Respectfully: what the f***? He has put together some of the most impressive regular season and playoff runs in decades, and has single handedly dragged the Oilers to playoff series victories. 3 games against a better team doesn’t somehow make him not generational. McDavid is third ALL-TIME in regular season and playoff points per game behind Gretzky and Lemieux. That's such an odd take.
Agree 100%, he is the best player since prime-Lemieux, and to me it's not even close.
Things people don't consider, there are 32 teams in the league now, there is a salary cap, teams don't have control over assets until age 31 like they did for many of these great players. There are waaaaaaay less teams now that are "drawing dead" (to use a poker term) than there were for Gretzky and Lemieux.
I do agree with the sentiment that the term generational gets thrown around to much, but for him it's warranted. The stuff this guy does with the puck on his stick, with the speed he does it is unprecedented, but this is the NHL, it's not like having a LeBron James in basketball or a Tom Brady in football where one guy can win a championship largely on his own. These Oiler teams have gotten better, but this wouldn't even be a playoff team if you took him off the roster, with him they are in the final, that is a big difference for an individual to make in this sport.
I really expected McDavid would have a super human series to solidify his legacy. Pretty surprising the series are pretty much done now.
Honestly, looking at the panthers roster to compare to the Stars.. I’d give them about equal in offensive ability. I think the real difference here is just one team had good enough coaching to shut down the oilers PP while also playing very structured.
Difference maker here vs Dallas is just that.
Pretty crazy because there is not a big difference in ability from Dallas to Florida yet the Oilers don’t have a single win
The two biggest differences between Dallas and Florida are Barkov and coaching. DeBoer is a great coach, but Maurice is coaching at a different level right now, it's just genius level, like Bill Belichick or Danny Hurley. He is pushing all the right buttons and neutralizing the strengths of the Oilers like nobody else has. These two runs have been the most impressive coaching display I can ever remember in the NHL.
Dallas is like the Kings on steroids, but this is another reason why I HATE the Kings roster construction and so many of the things Blake has done. Depth and coming at you in waves doesn't make up for not having an elite 1C, the 1C is just so important to winning in the playoffs. Crosby, Toews, Kopitar etc. Had the Kings been properly constructed we would have had a chance to end up with a guy like this in the 2023 draft, but Blake decided to push all of his chips into the middle without the most important part of a roster, instead opting for the quantity over quality roster construction, which can be achieved quicker but has historically produced crappier playoff results.
When push came to shove Dallas had nobody to do one of two things they needed to win that series, take over offensively or neutralize McDavid.
