lympic participation.We havent had a discussion with the IIHF for a couple of months now on where they stand with the IOC on

A good coffee or a fine tea? Delicately crafted beer or perfectly aged wine?Asking hockey fans whether they prefer the Toronto Maple Leafs new franchise center Auston Matthews or Winnipeg Jets sniper Patrik Laine is a question that will be answered by their own personal preference. And thats fine. To each their own. But refine the question to ask whether No. 1 overall pick Matthews or No. 2 overall pick Laine is the better fantasy prospect for this season and there is a wrong answer.Laine himself benchmarked the top two picks from the 2016 NHL draft with their current era superstar comparisons at the NHL scouting combine in June. Laine is the dynamic sniper with the hair-trigger shot that will threaten for 50 goals someday -- an Alex Ovechkin clone, he said. While Matthews is the true leader all over the ice with fantastic vision and a 200-foot game -- Jonathan Toews, in other words.No one is going to argue with the merits of Matthews as the top choice for the Leafs and his potential future returns, just as no one is about to argue with Toews and his hand thats more than half full of Stanley Cup rings. But we also doubt many fantasy buffs -- especially those playing the ESPN standard game -- would argue with Laines potential here as a sniper. Any fantasy owner in the world will tell you they want Ovechkin on their team before Toews, as few of us play in leagues with Stanley Cups as a category.Without miss, Ovechkin finds himself at the end of every season at the top -- or near the top -- of the ESPN Player Rater, which ranks the NHLs skaters for their contributions to the seven offensive categories in the ESPN game. Laine models his game after Ovechkin, and shoots the puck like Ovechkin. Laine, as a boy among men, was 14th in the Finnish elite league (Liiga) for shots on goal last season despite missing 14 games. He led the IIHF World Championship -- a tournament filled with non-playoff NHLers and pros from other leagues -- in shots on goal. He was second in shots at the IIHF World Junior Championship. The guy generates shots wherever he goes and, as we know in fantasy hockey, generating shots can be half the battle.Still dont buy the Ovechkin comparison? Check out Laines shot attempts heat map from last season on the website Prospect Stats. Remind you of anyone?Laine will immediately slot in to the Jets top six. Do we really care if its with Mark Scheifele or Bryan Little? Scheifele had a breakout season in 2016-17, and showed hes ready to be a regular point producer in the NHL, while Little is one of the more underrated, reliable pivots in the league. Either can dish the puck and help keep an eager Laine fed with chances to release his shot. Hes also a no-brainer for the Jets power play that finished dead last in the NHL last season at just 14.8 percent.Matthews, while projected for as many or more points as Laine in this rookie campaign, wont be getting them the same way. Assists are good, but dont count for as much as goals in fantasy because there are more assists to go around and they dont automatically count as another stat (goals are a shot, too).While Laine will get to play with experienced, fantasy warriors like Little, Scheifele or Blake Wheeler, Matthews is pegged to skate with sophomore William Nylander, and could end up with another rookie as the third member of the line (Mitch Marner). Not a single player on the Leafs 2016-17 roster had 20 NHL goals. Nazem Kadri led the team with a paltry 45 points -- which is in the ballpark for about as low as you can have to lead a team in scoring. The only consistent, fantasy-proven veteran on the entire offense is James van Riemsdyk. The Jets, on the other hand, are populated with plenty of talent for Laine to work with. Wheeler had 78 points last season; Scheifele had 29 goals and 61 points; Little managed 42 points in only 57 games. Matthews may not have been drafted by his native Arizona Coyotes, but hell find himself alone in the desert at times with the Leafs.If you dont think the Toews comparison by Laine does Matthews justice, youre probably right. Toews was never as dynamic on offense as Matthews can be. The all-time single season scoring record for the U.S. National Development Team Program was held jointly by two fellows named Patrick Kane and Phil Kessel for the past decade, at 52 goals. Matthews busted that mark with 55 in 2014-15. He also eclipsed Kanes record for points in a season at the time, with Matthews notching 117 to Kanes 102. Matthews has more offense than he gets credit for because of his complete, end-to-end game.But Matthews, who plied his trade in the Swiss professional league (NLA) last season, is coming into a situation where he will play tough minutes for the team that finished dead-last in the NHL last season. The Leafs are going to get very good in a couple of years with Matthews, Nylander, Marner and a young, talented group of prospects coming along with them. But its going to take time.While we think its likely that Laine and Matthews will finish with similar point totals in their rookie season, the edge has to go to Laine for fantasy purposes, as his statistics will be slanted toward goals and shots. He is also likely to come away with a better plus/minus than Matthews, despite not having the same prowess in his own zone.If you are in a keeper league and choosing between the two, this is a much more difficult decision, as Matthews may be the better long-term contributor once he starts playing with elite teammates. But in the short-term -- for re-draft leagues -- Laine is the choice.Jabari Parker Hawks Jersey . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. Custom Atlanta Hawks Jerseys .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. https://www.thehawkslockerroom.com/Tracy-Mcgrady-City-Edition-Jersey/ .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. Ray Spalding jersey Pete Maravich Jersey . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal.WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In preparation for the World Cup of Hockey, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly addressed three important topics on Wednesday, including revamped protocol for concussion detection, the leagues future participation in the Olympics and a new anti-doping program.Daly described the concussion protocol as completely revamped to make the system work better during the upcoming best-on-best tournament and for the regular season.Weve imported the protocol in its entirety here. You have the challenge with the games overseas, so we had on-site spotters we sent to the European games. Were going to have spotters in the building and in our Toronto situation room, so there will be plenty of spotters and players get removed for visible signs, Daly said. That will be mandatory removal done at the league level.Its a pretty major revamp from what it was last year. Were going to have four centralized spotters who will be in a situation room in either Toronto or New York and be watching every game. They will be kind of the ruling spotters, and theyll have the ability to communicate with each building, Daly added.There will also be league-employed spotters in the building, because the feeling with the concussion subcommittee was there are certain visible signs that you might only see in person and that there might not be a good video feed of, or there might not be an explanation through a video feed, so were going to have both those spotters. Plus, you have the clubs medical staff. Were building in reinforcements to make the system work better.Daly also explained theres no resolution betweeen the league and the International Ice Hockey Federation on future Olympic participation, but the sides will talk at some point during the World Cup of Hockey over the next two weeks in Toronto.ddddddddddddThere hasnt been any change in status since our last meeting [in the spring], so its been radio silence on that end. Again, I hope we get an update and a better understanding where things stand, Daly said.The league will use the World Cup of Hockey as a relevant platform to value its success, enthusiasm and players reactions and compare it to possible Olympic participation.We havent had a discussion with the IIHF for a couple of months now on where they stand with the IOC on Olympic participation, so I expect over the next two weeks well get a briefing, Daly said. The IIHF will be present in Toronto for this tournament, so well have a better sense of where were going with the Olympics in the next little while.The NHL and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have worked together to design a new stringent policy for the World Cup of Hockey and the regular season.I wouldnt say its exactly like the Olympics, but its pretty close to what the Olympic program was, Daly said. All of our players in this tournament were subject to testing during their training camps. During the tournament, well randomly select three players from each team after each game for testing. The list for which we test for is broader in this tournament than it is during the regular season. ' ' '