Why everyone should stop talking about a Matthews-Laine rivalry
The hockey world loves to hype a great rivalry, even when there's really no justification for it.
These days, it seems as though individual players are pitted against one another based simply on their draft years and at which point in the proceedings their names are called, with inevitable tales of antagonism beginning weeks or months prior to the selection process.
Think back to Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin (2004 and 2005), Taylor Hall vs. Tyler Seguin (2010), Connor McDavid vs. Jack Eichel (2015). Based on a limited definition of "rivalry" as "a competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field," the pairings of these players - highly touted top draft picks who concurrently entered the NHL - as instant rivals seems justified, if not downright savvy from a marketing perspective.
Who will rack up the most points, and who will lead their teams to glory first?
Crosby and Ovechkin fit the billing by virtue of the bevy of awards and accolades earned respectively over the past decade, as well as a pair of playoff meetings en route to two Stanley Cup wins for Crosby's Penguins. That Crosby and Ovechkin were drafted by Eastern Conference clubs and therefore see each other with regularity also certainly helped the matter.
But Taylor-Tyler and McDavid-Eichel? There's not much to speak of there, quite frankly, with rivalry talk peaking on draft day, for the time being at least.
Up next
Which brings us to Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine, the next great "rivals" based solely on being selected first and second overall at the 2016 draft.
Except they're not.
Not really, and not yet, at least.
Sure, the outspoken Laine sparked a potential fire by arguing the Toronto Maple Leafs - who owned the No. 1 pick this past June - had a tough decision to make, saying, "He's (Matthews) better than me at some stuff and I'm better than him at some things."
In the end, it was really no decision at all, with Matthews - the longtime consensus top pick - being snagged by Toronto, and Laine going to the Winnipeg Jets in the No. 2 spot.
Excellent starts
It's in those two Canadian cities, on teams in separate conferences, where the two have kicked off their careers - and in Matthews' case, in spectacular fashion.
Laine responded to Matthews' four-goal debut with one goal of his own in three games, but his comments off the ice said more about how he's approaching the first meeting between the two at the NHL level.
"He's playing his game and his career," Laine said of Matthews' debut, according to Mike Morreale of NHL.com. "I don't want to match my game to his. He can score 20 goals in a game, I don't care. It's good for him. I'm just going to help my team to win with my things."
And that's how it should be: two young, likely great players, both forging their own paths while aiming to help their teams win.
Maybe later
Really, it's only two points that will be on the line when the Maple Leafs visit the Jets on Wednesday. While the MTS Centre will serve as the setting for what could be the first chapter of the next great individual rivalry in hockey, one regular-season game, much less one draft, isn't enough to determine that.
Should Matthews and Laine go goal for goal and point for point in this season's rookie scoring race, then maybe we can talk. Ideally, they'll lead their teams to glory at some point down the road, and, even better, battle it out in a Stanley Cup Final one day to really cement the thing.
Until then, let's resist the temptation to compare these two young talents ad nauseam, and rather appreciate, in Laine's words, the "things" they bring to the game.