Monday’s matchup No. 1 with a bullet
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Top prospects Matthews, Laine to square off as American, Finnish teams do battle
Patrik Laine doesn’t talk much about Toronto.
Ask him about the potential of playing in the NHL next season and the draft-eligible prospect starts talking about the team picking second overall. Laine has never been to Winnipeg, but he knows it’s really cold (“I’m used to it living in Finland”), the Jets have a bright future (“They didn’t make it to the playoffs this year, but they’re a really good team”) and Teemu Selanne, of course, holds a special place for the franchise (“A legend”).
And Toronto? Well, Laine might still be holding out hope the Maple Leafs will make him the No. 1 pick. But he knows he’s probably not going there. Not unless he’s willing to change positions or the Leafs do something unexpected at the draft.
Based on how Laine has been playing at the world hockey championship, don’t be surprised if the latter happens.
While it still makes a lot of sense for the Leafs to fill an obvious need at centre and select Auston Matthews, who entered the season as the consensus No. 1 prospect, there is now some debate as we inch closer to the June 24 draft.
If anything, this is no longer the easy decision it once appeared to be.
“We’re going to take the best player,” said Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello, who along with head scout Mark Hunter is at the world championship. “I think it’s great for the fans to put the players in slots, but we have to do what’s right. They’re both exceptional players.”
And both players are performing exceptionally well at a tournament usually reserved for seasoned professionals, not draft-eligible teenagers.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Laine scored two goals and added an assist in his world championship debut Friday against Belarus. He followed it up Sunday with another two-goal, one-assist performance in a 5-1 win over Germany. He leads the tournament with four goals and six points — a remarkable feat considering he celebrated his 18th birthday three weeks ago.
Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen, who has the No. 3 pick in the draft, said Laine’s ability to dominate against men who are older and more experienced is “something that I don’t ever remember seeing.” Added Finnish goalie Mikko Koskinen: “It’s unbelievable to see how good he is at that age. There are no words.”
Matthews, who is also 18 years old, has been just as impressive. Though he went without a point against Canada, he matched Laine’s output (two goals and one assist) against Belarus on Saturday.
The top two prospects, whose teams did not play against each other at the world juniors in January, meet Monday in a highly anticipated game.
“I don’t think we’re both focusing on each other,” said Matthews. “I’m sure we both know when each other’s out there and stuff like that, but I think both of us just want to play well and help our team win. We both want a gold medal.”
The natural inclination is to use Monday’s game — and the tournament as a whole — as a head-tohead comparison heading into the draft. But it’s not really fair.
Laine is playing on a deep Finnish team with Aleksander Barkov and Jussi Jokinen as linemates. Matthews, meanwhile, has been centring a line with Jordan Schroeder and Patrick Maroon on a younger and less experienced U.S. team.