Speculation: McDavid or Matthews/Marner

[BackPassChampions]

Matthews. He's an absolute beast 5v5, better faceoff percentage, and is on pace to more goals within the first three years compared to Mcdavid.

Marner's development is progressing, just wait until he hits his peak and gets a little bigger. This is a team sport. Both of these guys are way better than 1 mcdavid.

 

[PromisedLand]

I would take Matthews over McDavid straight up... I know that most people would disagree, but I think Matthews will ultimately be better. I think that Matthews's size, goal scoring ability, and 2 way play will ultimately make him a better player at some point. I would still give McDavid the edge right now... but I expect Matthews to pass him at some point.

I currently rank the centers as

1. McDavid
2. Crosby
3. Matthews
4. Tavares

But I think Matthews will move to number 1 on that list at some point.

Matthews moves to no. 1 this upcoming season. Book it!

 

[ZEBROA]

MC.Jesus will still be No.1 but Matthews and Marner has more value then just Mc.David.

 

[Gary Nylund]

The impact McDavid has on the game is ridiculous, it's on a completely different tier than Matthews.

That being said if it was ONLY McDavid vs Matthews/Marner combo, I would take the Matthews/Marner combo. BUT if we're assuming that we get McDavid over Marner in 2015, we're likely looking at the 8th - 16th pick. That's A.Nylander, Sergachev, McAvoy, Jost, Chychurn, Fabbro, McLeod potentially. I would take McDavid + Sergachev/McAvoy/Jost/Chychurn over Matthews + Marner right now.

This seems about right. It's tough though as I'm super high on Marner so ... it's tough.

It depends on who the 8-16 guy is too. McAvoy is amazing, some of these other guys not so much.

 

[Trapper]

If we had drafted McDavid, people wouldn't know Marner/Matthews to the same extent they do now. You'd know them as great players but wouldn't defend them to the same degree because they wouldn't be Leafs.

Where would we have finished in 2016 with McDavid and who would we draft?
As Gary mentioned, you had McAvoy at 14, Chychrun at 16 and Fabbro at 17. McDavid got hurt that year so the Oilers drafted 4th overall. They took JP but should have taken Sergachev IMO. He was taken 9th. Would we have finished around that spot? Hard to say.
McDavid
Tavares
Kadri
Would still most likely be a thing. Plus we would still have Willy. That's not hard to look at either.

 

[Gary Nylund]

If we had drafted McDavid, people wouldn't know Marner/Matthews to the same extent they do now. You'd know them as great players but wouldn't defend them to the same degree because they wouldn't be Leafs.

Where would we have finished in 2016 with McDavid and who would we draft?
As Gary mentioned, you had McAvoy at 14, Chychrun at 16 and Fabbro at 17. McDavid got hurt that year so the Oilers drafted 4th overall. They took JP but should have taken Sergachev IMO. He was taken 9th. Would we have finished around that spot? Hard to say.
McDavid
Tavares
Kadri
Would still most likely be a thing. Plus we would still have Willy. That's not hard to look at either.

This is almost certainly true. Had we drafted McD most fans would laugh hard at the idea of parting with him and would be saying that McD alone >>>>> Matthews + Marner.

IMO Matthews+Marner > McD. Matthews+Marner vs McD + ? though depends on who the ? is.

 

[Bluelines]

Matthews is a special special player but McDavid is clearly a better player at this point. They say who ever gets the best player in the trade wins the trade, McDavid is the best player on this list.

 

[Mess]

Would McDavid have gotten the Leafs into the playoffs in his rookie season? Let’s say he didn’t and the Leafs were picking in the top 8 in 2016 and picked Matthew Tkachuk?

Who is to say Leafs couldn't have won both the McDavid and Matthews lotteries?.

Edmonton picked #1OA in succession afterall in 3 straight drafts.

 

[ULF_55]

Hmm?

McDavid

Marner

Does Stamkos sign with Leafs if they have McDavid?

 

[Gallagbi]

Who is to say Leafs couldn't have won both the McDavid and Matthews lotteries?.

Edmonton picked #1OA in succession afterall in 3 straight drafts.

We know the last place team won Matthews draft year. Edmonton's top 3 overall picks werent 3 consecutive lottery wins either and I'm pretty sure they had better idea back then.

I take McDavid + Top 10 (expecting Nylander, Tkachuk or Sergachev). McDavid is the best player in the league and was before his entry level deal expired. If you can get the best player in the league for 10+ years, you take it.

 

[Nineteen67]

Since this is a typical July thread I’ll ask this question here.
Can a player sign an extension in any year of his contract? For example, could a team sign an RFA to an 8 year contract in September and then an extension to that contract in October?

 

[darrylsittler27]

I still think McDavid could become a Leaf in the future. He will get sick of missing the playoffs year after year. "You are so lucky! " McDavid to Marner at the draft.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Since this is a typical July thread I’ll ask this question here.
Can a player sign an extension in any year of his contract? For example, could a team sign an RFA to an 8 year contract in September and then an extension to that contract in October?

Since this is a typical July thread I’ll ask this question here.
Can a player sign an extension in any year of his contract? For example, could a team sign an RFA to an 8 year contract in September and then an extension to that contract in October?

You can only sign an extension in the final year of a contract.

 

[Mess]

Edmonton drafted #1OA (McDavid) and #4OA (Puljujarvi)
vs
Leafs drafted #4OA (Marner) and #1OA (Matthews).

That is the comparable but had Leafs been drafting in Edmonton's spots no guarantee they may have take Pul but rather someone else.

 

[thewave]

Matthews and Marner no contest. If Nylander Marner both sign under 14m combined and become 75-85 pts class players I take them as well over McDavid.

He gives you 100pts which is fine and all but, nah. Balanced teams or overloaded teams have a better shot. People forget Pits has 3 ppg players and a star D. The only time they started winning again is when 8.7m didn't seem so huge anymore to the cap. Edmonton front loaded McDavid on potential and already have to mess around with cap structure.

Gentlemen's bet the lot of you that we save money using bridge deals and try and win now.

 

[Mr Hockey]

Mcdavid ... he is generational player, he is a level above everyone at 20

 

[Nineteen67]

You can only sign an extension in the final year of a contract.

That’s what I thought...stoopid rules

 

[Nineteen67]

Edmonton drafted #1OA (McDavid) and #4OA (Puljujarvi)
vs
Leafs drafted #4OA (Marner) and #1OA (Matthews).

That is the comparable but had Leafs been drafting in Edmonton's spots no guarantee they may have take Pul but rather someone else.

Leafs would have picked #1OA McDavid and #2OA ......

Could you imagine those two on a PP?

 

[kk87]

Matthews will likely be a top 5 (possibly top 3) centre in the league for the next decade or so but he's not in the same stratosphere as McDavid, let's not kid ourselves

 

[thewave]

Matthews will likely be a top 5 (possibly top 3) centre in the league for the next decade or so but he's not in the same stratosphere as McDavid, let's not kid ourselves

Overly optimistic. Just like people calling him generational before has broke 100 pts. Silly

 

[Dzonna]

I’d take Marner and aki-berg so why wouldn’t I take matthews and marner lol

 

[34]

I still think McDavid could become a Leaf in the future. He will get sick of missing the playoffs year after year. "You are so lucky! " McDavid to Marner at the draft.

Did McDavid actually say to Marner, “you are so lucky” lol. Like actually?

 

[Peiskos]

This question is more complex than this. Leafs have two franchise #1 centres, I'd rather have Matthews/Marner over McDavid because depth kills. Matthews and Marner combined > McDavid.

When Marner is feeding Tavares like a beast and Matthews is on an entirely other line owning other teams..its a no brainer. Why give up that depth attack?

 

[killer1980]

Unfair posting this on the Leafs board. McDavid is arguably the best player in the league and I wouldn't argue about that. The two Leafs have potential but who knows how they'll turn out. Right now McDavid by a longshot.

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

Who picks McDavid over McDavid + Top 10 pick?