3 replies to this topic

[Mapleleafs-13]

Glad the team with the percentages got the pic, I nearly fell out of my chair with suspense. Let the conspiracy theories begin, (leafs centennial year, Shanahan previously working at player safety, and Vice President of hockey and business operations)

 

Also happy Edmonton dropped 2 spots to number 4. 

 

At least Austin Matthews didn't have mcdavid face when they were interviewing him after he found out Toronto got the pick. 

 

First line centers do not come around very often.

 

 

[theruz23]

I wouldn't be suprised if laine ends up the better player

[Kadams29]

Man i just cannot see the Matthews situation ending well in Toronto. The kid is gonna have soo much pressure on him and they're nowere near being relevant. The fanbase and media are gonna ruin him i think. Do they have "good" prospects? Yea but non of them are great or else theyd be playing in the bigs already. Team needs to get bigger to keep up in the future.

Im pretty excited that the Sabre-Leaf rivalry will be rekindled tho. I expect Eich and him to be very very competitive towards eachother because they're both soon to become the face of US hockey in a couple years.

[ibeck]

Man i just cannot see the Matthews situation ending well in Toronto. The fanbase and media are gonna ruin him i think. Do they have "good" prospects? Yea but non of them are great or else theyd be playing in the bigs already.

The leafs will do a good job if protecting him from the media by saying and doing all the right things. Just because you're the #1 overall pick, dont get confused thinking he will be as good as other players who play at 18. He'll be given all the ice time and opportunity to succeed, having played against men in switzerland will only help him next season.

They do have some good prospects but you dont want your top notch kids playing in a losing atmosphere all year when they can play bigger minutes, be out of the spotlight in the AHL and potentially have a deep playoff run.

Plus there are rules in place for major junior kids like Marner who cant play in the ahl until they are overage juniors. Marner is clearly too good for the OHL now and but cant play in the AHL. He'll make the NHL next year because playing the OHL will hinder his development.