2nd best player in the world?

[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

uhh...what about the B2B 30+ point playoff performances? He was also 2nd to McDavid in ppg last year and is 3rd in league scoring right now.

If you want to talk only regular seasons, maybe he's missed enough time to disqualify himself from the conversation, but overall the last 5 years Kucherov has consistently produced better than anyone other than McDavid on a per game basis (1.39 ppg over the last 5.5 years). So no, its not just "one insane year",

 

[Sweetpotato]

Matthews doesn't put up the assist totals for me to call him that.

Mackinnon isn't in the Ross chase.

Neither is Kucherov

I'd say it's between Draisaitl and Makar.

This season specifically Pasta is definitely making a case as well.

 

[Mez]

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.

Yay my bad, forgot to add him.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Number 2 is a rotating slot , flavor of the month . Lots of players in that tier behind McDavid .

 

[Sheppy]

Leon.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Did anyone say kravtsov AINEC yet ?

 

[miscs75]

Technically speaking the 2 best players in the world are Dany Heatley and Leo Komarov so this would be who’s 4th behind them.

 

[miscs75]

Did anyone say kravtsov AINEC yet ?

He’s the defecto #1 currently playing. I knew I forgot about someone.

 

[Nikki Potnick]

Mackinnon, Makar, Matthews, Draisaitl are all in the #2 tier. I can understand the argument for Kucherov as well.

 

[authentic]

Matthews doesn't put up the assist totals for me to call him that.

Mackinnon isn't in the Ross chase.

Neither is Kucherov

I'd say it's between Draisaitl and Makar.

This season specifically Pasta is definitely making a case as well.

I don't see how his assist totals would exclude him when he has been far and away the #1 goal scorer with a goal scoring peak comparable to Ovechkin at his best. Last season he was 2nd in points per game and he is #1 and #2 the past two seasons in Hart voting and also just won the Lindsay and had the most points per game on a goaltender last season along with 51 goals in 50 games.

This season it's been confirmed he's playing hurt again and his playmaking and all around game haven't been too shabby.

 

[McVespa99]

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

Naaaah. Nice try Matthews lover

 

[La Bamba]

I don't see how his assist totals would exclude him when he has been far and away the #1 goal scorer with a goal scoring peak comparable to Ovechkin at his best. Last season he was 2nd in points per game and he is #1 and #2 the past two seasons in Hart voting and also just won the Lindsay and had the most points per game on a goaltender last season along with 51 goals in 50 games.

This season it's been confirmed he's playing hurt again and his playmaking and all around game haven't been too shabby.

Aside from last season, Matthews hasn't been a clear-cut top 3 player in the league. He's been the best goalscorer for sure, tho. This season, he's reverted back to his norm, which is still a very elite player

Drai has averaged 50 goals, 118 pts/82 games in the last 5 seasons and elevates his game in the playoffs even thru injury (1.59 career playoff PPG, higher than McD)

Makar and MacKinnon are better than Matthews as well (those guys were a bitch to play against, esp. Makar)

IMO:
S Tier: McDavid
A+ Tier: Makar, Draisaitl
A Tier: MacKinnon, Kucherov
A- Tier: Matthews, Pasta

 

[authentic]

Aside from last season, Matthews hasn't been a clear-cut top 3 player in the league. He's been the best goalscorer for sure, tho. This season, he's reverted back to his norm, which is still a very elite player

Drai has averaged 50 goals, 118 pts/82 games in the last 5 seasons and elevates his game in the playoffs even thru injury (1.59 career playoff PPG, higher than McD)

Makar and MacKinnon are better than Matthews as well (those guys were a bitch to play against, esp. Makar)

IMO:
S Tier: McDavid
A+ Tier: Makar, Draisaitl
A Tier: MacKinnon, Kucherov
A- Tier: Matthews, Pasta

Where to begin with this one. Matthews has been playing with a lingering injury all season. Very evident to those of us who watch him play regularly.

You're seriously trying to argue that the player who scored at a 60+ goal pace for the previous 3 seasons combined and who won the Hart and Lindsay last season and finished runner up for both the season before should not be considered a top 3 player in the league? Get real man lol

 

[The Nuge]

uhh...what about the B2B 30+ point playoff performances? He was also 2nd to McDavid in ppg last year and is 3rd in league scoring right now.

If you want to talk only regular seasons, maybe he's missed enough time to disqualify himself from the conversation, but overall the last 5 years Kucherov has consistently produced better than anyone other than McDavid on a per game basis (1.39 ppg over the last 5.5 years). So no, its not just "one insane year",

Those were impressive but Leon just had a more impressive playoff run, and Leon’s consistently out produced him over the last 4 years (Drai’s 374 points to Kucherov’s 216 points and Drai’s 1.49 PPG vs Kucherov’s 1.38 PPG). What happened 6 years ago isn’t as relevant as what’s happened recently. He’s done enough to justify him over MacKinnon/Matthews imo, but not Draisaitl

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Karlsson. Look what he’s doing this year with a basement club.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Draisaitl
Makar
Kucherov
Edit: And Pasta is up there too.
After that it gets tough with Fox, Matthews, Mack and Robertson all in the mix.

 

[La Bamba]

Where to begin with this one. Matthews has been playing with a lingering injury all season. Very evident to those of us who watch him play regularly.

You're seriously trying to argue that the player who scored at a 60+ goal pace for the previous 3 seasons combined and who won the Hart and Lindsay last season and finished runner up for both the season before should not be considered a top 3 player in the league? Get real man lol

In a world where McDavid, Makar, Draisaitl, and MacKinnon exist, yes, I don’t think he’s a clear cut top 3 guy. Top 5? Sure.

Where to begin with this one. Matthews has been playing with a lingering injury all season. Very evident to those of us who watch him play regularly.

You're seriously trying to argue that the player who scored at a 60+ goal pace for the previous 3 seasons combined and who won the Hart and Lindsay last season and finished runner up for both the season before should not be considered a top 3 player in the league? Get real man lol

Many players play through injury, Matthews is not special because of it. Drai played with a high ankle sprain in the playoffs and scored at a historic pace after reinventing himself

 

[authentic]

In a world where McDavid, Makar, Draisaitl, and MacKinnon exist, yes, I don’t think he’s a clear cut top 3 guy. Top 5? Sure.


Many players play through injury, Matthews is not special because of it. Drai played with a high ankle sprain in the playoffs and scored at a historic pace after reinventing himself

I don't care that you don't personally rank him top 3 but you're pretending he doesn't have an argument which is the ridiculous part.

In a world where McDavid, Makar, Draisaitl, and MacKinnon exist, yes, I don’t think he’s a clear cut top 3 guy. Top 5? Sure.


Many players play through injury, Matthews is not special because of it. Drai played with a high ankle sprain in the playoffs and scored at a historic pace after reinventing himself

Cool. Matthews doesn't have a McDavid to piggyback points off of, as impressive as Drai's performance was that doesn't happen without McDavid going beast mode either. Matthews play has been just fine and with lesser goal totals we are playing a much better all around game as a team and he's been a huge part of that. He has scored the last few games after returning and his shots looked better though so we'll see how this season plays out atleast.

 

[Maplebeasts]

Naaaah. Nice try Matthews lover

Okay Draisaitl fanboy.

 

[koyvoo]

Naaaah. Nice try Matthews lover

Okay Draisaitl fanboy.

 

[Homesick]

Fox, Makar, Matthews, MacKinnon, Kucherov, and Draisaitl.
If I already had McDavid on my team I would probably take Fox or Makar. All equal but the edge would be team needs.
Fantasy leagues should drop McDavid all together

 

[La Bamba]

I don't care that you don't personally rank him top 3 but you're pretending he doesn't have an argument which is the ridiculous part.



Cool. Matthews doesn't have a McDavid to piggyback points off of, as impressive as Drai's performance was that doesn't happen without McDavid going beast mode either. Matthews play has been just fine and with lesser goal totals we are playing a much better all around game as a team and he's been a huge part of that. He has scored the last few games after returning and his shots looked better though so we'll see how this season plays out atleast.

Yeah let’s not pretend that Matthews has no help aka Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Reilly, Bunting, and other talented players that the Leafs had to support him and take a load off

It’s funny how only this argument is used against Drai per usual

 

[K1900L]

Draisaitl is a two time 50 point goal scorer (at age 26) who was voted best passer in the league, how many players have done so?
Over the last 5 years, Draisaitl's point-gap to first placed McDavid is smaller than the gap between Draisaitl and the following third place.
Draisaitl is ranked third in all time playoff points per game, behind Gretzky and Lemieux, literally ahead of McDavid and closer to Gretzky than to Matthews and Crosby.

 

[NiagaraKraken]

Fully Healthy Matthews

 

[Regal]

Yeah let’s not pretend that Matthews has no help aka Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Reilly, Bunting, and other talented players that the Leafs had to support him and take a load off

It’s funny how only this argument is used against Drai per usual

The reason why it’s used against Drai though is because he continually doesn’t produce well in his minutes away from McDavid, whereas McDavid still produces at a high rate, and Matthews/MacKinnon/Kucherov all produce at high rates even away from their best linemates. Draisaitl is a weird one where he probably does better with McDavid than anyone else would, and is an amazing PP player, but he can’t seem to be a great 5v5 player as the best on his line with any consistency.