Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
But the experts seem to think Matthews is already very well-developed as a player. He's one of the oldest players in this draft year, he's physically mature, he thinks the game well, and he's already playing against men in a professional league. I think he would be tried at second line centre.
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The "experts" are the same people who trot out Oilers success as a forgone conclusion, the same people who build up insane hype over the top picks in every single draft, no matter the difference between other years. I really don't put a lot of stock into what these people say until I actually see the players.
Really, my point is that, by pretty much any metric, 18 year olds coming into the NHL are almost always in need of a lot of development in order to have any sort of meaningful impact. There's nothing wrong with that, and maybe Matthews ends up being better than any center we currently have, but the odds of that being the case
next season are very far-fetched. Writing him in as already better than Monahan, Bennett and Backlund, is putting the cart before the horse in the worst way. We can't be reliant on these assumptions. That's the Oilers way. Assume every player, whether picked 1st overall or last, needs development time before overtaking any top-line NHL roster spot and I think many people would be a lot happier with any pleasant surprises we may end up with, rather than disappointed that our shiny new toy isn't performing as expected.