‘Neck and neck’ race

The obvious one is production. Laine leads all rookies with 32 goals and 59 points, heading into Monday night’s games.

He is tied for third in the Rocket Richard Trophy race, has scored three hat tricks and five game-winners. When he scores, the team is 17-3-3.

Matthews is ranked second among rookies with 31 goals and 55 points.

He scored four times in his NHL debut, has six game winners 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? Is he at a disadvantage because he’s on a line with rookies? Does being on a playoff team matter?

Somewhere on the list is geography.

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, Toronto-based 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.

“It’s not a media blitz or a media campaign or anything like that. 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 overexaggerated. 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 Trophy in 2006.

For Laine to pull ahead of Matthews, he might have to do something equally extraordinary.

“The race is neck and neck to me,” Postmedia hockey reporter Ken Wiebe, who covers the Jets, said 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, to be honest ... To me, two excellent players and the final 14-16 games will determine who wins the award. It’s a great race and both players should be celebrated.”