Agree or Disagree: Kovalchuk, Ovechkin, Stamkos, Draisaitl, and Matthews are the 5 best goal scorers of the 21st century

[slapKing]

Simple question.

If you don't agree, which player(s) would you submit out?

Click to read more...

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Pastrnak over Draisaitl

 

[ijuka]

Pastrnak has 371 goals over 724 games. Draisaitl has 382 goals over 767 games.

McDavid has 355 goals over 688 games.

By what logic and measure, exactly, is McDavid a worse goal-scorer? His peak of 64 goals is also higher than anyone's except Matthews's.

 

[Xspyrit]

Goals Per Game since January 1st 2000 (minimum 300 GP)

1- Auston Matthews 596 GP x 0.65 GPG
2- Alex Ovechkin 1 458 GP x 0.60 GPG
3- Kirill Kaprizov 313 GP x 0.58 GPG
4- Connor McDavid 688 GP x 0.52 GPG
5- David Pastrnak 725 GP x 0.51 GPG
6- Steven Stamkos 1 129 GP x 0.51 GPG
7- Leon Draisaitl 768 GP x 0.50 GPG
8- Ilya Kovalchuk 926 GP x 0.48 GPG
9- Brayden Point 622 GP x 0.47 GPG
10- Mikko Rantanen 619 GP x 0.46 GPG
11- Kyle Connor 581 GP x 0.46 GPG
12- Ziggy Palffy 320 GP x 0.46 GPG
13- Sidney Crosby 1 323 GP x 0.46 GPG
14- Nikita Kucherov 770 GP x 0.45 GPG
15- Jake Guentzel 566 GP x 0.45 GPG


There's a few years of DPE since 2000 but it's not as drastic as comparing with the 80's

 

[Three On Zero]

1- Auston Matthews 596 GP x 0.65 GPG
2- Alex Ovechkin 1 458 GP x 0.60 GPG
3- Kirill Kaprizov 313 GP x 0.58 GPG
4- Connor McDavid 688 GP x 0.52 GPG
5- David Pastrnak 725 GP x 0.51 GPG
6- Steven Stamkos 1 129 GP x 0.51 GP

 

[daver]

How about the player that is #2 in regular season goals, #3 in playoff goals, is one of the five multiple Richard winners since 2000, and is one of the two players to have a Richard and a playoff goalscoring title on his resume?

 

[Zuluss]

Ovechkin is in a class of his own.
Matthews/Stamkos are in the next tier, with a large gap to the next-best goal-scorer.
Those who saw peak Kovalchuk will recognize him as the natural #4.

And then there is an open field for #5 with no clear winner. Drai, Pasta, McDavid, and what about Iginla? Iginla's Rockets, 50-goal and 40-goal seasons are all from the 21st century.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Goals since Jan 1, 2000
Order is

OV
Crosby
Stamkos
Iginla
Marleau
Malkin
Hossa

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

 

[authentic]

Ovechkin is in a class of his own.
Matthews/Stamkos are in the next tier, with a large gap to the next-best goal-scorer.
Those who saw peak Kovalchuk will recognize him as the natural #4.

And then there is an open field for #5 with no clear winner. Drai, Pasta, McDavid, and what about Iginla? Iginla's Rockets, 50-goal and 40-goal seasons are all from the 21st century.

Yeah Kovalchuk is a better goal scorer than Draisaitl I would say, but truthfully all those players are fairly close for 4 and 5 anyway and I I’m not entirely sure who I’d have 5th

 

[Regal]

Pastrnak has 371 goals over 724 games. Draisaitl has 382 goals over 767 games.

McDavid has 355 goals over 688 games.

By what logic and measure, exactly, is McDavid a worse goal-scorer? His peak of 64 goals is also higher than anyone's except Matthews's.

Career GPG is always a poor measure imo. Goalscorers should be judged on primes and Draisaitl took longer to reach his goal scoring prime, as he didn’t become an elite goalscorer until 18-19. Since then he’s put up 307 in 499, which is a 50 goal pace per 82, and will have 6 top 5 goal finishes by the end of this year.

McDavid in that same time period has 268 in 479 or a 46 goal pace, and while he does have that dominant 64 goal Richard season, he only has one other top 5 scoring finish, a 2nd in the Covid shortened season. He does have a couple 6ths though. Even if we take last season out of the equation and add 17-18, so McDavid has his best 7 goal scoring years like Dreisaitl, that would put him at 277 in 485 or a 47 goal pace.

Draisaitl has a slightly higher goals per game in their prime goal scoring years, has more goals in 5 of the last 7 years (and 6 of their 10 years together), and better league wide goal finishes. McDavid has the best peak season, and it’s close enough that I wouldn’t make a cutoff of the top 5 like this, but I’d put Draisaitl slightly ahead as a goal scorer right now.

 

[Regal]

How about the player that is #2 in regular season goals, #3 in playoff goals, is one of the five multiple Richard winners since 2000, and is one of the two players to have a Richard and a playoff goalscoring title on his resume?

His two Richards are the only top 5 finishes in his career, neither was a strong Richard, and they came years apart. He was consistently very good with a couple spike years, but he doesn’t have the peak or run of consistent elite production of these others. For instance, I’d say he has a better goal scoring career than Kovalchuk, but I think Kovalchuk from 02-03 to 09-10 was a better run of seasons than Crosby had. I would call him a better goal scorer based on that.

 

[McPoyle]

I think Ovi, and Matthews are pretty easily the best scorers this century. After them I think Stamkos, Iginla, Kovalchuk round out the top 5. Guys like Drai and Pasta may surpass some of the 3-5 placements in time.

 

[amnesiac]

50G today = about 43 goals from 2000-2016

 

[Sky04]

Goals Per Game since January 1st 2000 (minimum 300 GP)

1- Auston Matthews 596 GP x 0.65 GPG
2- Alex Ovechkin 1 458 GP x 0.60 GPG
3- Kirill Kaprizov 313 GP x 0.58 GPG
4- Connor McDavid 688 GP x 0.52 GPG
5- David Pastrnak 725 GP x 0.51 GPG
6- Steven Stamkos 1 129 GP x 0.51 GPG
7- Leon Draisaitl 768 GP x 0.50 GPG
8- Ilya Kovalchuk 926 GP x 0.48 GPG
9- Brayden Point 622 GP x 0.47 GPG
10- Mikko Rantanen 619 GP x 0.46 GPG
11- Kyle Connor 581 GP x 0.46 GPG
12- Ziggy Palffy 320 GP x 0.46 GPG
13- Sidney Crosby 1 323 GP x 0.46 GPG
14- Nikita Kucherov 770 GP x 0.45 GPG
15- Jake Guentzel 566 GP x 0.45 GPG


There's a few years of DPE since 2000 but it's not as drastic as comparing with the 80's

08-18' was significantly harder to score then now including multiple years close to DPE scoring. The game opened up a lot of 2019.

 

[Xspyrit]

08-18' was significantly harder to score then now including multiple years close to DPE scoring. The game opened up a lot of 2019.

Yes but still not as hard as the DPE and today is not as easy as the 80's.

If you want to do all the adjusted scoring, go ahead I'd be interested to see it!

 

[x Tame Impala]

I would agree. LOL at Kaprizov over Kovalchuk. That's some recency bias there. Draisaitl is a goal scorer through and through.

Ovechkin

Mathews
Stamkos
Draisaitl
Kovalchuk

 

[Sky04]

Yes but still not as hard as the DPE and today is not as easy as the 80's.

If you want to do all the adjusted scoring, go ahead I'd be interested to see it!

Just pointing it out some context, I don't think there's a need for adjustment as some players benefited through both swings, as great as Ovechkin and Stamkos are at goal scoring the post-2019 era has helped them keep their totals up while playing in the 08-18' era kept it down.

Stamkos is scoring nearly the same amount of goals he did in his prime after 30 but isn't nearly as effective a goal scorer as he was back then, Ovechkin's 50 goals in 2022 and 52 in 09', we know which player was clearly better.

The fact that Kovalchuk has the same GPG as Draisaitl over 200 more games and a harder scoring period says a lot. Matthews looks like he can score at will today and Kovalchuk was bigger and faster then him with a bigger shot arsenal.

 

[Xspyrit]

I would agree. LOL at Kaprizov over Kovalchuk. That's some recency bias there. Draisaitl is a goal scorer through and through.

Ovechkin

Mathews
Stamkos
Draisaitl
Kovalchuk

Literally nobody said that... You didn't understand that my list was the factual ranking in GPG since 2000? The next poster copied the first 6 and that's the only instances Kaprizov was talked about?

Just pointing it out some context, I don't think there's a need for adjustment as some players benefited through both swings, as great as Ovechkin and Stamkos are at goal scoring the post-2019 era has helped them keep their totals up while playing in the 08-18' era kept it down.

Stamkos is scoring nearly the same amount of goals he did in his prime after 30 but isn't nearly as effective a goal scorer as he was back then, Ovechkin's 50 goals in 2022 and 52 in 09', we know which player was clearly better.

The fact that Kovalchuk has the same GPG as Draisaitl over 200 more games and a harder scoring period says a lot. Matthews looks like he can score at will today and Kovalchuk was bigger and faster then him with a bigger shot arsenal.

I would have been curious to see what Kovalchuk could do and what his numbers would look like if he didn't leave for 6 seasons at 29 y/o

And this actually has to be taken in consideration. Mike Bossy has the best Goals Per Game in NHL history but people will always tell you "yeah but he is advantaged because he didn't play in his 30's", just like Kovalchuk (only 11 NHL games after 30 y/o, compared to 63 for Bossy)

 

[WarriorofTime]

I could see Matthews finishing with like 250-300 less career goals than Ovechkin and some Leaf fan in 20 years still arguing Matthews was better but blaming injuries or whatever.

 

[Sky04]

Literally nobody said that... You didn't understand that my list was the factual ranking in GPG since 2000? The next poster copied the first 6 and that's the only instances Kaprizov was talked about?



I would have been curious to see what Kovalchuk could do and what his numbers would look like if he didn't leave for 6 seasons at 29 y/o

And this actually has to be taken in consideration. Mike Bossy has the best Goals Per Game in NHL history but people will always tell you "yeah but he is advantaged because he didn't play in his 30's", just like Kovalchuk (only 11 NHL games after 30 y/o, compared to 63 for Bossy)

I mean Kovalchuk had 22 goals in 110 games during his return in his 30's so it does hold some truth....Kovalchuk goes up to .525GPG without those years. It would've likely dropped for Bossy as well, I think that's a more valid argument then, "but he played in the 80's"

 

[Xspyrit]

I mean Kovalchuk had 22 goals in 110 games during his return in his 30's so it does hold some truth....Kovalchuk goes up to .525GPG without those years. It would've likely dropped for Bossy as well, I think that's a more valid argument then, "but he played in the 80's"

It depends what you're trying to say with it but playing in the 80's was a MASSIVE boost for offensive numbers. Just looking at goalies size, style and equipment makes it understandable though.