2nd best player in the world?

[Ace]

Rasmus Dahlin

 

[Mez]

Not sure that there is a clear cut 2nd ....Drai, Matthews, Kucherov, Makar, MacK all can be argued.

If going by just this season you got Drai, Tage Thompson, Pasta, Kuch. Robertson.

 

[McVespa99]

Makar, Matthews, Kucherov, and Draisailt are all in the same tier where they could be argued at number two.

No they are not. Makar 2nd, Drai 3rd

 

[BostonBruins11]

This year alone, Pastrnak

 

[ghostingtaro]

going with my homeboy kucherov

 

[Maplebeasts]

If I need to score a goal Draisaitl. If my team is tied or leading either Matthews or Makar.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

Kuch / Makar /MacKinnon IMO

Matthews hasn't done enough in the playoffs to be with those guys , and I wouldn't take Drai over any of those 3 either. Those 5 are all very close though

 

[xigon]

 

[TropicOfNoReturn]

Why can't I vote for Connor McDavid in this poll?

I voted Bergeron. I think Makar is #1

 

[Maplebeasts]

No they are not. Makar 2nd, Drai 3rd

Offensively yes but Draisaitl is also far and away the worst defensive player in this discussion. That has to count for something.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Matthews isn't even in the conversation, not sure why he was even brought up.

Draisaitl and Kucherov are tied for it imo.

What makes them #2? Consistency at being at or near the top.

The rest are flavors of the year.

 

[WeaponOfChoice]

Matthews isn't even in the conversation, not sure why he was even brought up.

Draisaitl and Kucherov are tied for it imo.

What makes them #2? Consistency.

Pasta is likely right after.

Cause he's a Leaf.

 

[Maplebeasts]

Matthews isn't even in the conversation, not sure why he was even brought up.

Draisaitl and Kucherov are tied for it imo.

What makes them #2? Consistency.

Pasta is likely right after.

The 2 time reigning rocket, hart and ted lindsey winner who is statistically amongst the best defensive players in the poll is 100% in the conversation. Having Pasta ahead of him is just ridiculous.

 

[Three On Zero]

Tie between Makar, Fox, Pastrnak and Kucherov

 

[markymarc1215]

No clear cut #2. Could be Matthews, Drai, Kuch, Pasta, MacK, or Makar on any given day.

 

[Sexy Necksy Garland]

2- Makar
3- Matthews
4- Draisaitl

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

Matthews isn't even in the conversation, not sure why he was even brought up.

Draisaitl and Kucherov are tied for it imo.

What makes them #2? Consistency at being at or near the top.

The rest are flavors of the year.

MacKinnon is 3rd in pts dating back to 2017-18 behind only the oilers duo, has a slightly lower ppg than Kuch and also has an incredible playoff resume like Kuch.

Hes over 1.5 ppg this year as well, he's far from a flavor of the year, he's been on the conversation for #2 consistently the last 5+ years.

I agree Matthews falls below those 3 (and Makar) because he hasn't showed anything in the playoffs anywhere near the others who have all had dominant runs, regular season Matthews might be #2 but playoffs need to be heavily weighted IMO

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

MacKinnon is 3rd in pts dating back to 2017-18 behind only the oilers duo, has a slightly lower ppg than Kuch and also has an incredible playoff resume like Kuch.

Hes over 1.5 ppg this year as well, he's far from a flavor of the year, he's been on the conversation for #2 consistently the last 5+ years.

Yeah I'd have him up there too tbh.

Better than Matthews.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

Yeah I'd have him up there too tbh.

Better than Matthews.

Yeah Matthews is gonna have to show a lot more come playoff time to be with Kuch or MacKinnon

 

[The Nuge]

I don’t see any argument for Matthews (his advantage is his goal scoring, yet him and Leon are nearly tied in goals over the last 5 years), or MacKinnon (you can’t be the second best player in the world and yet never have scored 100 points). Kucherov has that one insane season, but that was 5 years ago. It comes down to do you want the best dman, or the second best forward (who is massively ahead of anyone not named McDavid in scoring over the last number of years), and it’s hard to go wrong with Drai or Makar

 

[Three On Zero]

The best player isn’t necessarily the one who puts up the most points. The best players are the ones you’d add to a team for an important game.

Players like Kucherov, MacKinnon, Makar and Fox

Players like Matthews, Draisiatl and Kaprizov are nice. But rarely do you ever hear their names come up as “damn I wish I had this guy on my team to push my team to the next level”.

To me that’s how you define the best players

 

[Unspecified]

Not sure that there is a clear cut 2nd ....Drai, Matthews, Kucherov, Makar, MacK all can be argued.

If going by just this season you got Drai, Tage Thompson, Pasta, Kuch.

So you toss Tage into the discussion but yet forget about Robertson? Neither of which are in the discussion for 2nd best if you are going off just this season. It's McDavid, Pasta and Drai/Robertson IMO who are the best 3/4 so far this season.

 

[The don godfather]

Cant beat mr selke bergy. Hes gonna get another one.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

I don’t see any argument for Matthews (his advantage is his goal scoring, yet him and Leon are nearly tied in goals over the last 5 years), or MacKinnon (you can’t be the second best player in the world and yet never have scored 100 points). Kucherov has that one insane season, but that was 5 years ago. It comes down to do you want the best dman, or the second best forward (who is massively ahead of anyone not named McDavid in scoring over the last number of years), and it’s hard to go wrong with Drai or Makar

The 100 pts argument for MacKinnon is so dumb, what difference is 99, 97, and 93 in a covid shortened season? He has 2 hart runner ups and another top 3 finish, he's 3rd in pts since the start of 2017-18 with a ppg over 1.3. (1.33 to Drai 1.34)

You could make the argument he hasn't been healthy, but overall he's still 3rd in total pts over the last 5.5 seasons and his 82 game pace is 109 pts over that span, who cares about 1 point? He's showed up in the playoffs year after year too, he'll likely reach 100 playoff pts in fewer than 75 games, I take that over a few seasons with 5 extra points.

At the end of the day he might not be #2 , but it's got nothing to do with the arbitrary 100 pt mark he has narrowly missed due to covid and injuries. Even last year he had 88 and missed 15 games , the bulk of which were because he got covid. Baring the pandemic he might have 3 100 pt seasons.

 

[Dave92]

I real really really want to see Drai play a season in his prime without Mcdavid on his team. I still think he's a top tier player but i just have no clue what his totals would look like on his own.

McDavid might turn Hyman into a 100 point player this season.

I don't think Drai drives play like Matthews , Mackinnon or Makar on his own but i haven't watched him enough to have a very informed opinion. And Matthews also hasn't been quite as dominant without Marner on his line.