There is no question that Auston Matthews is a great hockey player, absolutely no doubt at all. What can be said is that he has been moulded into a first-overall draft pick. The exposure of going to Switzerland to play pro hockey, playing on the top line for the regular season champion Zurich Lions, and netting 1.27 points per game in a tough league make him stand out. He has had a North American coach in Zurich, and been the main focus of the season in the NLA with easy media access for everyone.
With attention elsewhere, Patrik Laine has flown under the radar (if you can call someone projected as a top-three pick in the draft going under the radar), He has played in a small city out on the Finnish lakes far outside the capital of Helsinki — known for its beauty, but not much else, and definitely not the banking capital of the world.