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Laine v Matthews

The NHL could use a little more charisma, let him talk and then go out and try and back it up. It's not like he has a Sean Avery personality
 
If he wants to be picked #1, and he knows the kinda person Lou and Shanny are, then every time he opens his mouth he's just killing his chance.
 
number17 said:
If he wants to be picked #1, and he knows the kinda person Lou and Shanny are, then every time he opens his mouth he's just killing his chance.
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I agree. It's hurting him rather than helping him. Matthews looks incredibly mature in his interviews.
 
Babs likely has a big say in this as well and Matthews is a coaches wet dream.

The size, skill and maturity of a pro at 18 is a rare find

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I do agree that the NHL needs more outsproken people. Matthews comes from the Crosby school of politically correct, boring interviews.
That said, all Laine is doing is repeating the same theme as I am the best. He's not offering anything else. It's actually not any more entertaining than Matthews interviews. Same shit over and over. A great personality is someone who speaks of other topics, not just of themselves.
He looks and acts weird. This is not a guy who will be some big media sensation for years to come.
And yes, the media in Toronto would be on the attack of this guy constantly. It would not work. Matthews maturity and being so careful of what to say is actually perfect.
 
To be fair to Laine, I think at least part of the "social awkwardness" vibe people are getting from him is related to his incomplete mastery of the English language. He isn't a William or Alex Nylander, who've spent large portions of their lives living in North America and conversing in English. This is a kid who's spent his entire life living and playing in a non-English speaking country with a pretty homogeneous culture. The Finnish Liiga (and Laine's team in particular) doesn't have a ton of English-speaking exiles from North American hockey either.

And although it's a pretty small sample size, since there aren't a lot of Finnish players in Leaf franchise history, the two examples that come to mind of relatively young Finnish kids who played on the Leafs (Toskala & Aki Berg) also seemed pretty stilted and weird when speaking English.

I also agree with whoever said that he's probably just been reading too many of his Finnish press clippings. Finland, although they were always consistently competitive as a team in international competitions, went through a pretty lengthy, decade+ down-time where the country didn't really produce any high-end NHLers that didn't play goal. So, as a result of being rated at the very top of the NHL draft (and his Liiga playoff & WC performance), Laine's somewhat of a God over there.

And you kind of catch a glimpse of that if you check out the prospect/draft boards on HFboards. There's a pretty sizeable bridage of Finnish posters there that lose their goddamn minds if anyone so much as suggests that Laine is anything less than a generational talent and the best player available in the draft (and only slated to go 2nd overall because the Leafs have an organizational need at center). So, perhaps when breaking into the NHL turns out to be harder than he thinks it is, or when he isn't constantly immersed in the adoration of legions of his countrymen, or when Byfuglien throws his tracksuit into the shower, we'll see him tone down the talk a bit.
 
Most European kids grow up with a fluent or near-fluent understanding of English, particularly in the Nordic countries (Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark). If Laine hasn't mastered English yet, it might be because he's a little vacant between the ears, which is honestly just as problematic in comparison to the articulate, well-spoken, bilingual Matthews.
 
I wanted to give him the benefit of doubt, but no, I don't think his social awkwardness is due to his language limitation.

Plenty of Russian prospects don't speak a word of English, many more European prospects master as much English as Laine. None of them appear to be nearly as awkward as Laine. I think this is just who he is, for better or for worse.
 
The only point in defence of Laine, is that he's saying exactly what the media want him to. It's like Brandon Dassey feeding the Manitowoc police a confession.
 
I watched Laine's combine interview and he didn't really say anything that strange or controversial. We don't know his exact intentions when he speaks--maybe he's just trying to answer questions honestly and it comes across as cocky.
 
JaysCyYoung said:
Most European kids grow up with a fluent or near-fluent understanding of English, particularly in the Nordic countries (Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark). If Laine hasn't mastered English yet, it might be because he's a little vacant between the ears, which is honestly just as problematic in comparison to the articulate, well-spoken, bilingual Matthews.
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Matthews is bilingual?
 
Laine is trying to boost his own stock to get the Leafs to prevent him from being relegated to a life in Winnipeg.
 
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