Is Toronto centre of the Calder universe?
The numbers favour Laine, but the hype for Leafs rookie Matthews never ends
The question did not make mention of Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine or the whole Calder Trophy debate. There was nothing said about whether playing in Toronto, rather than Winnipeg, helped or hurt a player’s popularity. The phrase Eastern Conference bias was not uttered at any point.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock was simply asked if he felt any animosity from his coaching fraternity for being in the so-called centre of the hockey universe.
“I can’t think of one thing that would be bad about playing in Toronto except if the team’s bad,” Babcock said. “I guess if you want to play where they don’t know about hockey, then go and play somewhere else. But to me, if you want to play in the best hockey market in the world, this is where you want to be.”
Toronto may or may not be the best hockey market in the world, but it’s certainly the biggest. There’s strength in numbers, with more reporters covering the sport than in any other place in the NHL. Because of that, the daily plight of the team’s seventh defenceman often receives more attention than star forwards in some other markets.
So when there is a genuinely good player to talk about, such as Matthews or Mitch Marner or William Nylander, the rest of the world hears about them ad nauseam. But does that help Matthews’ chances of beating Laine for the Calder Trophy, or might it actually hurt him?
“I am a little sick of hearing about him,” Postmedia hockey reporter Jim Matheson, who covers the Edmonton Oilers, wrote in an email. “But I think people in Toronto are trying too hard to inform us how special he is.”
“Look, you can’t escape the Toronto hype machine,” Ottawabased Postmedia hockey columnist Bruce Garrioch wrote in a direct message on Twitter. “That’s just the reality of Matthews being in a big market.”
“I do think Toronto writers have gone completely nuts, but I don’t really blame them, given what they’ve had to watch the last decade,” said Jason Brough, a Vancouver-based writer for NBC’s ProHockey Talk. “At any rate, it won’t affect my vote one way or the other. Laine gets plenty of attention himself.”
When comparing Matthews to Laine, there are a number of things to consider. The obvious one is production. Laine leads all rookies with 33 goals and 60 points after Monday’s loss to the Nashville Predators. He is in the thick of the Rocket Richard Trophy race, has scored three hat tricks and five game-winners. When he scores, the team is 17-34. Matthews is ranked second among rookies with 31 goals and 55 points. He scored four times in his NHL debut, has six gamewinners and leads the league in even-strength goals heading into Monday’s games.
But it’s not just about goals and points. Is it more impressive that Matthews is a centre and Laine is playing on the wing? Is Matthews at an advantage because he’s seven months older? Does being on a playoff team matter?
Somewhere on the list is geography. Despite Ilya Bryzgalov’s claims about Winnipeg, it is not actually more difficult to play there. But is it more difficult to get recognized?
The Professional Hockey Writers’ Association votes on the Calder and other trophies. Of the 169 votes the PHWA cast last year, 69 came from reporters covering teams in the Eastern Conference — where the Toronto chapter is one of the largest — 57 came from the Western Conference, and 43 were from at-large voters, many of whom reside in Toronto.
With four daily newspapers in Toronto compared with two in Winnipeg, Matthews gets written about and talked about more than any other rookie. While most of the press is justified, there are times when it goes overboard. During TSN’s trade deadline broadcast, Torontobased analyst Jeff O’Neill, who played for the Leafs, said he wouldn’t trade Matthews for Edmonton’s Connor McDavid.
That’s not to say that Laine has been ignored.
“Laine’s play really speaks for itself,” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff told Postmedia at last week’s GM meetings. “You do see the fact that he’s 18 years old and one of the youngest players in the National Hockey League right now and doing the things that he does with a very young hockey team.”
“It just happens that (Matthews) is in a market that lives and breathes the team,” said Postmedia reporter Kristen Odland, who covers the Calgary Flames. “If anything, it helps his bid because there are a million more stories and coverage on him and I really don’t think they are blown out of proportion or over-exaggerated. He’s really that good.”
Laine has been just as good, if not better. But that might not be enough. It took scoring 50 — along with a highlight reel goal scored while sliding on his back — for Alex Ovechkin to edge Sidney Crosby for the Calder.
“The race is neck and neck to me,” Postmedia hockey reporter Ken Wiebe, who covers the Jets, wrote in a direct message on Twitter. “I don’t think playing in Winnipeg has prevented people in other markets from knowing how Patrik Laine is or how good he is. … Two excellent players and the final 14-16 games will determine who wins the award.”