Overrated? This guy WILL win the Selke one year. He just went head to head with the best player in the league, he shut him down, Malkin was a -4 with two PP secondary assist, Couturier had a Hatrick and an assist... And it's not just one game, couturier has been dominating Malkin all Year, regular season as well. In a redraft couturier goes 2nd overall, possibly 3rd, some may take Landeskog, I still take Couturier easily over Gabe, I've said it all year and took slack, Couturier has been playing 4th line all year, if he had Landeskogs 1st line minutes and PP time he wins the Calder this year.
I totally understand your excitement about your young player. I really like him too. But I don't know if we should say that it's just Couturier who shut Malkin down. Malkin line looked horrible regardless of opposition.
Look, in first 2 games of series vs Flyers Malkin played nearly 33.5 min at even strength. And he faced Couturier during 19.5 min. So it's about 58% of Malkin's even strength time. Surely, no other Flyers' forward played against Geno more than Couturier did. But Malkin had 14 minutes of play when he hadn't to match against Sean and he had just 1 shot on goal and no points in that time.
Actually Coburn and Grossmann pair played against Malkin not less than Couturier, but I never heard anybody saying that Coburn shut Malkin down.
Since I don't how to exactly work Hockey Reference, when was the last time a rookie got a hat trick in the playoffs?
It only goes back to 1987-88 and doesn't let you select rookie designation. But it does say that Couturier is the only teenager that has done it since that time. Pretty impressive. Next youngest was Patrick Kane at over a year older
and I'm getting flack. nobody in their proper state of being takes Couturier over Landeskog. Ladeskog is younger, bigger, stronger, faster, physical, elite elite elite
alright, that's it for me!
Me saying its close but I take Couturier is much more realistic than you saying " omg I'm done! Gabe is ELITE ELITE ELITE!!" I know more people would choose gabe but I'm not alone in my opinion. Couturier is younger and bigger as well, faster?? Neither guy is a burner, physical? Yes us far gabe has been a beast in the regular season, Sean is very physical on Malkin so far in the playoffs. Couturier is leaps and bounds better defensively. Offensively speaking, couturier plays on the 4th line of a stacked team and plays PK, Landeskog plays 1st line and 1st line PP. I'd like to see there stats in reversed situations... Only clear advantage you can give Gabe is his checking ability and shot blocking at this point. Much is made about landeskogs +\- but he plays on the 1st line, while couturier plays on the 4th down line and routinely is used against oppositions best players and is a +18 in 77 games, compared to Landeskogs +20 in 82, easily more impressive for Couturier.
Landeskog
GP:82 *G:22 A:30 *P:52 +\-: 20
Couturier
GP: 77 *G:13 A:14 P:27*+\-:18
Clearly the stats heavily favor Gabe, just posting it for you so you don't have to.... But Couturier is a career 2.0 PPG in the playoffs
I totally understand your excitement about your young player. I really like him too. But I don't know if we should say that it's just Couturier who shut Malkin down. Malkin line looked horrible regardless of opposition.
Look, in first 2 games of series vs Flyers Malkin played nearly 33.5 min at even strength. And he faced Couturier during 19.5 min. So it's about 58% of Malkin's even strength time. Surely, no other Flyers' forward played against Geno more than Couturier did. But Malkin had 14 minutes of play when he hadn't to match against Sean and he had just 1 shot on goal and no points in that time.
Actually Coburn and Grossmann pair played against Malkin not less than Couturier, but I never heard anybody saying that Coburn shut Malkin down.
Iveonly watched 4 of the games of Philly vs pit this year, 2 reg season network games and he playoffs, Couturier shuts Malkin down. I'm a hawks fan BTW, but yes please, we will take him
he's gonna be a stud for a long time in this league.in a few years we should have Couturier vs Hamilton debates (since they were picked one after the other). I thought Philly would take Hamilton last year
Certainly the fact that he came in NHL-ready can't hurt him. And anyone who thinks that a player is near full maturity and won't get better at age NINETEEN is an imbecile. With more minutes he'll naturally get more chances and points. I do see a day not too far in the future where teams will be matching up to shut him down. That's something that he hasn't had to deal with... but only because he's been assigned to do it himself.
As someone who doesn't have rooting interest in either team I've gotta say I was blown away by Couturier. A great performance.
I'm not sure why people are trying to put a ceiling on him right now, especially ones like Bergeron or Staal. This is a guy who was at one time thought to be the best playing in his draft class, and he just had a hat trick while playing against one of the best players in the world. It's early but I think the sky is the limit for this guy.
he was always compared to a Jordan staal type guy and he looks like him out there
i really he hope he doesn't look like jordan staal out there, considering staal has looked awful out there.
It's a safe bet IMO that couturier will be a better player than jordan staal. people will be laughing to the point of asphyxiation in a few years at that comparison.
Will those still saying Huberdeau is going to be better please stand up?
Given that Huberdeau is younger, less experienced and hasn't played in the NHL yet it's hard to compare the two, agreed?
Getting that out of the way, they stacked up remarkably well against each other in the Q.
QMJHL Regular season stats
First season
Couturier 58GP 31PTS
Huberdeau 61GP 35PTS
Second season
Couturier 68GP 96PTS
Huberdeau 67GP 105PTS Led all players in the CHL in 5on5 pts/game
Third season
Couturier 58GP 96PTS Led all draft eligible players (all of CHL too?) in pts/game (WJC tournament, had mono in the summer)
Huberdeau 37GP 72PTS (NHL camp, Broken foot, Canada tryouts and WJC tournament)
QMJHL playoff stats
First season
Couturier 19GP 8pts
Huberdeau 21GP 18pts
Second season
Couturier 14GP 18pts
Huberdeau 19GP 30pts
Third season
Couturier 10GP 11pts
Huberdeau 8GP 14pts (and ongoing)
