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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. Clearance NBA Jerseys . Louis Cardinals. Victorino is batting sixth and playing right field after missing two games because of back tightness. Nike NBA Jerseys China . DAmigo scored twice in regulation and added the shootout winner as the Toronto Marlies edged the San Antonio Rampage 5-4 in American Hockey League action. https://www.nbachinajerseys.us/ . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Cheap NBA Jerseys . -- In a span of seven Washington Redskins offensive plays, Justin Tuck sacked Robert Griffin III four times. Fake NBA Jerseys . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. Three years ago, Texas Tech seemingly had uncovered something special in walk-on true freshman quarterback Baker Mayfield.As it turned out, that relationship burned out before the end of the season. This weekend, the acrimonious split that followed will finally come full circle.Theyll be ready for me when I get down there, thats for sure, said Mayfield, who will return to Lubbock for the first time as quarterback of the Oklahoma Sooners. Im excited for it. Its always fun to play in Lubbock. This time, Im on the other side of it.When Mayfield arrived at Tech in 2013 as an unheralded walk-on, first-year coach Kliff Kingsbury had inherited one quarterback in Michael Brewer and signed another in Davis Webb. Yet by August, Brewer had a back injury, and Webb got sick, which caused him to lose 40 pounds.Baker was really the only guy we had left, Brewer said in an interview with ESPN.com this week.Mayfield, however, made the most of his opportunity. With him behind center, the Red Raiders raced to a 5-0 start before a knee injury knocked Mayfield out of the lineup too. The rest of the season, Kingsbury shuffled quarterbacks, and Tech won two more games before dropping its final five. After starting Mayfield in the regular-season finale at Texas, which the Red Raiders lost 41-16, Kingsbury reopened the competition for the bowl.I guess Baker felt like he deserved to be back in there, Brewer said. Neither party was happy about it. Texas Tech was losing. On the other hand, Baker felt like he deserved to play. Davis had been playing. I was trying to rehab. There was a lot going on.The whole thing got pretty hairy, as far as he said, they said. And to be honest with you, I dont really know too many of the details, other than Baker pretty much had enough and decided to go elsewhere.Mayfield didnt wait. Before Techs bowl game against Arizona State, he informed Kingsbury that he would be leaving.Initially, Mayfield cited a miscommunication with Kingsbury as his reason. But in an interview with ESPN.com a month later, he went in-depth.When I got hurt, there was no communication between me and my coach. When I got healthy, I didnt know why I wasnt playing right away, Mayfield said. At that time, we were losing a couple games in a row. I was still clueless as to why I wasnt playing. That was really frustrating for me because I started the first five games and we won. So I just didnt really know exactly what he was thinking or what the situation was. So that happened. And then going from a week-to-week basis, not knowing whether I was going to play or not and how short the leash would be if I had an average half, how quickly I would be pulled or anything like that, it was making me uncomfortable, and I just didnt want to be there anymore. I loved Lubbock, and I loved my teammates. But going through that, and then [they] tell me theyre still working on a scholarship for next fall, and I wouldnt have one for this semester coming up. It was all that.Tech officials had indicated that Mayfield wouldve been placed on scholarship thaat spring.dddddddddddd But Brewer, who later transferred to Virginia Tech, said Mayfields communication complaint was valid.It was a unique situation, with three of us capable of playing, Brewer said. It seemed like it differed every week. One kid was getting told this, the other kid was getting told this. And then on Friday, neither one of those things happened. So there was just a lot of confusion, and the communication wasnt real great. A couple of people got tired of it and decided to go elsewhere. I think there was a lot of right and wrong on both sides. I think both sides couldve handled it better.For Mayfield, the feud was only beginning. Tech declined to release him so he could transfer in conference to Oklahoma, where he wanted to go. Because Big 12 transfer rules at the time didnt differentiate between walk-on and scholarship players, Mayfield faced the prospect of not only sitting out in 2014 but also losing a year of eligibility.That only inflamed the animosity. After the Big 12 faculty athletic representatives voted down Mayfields appeal to become immediately eligible, his father called Kingsbury a scoundrel in an interview with The Oklahoman.Then in December 2015, after he had won the Oklahoma job and quarterbacked the Sooners to the playoff, Mayfield riled up Techs fan base again. He claimed that during the year he sat out, he was tossed out of a Lubbock bar the weekend the Sooners played Tech (in a Facebook post, the owner retorted that Mayfield had been thrown out because he was a minor). Either way, that eventually prompted the Tech blog Viva The Matadors to run the headline, I Hate Baker Mayfield.Since then, however, the bitterness has begun to thaw. This past summer, a day after voting down a proposal to change the walk-on transfer rule, the faculty reps reversed their decision. The ruling essentially gave Mayfield back his fourth season of Big 12 eligibility, so he could remain at Oklahoma for 2017.In a twist, Tech officials actively supported Sooner officials in trying to get the rule revisited and reversed. Both times, the Red Raiders voted in favor of the changing the rule.During Big 12 media days, Kingsbury added to that by praising Mayfield.I loved coaching him, he said. Loved the chip on his shoulder. Have cheered for him in every game except one.With Patrick Mahomes leading the nation in passing for the Red Raiders, Kingsbury noted again this week that it has all worked itself out in a way where everybodys happy. Baker is playing well, so I dont see the issue anymore.Alls well that ends well. But that doesnt mean The Jones wont be all over him Saturday -- or that Mayfield wont be goading them back.Tech has a passionate fan base, and I know a lot of them werent happy about Baker leaving, Brewer said. And Baker is a pretty outspoken guy. Hes going to go out there a little bit animated and egging them on, for sure.I imagine its going to be pretty crazy. ' ' '