Quote:
Originally Posted by Henry Fool
Players can develop quite fast at this age. Sebastian Aho was a second rounder who few talked about, not much older than Matthews actually, and this season he's among the best forwards in the league: he had 45 points in 45 games in the regular season and leads the scoring in playoffs with 13 points in 11 games. As a player type he doesn't project to be a first line center, but it shows how much progress kids make in a few months.
Laine has stepped up in the playoffs. Puljujärvi still has 6 points in 7 games but he doesn't stand out on his team like Laine. Laine has 7 goals in 10 games, 5 goals in 5 games in the semifinal series so far, and not a single fluke among them. He leads the playoffs both in goals and shots (69). Project him forward six months and he's pretty close to an NHL player.
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So these 2 guys are going to be the first 2 guys to come over from Europe and be 1st line players at 18 years old in the NHL ever?
They will be better than Jagr... Sundin, Forsberg, Barkov, Lindholm ?
Ovechkin maybe would have been a 1st line player as a 18 year old but had an extra year of preparation in Russia after he was drafted (lock out year)
Are these guys Ovechin level? Malkin drafted the same year as Ovechkin came over as a 20 year old playing 2 years in the KHL after being drafted.
Not saying that they will not end up being great players but coming over to a different culture is a huge adjustment.
Just on the age thing: They are going to be better than Monahan and Bennett?
Nathan Mackinnon who was a consensus #1 overall pick as a 16 year old a year before he was drafted was not on a NHL first line as a 18 year old.
PS. Henry Fool I quoted your post, as it was the one that did not personally attack me Yours was a far more reasonable post in that these guys might be NHL player next year.