Patrick Laine (18!) scores his second career hat trick in his 14th career game!

[hagelin1381]

Drafting by position needs is dumb imo. Matthews will be a great hockey player no doubt but I still think Laine will be a superstar and Matthews will be elite.

Do you think the Leafs would have had a chance in hell of winning a Stanley cup with Kadri as their best center? nope. Teams need a 1C to win. Plus they've both got a lot of growing and developing left to do. No way anyone can tell what their futures hold

 

[psycho_dad*]

What a time to be a hockey fan

What a time would it be to be a hat salesman in Winnipeg. Golden years

 

[Gnova]

Winnipeg will win a Cup way before the Leafs still.

The Chicago Cubs will win a Stanley Cup before the Leafs.

 

[Gnova]

Do you think the Leafs would have had a chance in hell of winning a Stanley cup with Kadri as their best center? nope. Teams need a 1C to win. Plus they've both got a lot of growing and developing left to do. No way anyone can tell what their futures hold

That is true.
The Leafs got the player they most needed and the Jets got what they most needed since they have Scheifele

 

[Juicy Pop]

I'm utterly surprised that we haven't seen the McDavid copypasta yet.

 

[aj8000]

Definitely the front runner for the Calder but to be fair to Matthews he has been stuck with a 4th liner/AHLer on his line all year in Hyman who has only 1 assist so far

Yes, Laine done have a couple of very good players on his line. Matthews will be a very good player over his career with the leafs. I do not get his Laine vs Matthews thing

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Laine is a great player, but like Ovechkin, you can't win with a winger leading the way. Leafs picked correctly.

Laine and Scheifle are great together though, so at least the Jets have there true #1 center. They are going to be a very good team.

I agree with your post. Jets would have picked Matthews too. #1C will always Trump (yes, pun intended) a #1 winger.

That said, now that Scheifele has clearly become the #1C in WPG, these two are quite formidable together.

 

[topshelf15]

Next great winger from Finland,they always seem to have one come out every so often.Kurri,Selanne and now Laine.WPG has had the pleasure of drafting two of them .Congrats WPG he is so fun to watch

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Winnipeg will win a Cup way before the Leafs still.

Do you have next week's winning lotto numbers by any chance?

Anyway, great night for Lain(ni)e and the Jets!!

 

[SotasicA]

One of them is not like the others

 

[Master Scheif]

Laine is a great player, but like Ovechkin, you can't win with a winger leading the way. Leafs picked correctly.

Laine and Scheifle are great together though, so at least the Jets have there true #1 center. They are going to be a very good team.

You can't win with a winger leading the way? You truly believe that? The positional obsession on this site is hilarious. You win with good players. Obviously having an elite centre is imperative, but Matthews was a good pick because he's a great player, not just because he's a centre. Laine is already good at both ends of the rink as a winger at 18(!). Having either on your team is a blessing.

Side note: People should stop comparing him to Ovi, because sure his slapper is similar, but otherwise they are completely dissimilar. Do not take this as me saying Laine is better, though. Ovi is a legend.

 

[TheBigThree]

So laine is playing with arguably one of the best centers in the league and matthews is playing with 2 other rookies, one being a black hole on offense that should be on the fourth line. Winnipegs defense is better than Toronto's by a mile, especially this year considering rielly looks like he regressed defensively. If laine screws up he doesn't have to worry about getting scored on. If any forward messes up on Toronto it's almost guaranteed the defense will **** the bed. Massive difference on both sides.

 

[Snowsii]

So laine is playing with arguably one of the best centers in the league and matthews is playing with 2 other rookies, one being a black hole on offense that should be on the fourth line. Winnipegs defense is better than Toronto's by a mile, especially this year considering rielly looks like he regressed defensively. If laine screws up he doesn't have to worry about getting scored on. If any forward messes up on Toronto it's almost guaranteed the defense will **** the bed. Massive difference on both sides.

Well Nylander >> Ehlers, according to Leafs fans.. And Matthews also better than Laine.. So two out of three Leafs are better? Matthews is also good in defense, So defenders mistakes shouldnt matter.

 

[936LeafsOilers997]

I just love this kid. I would never in a million years envisioned a scenario where I owned a Jets jersey, but I think it's probably going to happen.

What's holding you back so far?? For me it should be the new logo.

 

[Booster*]

Well Nylander >> Ehlers, according to Leafs fans.. And Matthews also better than Laine.. So two out of three Leafs are better? Matthews is also good in defense, So defenders mistakes shouldnt matter.

It changes depending on which argument they´re trying to make, they´ll easily throw Willie under the bus after prasing him so much

 

[BB88]

So laine is playing with arguably one of the best centers in the league and matthews is playing with 2 other rookies, one being a black hole on offense that should be on the fourth line. Winnipegs defense is better than Toronto's by a mile, especially this year considering rielly looks like he regressed defensively. If laine screws up he doesn't have to worry about getting scored on. If any forward messes up on Toronto it's almost guaranteed the defense will **** the bed. Massive difference on both sides.

Well this is a bit funny.

Nylander is superior to Ehlers, just go to poll section and see it for yourself.
I see you haven't bothered to watch any of the games, defensively Jets have been really bad. They've missed Trouba this whole season, Myers just returned from injury and they have a rookie on the top pairing.
You can just again go to poll section and see how much laughing there has been towards the Jets roster.

But now everything in Winnipeg is better. Whatever it takes I guess to not have to give credit to Laine.

 

[trick9]

Love Laine, I think he's a great player and will be an elite goal scorer in the NHL.

But some of ya'll are going to look like idiots, it's a long season and he won't shoot 25% all year. Both of these guys will go through ebs and flows, over reacting over one 'flow' or one 'eb' will do no one good.

Seriously a 4 goal game is a fluke? Give your head a shake.

It's unfortunate that this thread has become more about the Leafs and Matthews instead of Laine's wonderful night, oh well. Nevertheless, Congratulations to Laine on such an impressive start.

Don't expect that to change any time soon. It's been 10+ years of that whanever either Ovechkin or Crosby has a big night.

 

[Aceboogie]

I would have taken Matthews first if I had the choice, and honestly I think Winnipeg would have too if they had the choice on draft day. Center and a safer pick. Laine was up there and almost on par but he was riding a bit of a hot stretch and really only a top 3 pick from like Jan on. He came into that draft year ranked around 13 IIRC. Matthews was #1 from 2/3 years before the draft.

But sometimes teams luck out at 2nd and get the higher upside but riskier guy and that guy turns out to be legit.

Anyway, cheers to Laine. He looks extremely impressive. Even in the highlight package he was creating a ton of plays by himself

 

[razorsedge]

McDavid-Eichel
Matthew's Laine

We really are in the early stages of a new generation of superstars. Very happy my team has one of them.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

What stat line does he need for it to be considered a better 18-year old season than Crosby in '05-06? 50-40(90)? If he does that is it the best season from an 18-year old in history, accounting for scoring differences between eras?

Crosby finished 6th in points/12th in goals.

It is hard to compare raw point totals from 05-06 since there would so many PPs and scoring was inflated as a result.

 

[cam7aylor]

Do you think the Leafs would have had a chance in hell of winning a Stanley cup with Kadri as their best center? nope. Teams need a 1C to win. Plus they've both got a lot of growing and developing left to do. No way anyone can tell what their futures hold

it's not like one of the jets centers is leading the league in points or anything

 

[Lurked4Yearz]

One of them is not like the others

Yeah, Laine is Finnish

 

[ACC1224]

Well this is a bit funny.

Nylander is superior to Ehlers, just go to poll section and see it for yourself.
I see you haven't bothered to watch any of the games, defensively Jets have been really bad. They've missed Trouba this whole season, Myers just returned from injury and they have a rookie on the top pairing.
You can just again go to poll section and see how much laughing there has been towards the Jets roster.

But now everything in Winnipeg is better. Whatever it takes I guess to not have to give credit to Laine.

There's a sentence you don't see every day.

Good for Laine, kid can really shoot the puck.

 

[Honey Bear]

Jets fans are spoiled.

 

[1909]

Laine will have the best career of them all, those 2016 draftees.

Incredible release ! And hockey IQ.