever reason people forget this. He’s poised to have 50 seasons for sure. So even if he had fast starts, the goals don’t fall off in a struggling sense , but
More of a non-ea/realistic one.

we haven’t seen anywhere near of either guys best yet, which is great. If only these two guys had played 82 game seasons the first 4-5 years without injuries the totals suggest they’d be held in even higher regard.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Like both players. Two superstar American C's.

Love that he plays for Sabres. Auston for Leafs.

It has re-ignited the rivalry between these two teams. Too bad Buffalo got moved this year.

Since Matthews and Eichel are two American superstar Centre's I'm surprised that NBC did not capitalize on that and have the Maple Leafs vs Sabres in the 2018 Winter Classic instead of having the Rangers vs Sabres. That was the same time Canada played the United States outdoors at the 2018 World Juniors in Buffalo, so they already would have had the rink setup.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

Since Matthews and Eichel are two American superstar Centre's I'm surprised that NBC did not capitalize on that and have the Maple Leafs vs Sabres in the 2018 Winter Classic instead of having the Rangers vs Sabres. That was the same time Canada played the United States outdoors at the 2018 World Juniors in Buffalo, so they already would have had the rink setup.

Well, while that would make sense they aren’t smart enough or think they’re viewers aren’t smart enough to look past the name value of the team over player since marketing decisions are all about ratings=money

How NBC thinks of a casual American hockey fan ___(‘oh it’s the rangers) I know (and like or dislike them let’s watch’) vs oh it’s Toronto, flips channel before I even realize their key player is American.

I think they’ll be smart enough to capitalize on it as they get older, lots of time, I just hope Buffalo gets good in the time before eichels contract runs out or else the matchup will probably
Be boston and Toronto on NBC if they go that route

 

[LeafsNation75]

Well, while that would make sense they aren’t smart enough or think they’re viewers aren’t smart enough to look past the name value of the team over player since marketing decisions are all about ratins=money

How NBC thinks of a casual American hockey fan ___(‘oh it’s the rangers) I know (and like or dislike them let’s watch’) vs oh it’s Toronto, flips channel before I even realize their key player is American.

I think they’ll be smart enough to capitalize on it as they get older, lots of time, I just hope Buffalo gets good in the time before eichels contract runs out or else the matchup will probably
Be boston and Toronto on NBC if they go that route

The funny thing is when Toronto played Detroit on January 1, 2017 during the Centennial Classic, in the United States that was broadcast on NBC and not NBCSN. The ratings in the United States for it was 1.077 million viewers and it peaked at 1.577 million by the 3rd period. Plus I'm sure the NHL and NBC was happy that of all players it was Auston Matthews who scored the game winning goal in overtime.

The next season when Toronto played Washington in a 2018 Stadium Series game, once again that was broadcast on NBC for those watching in the United States. When it was officially announced the NHL used Matthews and Ovechkin in the advertisements.

So you think if Toronto played Buffalo in a Winter Classic instead of choosing the Rangers as the Sabres opponents they could have used Matthews and Eichel in advertisements to hype it up, along with the fact both are American.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

No one is using it as an excuse, did I not just agree Matthews had more points than Eichel in 16-17, 4 years ago. Just as Eichel had 9 more points than Matthews in 18-19 only 2 years ago where Eichel played only 77 games and he did it on a worse team with lesser line mates.

and needed to play 9 more games to do it

 

[TopChedder]

Eichel. More well rounded player and his skating challenges other teams more.

With that said, if we're talking who id rather have on my team it's Matthews. Him and Connor would torch the league(chemistry at world Cup and obvious play styles meshing).

I really like Jack but I would still go with Matthews.

As far as well rounded game I think Matty is easily the better 200ft player and a scoring machine. He also has fantastic vision and most of his passes are never buried because he has no damn sniper on his line (Marner passes back to him all the time and Hyman is not a sniper)lol but he sets up a lot. Also uses his body incredibly well to shield the puck along the boards. Also AM is a lot faster this year because of his offseason work, but I do think Jack is a tad faster.

I think it's easy to assume he is not a complete player because his scoring is insanity, but that is false.

In the end both players are absolute world class and you couldn't ever go wrong with either as your top C.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

I really like Jack but I would still go with Matthews.

As far as well rounded game I think Matty is easily the better 200ft player and a scoring machine. He also has fantastic vision and most of his passes are never buried because he has no damn sniper on his line (Marner passes back to him all the time and Hyman is not a sniper)lol but he sets up a lot. Also uses his body incredibly well to shield the puck along the boards. Also AM is a lot faster this year because of his offseason work, but I do think Jack is a tad faster.

I think it's easy to assume he is not a complete player because his scoring is insanity, but that is false.

In the end both players are absolute world class and you couldn't ever go wrong with either as your top C.

It’s a fair opinion, what I meant by overall game wasn’t the 200 foot part, I meant attributes, say in ea how they have like six or seven skill sets for the six or seven major attributes I would say jack is higher by 1-2 pts in the majority but they’re so close to even. Eichel improved his defensive play night and day from when he started but still can make mistakes because he does what marner does for Toronto, Matthews won’t get caught as much not being the end to end transition player eichel is due to his skating, and priority puck control responsibilities, but remember a big part of defense is the ability to be offensive minded and in early January last season eichel ranked number one in the game for puck possession in the offensive zone while being second in transition rushes and third in total offensive zone entries. Being able to be a top three ranked player in all three of those categories on a team where everyone is gunning for you and mainly only you is nothing short of incredible. At age 23. (Last year) but I can see it your way too.

and it’s funny because of course these polls always amuse me because it’s always so whatever these two weeks are, eichel hasn’t played and won’t play for over half a month when it’s said and done and Matthews is on a 8 game scoring streak so Matthews is winning by a decent amount, not even a year ago Matthews was held pointless 8 of 11 games while eichel was on a 17 game pt streak and eichel is winning by a decent amount.

 

[TopChedder]

It’s a fair opinion, what I meant by overall game wasn’t the 200 foot part, I meant attributes, say in ea how they have like six or seven skill sets for the six or seven major attributes I would say jack is higher by 1-2 pts in the majority but they’re so close to even. Eichel improved his defensive play night and day from when he started but still can make mistakes because he does what marner does for Toronto, Matthews won’t get caught as much not being the end to end transition player eichel is due to his skating, and priority puck control responsibilities, but remember a big part of defense is the ability to be offensive minded and in early January last season eichel ranked number one in the game for puck possession in the offensive zone while being second in transition rushes and third in total offensive zone entries. Being able to be a top three ranked player in all three of those categories on a team where everyone is gunning for you and mainly only you is nothing short of incredible. At age 23. (Last year) but I can see it your way too.

and it’s funny because of course these polls always amuse me because it’s always so whatever these two weeks are, eichel hasn’t played and won’t play for over half a month when it’s said and done and Matthews is on a 8 game scoring streak so Matthews is winning by a decent amount, not even a year ago Matthews was held pointless 8 of 11 games while eichel was on a 17 game pt streak and eichel is winning by a decent amount.

All great points as well. I also laugh at the timing of these poles. I have actually always been one of Jack's biggest supporters as I believe he gets criminally undervalued quite often on these boards.

There is no world in which any team could ever go wrong with either of these players at the top of the lineup. Absolutely world class C's.

USA hockey will have a nice punch down the middle!

 

[authentic]

I really like Jack but I would still go with Matthews.

As far as well rounded game I think Matty is easily the better 200ft player and a scoring machine. He also has fantastic vision and most of his passes are never buried because he has no damn sniper on his line (Marner passes back to him all the time and Hyman is not a sniper)lol but he sets up a lot. Also uses his body incredibly well to shield the puck along the boards. Also AM is a lot faster this year because of his offseason work, but I do think Jack is a tad faster.

I think it's easy to assume he is not a complete player because his scoring is insanity, but that is false.

In the end both players are absolute world class and you couldn't ever go wrong with either as your top C.

From the Leafs board

EDIT: This is 5v5, and does not include OT, which is counted as ES.

Saw this on another forum. Small sample size and still early, but a good start.

 

[Ezpz]

It depends on the composition of my team. I feel Eichel is better at making players around him better, while Matthews does his thing regardless of line mates.

 

[IPS]

I think the biggest difference for Draisaitl, McDavid, and Matthews is they all play with atleast one other elite player.After Mc-Saitl there really isn't much on that team. Eichel is unique. As hockey fans you know he has been part of some really bad teams, and he never has had the caliber of teammates as Matthews or some others have had. Sometimes all you need is one elite talent to make each other better. Matthews is a great talent, no said he isn't that I have read here. He has been more fortunate in teammates and offensive systems than Eichel has played on. I will say again it is close for both players, there is no its not even close. I just want to see Eichel have his chance playing with the same talent as other players. So when I see his stats close to Matthews, it just makes me wonder how much better is he. Logical question is it not?

Eichel now has the elite linemate that everyone's been raving for and he only has 12 points in 13 games

Matthews is and always has been the far superior player.

 

[TS Quint]

Eichel. More well rounded player and his skating challenges other teams more.

With that said, if we're talking who id rather have on my team it's Matthews. Him and Connor would torch the league(chemistry at world Cup and obvious play styles meshing).

LOL, how many 1st overall picks do the Oilers need to be competitive?

 

[ER89]

matthews.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Lock this up.

 

[nobody]

It depends on the composition of my team. I feel Eichel is better at making players around him better, while Matthews does his thing regardless of line mates.

Who are these players that Eichel has made better? This is the oldest most BS narrative going for Eichel vs. Matthews. When in reality, Eichel has had the higher overall quality of linemates than Matthews up until Matthews got Marner last year.

The facts are Eichel has gotten whatever he's wanted from ownership and management. This guy has been labelled a primadonna before because of his personality and having so many coaches around him fired. Meanwhile, all Auston has done is put his head down and work, while producing results and producing much better numbers.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Lock this up.

I guess until next year, I mean.

 

[pcruz]

Eichel now has the elite linemate that everyone's been raving for and he only has 12 points in 13 games

Matthews is and always has been the far superior player.

Oh come on now.

Are you basing a "who is better" question on 12 games?
In a season as messed up as this one?


Now, I pick Matthews - as much because of the goal scoring as because I'm a Leafs fan.

But for anyone putting Eichel down, open your eyes and learn how to watch hockey.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Matthews has more than doubled Eichel in points this year, and while he has played 4 more games that's completely irrelevant, even if games played were equal Eichel is not getting 13 points in 4 games