Matthews vs. Laine debated by NHL.com writers

The rivalry between Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, and Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine, who went No. 2 in 2016, enters its third NHL season.

Matthews and Laine will meet again when the Maple Leafs play the Jets at Bell MTS Place on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN1, SN360, TVA Sports).
So which of these two players is the more compelling to watch? An argument can be made for each.
Matthews has been the class of the NHL early in the 2018-19 season, continuing the dominance he has shown in each of his first two seasons. He has entered the fringes of the best-player discussion being dominated by Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers.
Matthews is tied with Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen for the NHL scoring lead with 16 points (10 goals, six assists) in nine games this season. Since entering the NHL to start the 2016-17 season, no player has scored at a higher rate than Matthews, who averages 0.97 points per game (148 points in 153 games).
Laine scored 44 goals last season, second to Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (49). Since joining the NHL at the start of 2016-17, Laine has scored 83 goals in 164 games, third behind Ovechkin (90 in 172) and Matthews (84 in 153) during that span.
So each brings elite skill to the game and appeals to hockey fans for different reasons.
On the day of their latest showdown, we asked five NHL.com writers which player they are more excited to watch Wednesday and why in the latest version of an NHL.com roundtable:

Nick Cotsonika, Columnist

Matthews. It isn't just that he's off to a better start statistically this season. It's that this feels like the start of something bigger for him and the Maple Leafs.
Matthews had 69 points (40 goals, 29 assists) in 82 games as a rookie and 63 points (34 goals, 29 assists) in 62 games last season, but he still has room to grow with a team on the upswing. Can he win the Rocket Richard? The Art Ross? The Hart?
We already know the Jets can go deep in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after their run to the Western Conference Final last season. The Maple Leafs have not won a series since 2004.
Can they turn potential into results? It's early, a long way from the answers to those questions, but the anticipation is fun.

Tim Campbell, Staff Writer

Matthews. I have the privilege of watching Laine live regularly and always look forward to what he's going to do next. I am eager to see when he'll find his groove, because he hasn't so far, misfiring quite a bit this season.
With fewer opportunities to watch the Maple Leafs in person, I'm more excited to see Matthews. His skills and skating are undoubtedly high end. What I'm looking forward to seeing is how much more of an ice shark he's become, lurking in all the right places and being dangerous no matter where he is at any point of a game. That, to me, is what the elite centers in the League are all about and it will be fascinating to make an assessment on that with the eyeball test on Wednesday, and the follow-up showdown in Toronto on Saturday.

Amalie Benjamin, Staff Writer

I respect both of you, Nick and Tim, and I see where you're going with Matthews. But me? I'm more excited to see Laine.
I'm a fan of that unpredictability, the personality, the what-will-he-do-next aspect that Laine brings to the table. Some of that is on-ice, though much of it is off. I get to watch David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins consistently, and he fascinates me, in that you never quite know what he's going to say or do.
I'm still laughing about the "Winnipeg is Good" article Laine wrote for The Players' Tribune, and I'm eager to see him put it all together on the ice this year. I'm just hoping that starts Wednesday.

Mike Zeisberger, Staff Writer

There was something different about Matthews when he stepped onto the ice for his first scrimmage of training camp in Niagara Falls last month. To those of us who had regularly monitored his NHL career for the past two-plus seasons, he looked stronger on his skates and more confident about his potential to be a dominant player in the NHL.
He certainly started the season that way with 10 goals in his first seven games. Now he's dealing with a brief hiccup of adversity, having gone without a point and a minus-3 rating in his past two games, both losses.
I'm intrigued to see if and how he responds in the upcoming home-and-home against Laine, who was picked right after him. If ever there was motivation to up his game, this is the stage to provide it. This will be fun.

Dan Rosen, Senior Writer

Matthews is the safe bet to be terrific. He does everything at an elite level, but I have more fun watching Laine play. Focus your eyes on him as the game unfolds and you'll see a player finding the soft spots, unleashing his powerful shot, possibly celebrating with a stick twirl and putting it back in his pretend holster, a smirk on his face that says, "That's right, try to stop me."
There's never a shortage of intrigue when the cameras, microphones and recorders get stuck in his face. What is he going to say? I wonder every time.
This debate reminds me of the Sidney Crosby-Ovechkin debate that started more than a decade ago (I'm getting old). Crosby has always been great, but Ovechkin has always been more fun to watch. You never know what he'll do, when he'll unleash that massive shot or deliver a bone-crunching body check, or what he'll say.
Laine is that way.