Better Prime: Evgeni Malkin Or Leon Draisaitl?

[DitchMarner]

Which player has the better prime? It seems quite close to me considering Malkin's injuries. Consider playoffs as well.


Malkin:

Most of Malkin's best seasons are between 2008 and 2012. He has a strong 2018 as well. Draisaitl probably has the best consecutive six-year stretch between the two. Who has the better overall prime?

Draisaitl:

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[ESH]

I think Malkin was definitely better at their very best. The argument for Draisaitl would be his health and consistency. It’s hard to answer who had the better prime without choosing a specific amount of seasons

 

[Regal]

I think Malkin was definitely better at their very best. The argument for Draisaitl would be his health and consistency. It’s hard to answer who had the better prime without choosing a specific amount of seasons

Agreed. I think prime Malkin was the better player in general but the injuries and couple down years break it up to the point Draisaitl might be better due to consistency

 

[TheGoldenJet]

I’d go with Malkin for peak, prime, and career.

 

[snipes]

Draisaitl’s best stretch is ahead of Malkin’s by a fairly significant margin

 

[hamzarocks]

Draisaitl for Prime. Malkin didnt have a long prime. 2008 and 2009 top 3 in the world, then 2 down years in 2010 and 2011. Elite in 2012, poor in 2013. 2014-2018 elite but not consistently

Draisaitl has been top 5 in the league from 2019 to now

Malkin for Peak as his 2012 season is better than Draisaitls best

Career is malkin but Draisaitl can change that if he extends his prime another 2-3 years with top 5 finishes in scoring

 

[KCC]

Draisaitl for Prime. Malkin didnt have a long prime. 2008 and 2009 top 3 in the world, then 2 down years in 2010 and 2011. Elite in 2012, poor in 2013. 2014-2018 elite but not consistently

Draisaitl has been top 5 in the league from 2019 to now

Malkin for Peak as his 2012 season is better than Draisaitls best

Career is malkin but Draisaitl can change that if he extends his prime another 2-3 years with top 5 finishes in scoring

I get that he was the only 100 point player that year but what is it adjusted to today's league where scoring is up? I assume it beats Draisaitl's 128 points?

 

[hamzarocks]

I get that he was the only 100 point player that year but what is it adjusted to today's league where scoring is up? I assume it beats Draisaitl's 128 points?

109 in 75 = 119 in 82

Adjusting Im sure its in then 135+ pt range without Crosby for 60 ofn82 games while Draisaitls 128 pt year he was 25 pts back of Mcdavid

Draisaitls best season is 2020

 

[DearDiary]

I get that he was the only 100 point player that year but what is it adjusted to today's league where scoring is up? I assume it beats Draisaitl's 128 points?

Last season

Kucherov = 144
Mackinnon = 140
McDavid = 132
Panarin = 120
Pastrnak = 110

I would assume anywhere from 135 to 150

 

[The Nuge]

Draisaitl is clearly ahead at their peaks. 55 goals vs 50 and 128 points vs 113.

He’s also ahead at their prime with 3 50 goal seasons to Malkin’s 1, and 5 100 point seasons to Malkin’s 3. Even if you try and use the benefit of the doubt with Malkin’s health, he still was only flirting with it at times, and nothing like the lockout season of Draisaitl where he paced for over 120.

Even playoffs doesn’t benefit the argument for Malkin as his career PPG (1.02) isn’t close to Draisaitl (1.46), and he’s never come close to being 2 PPG which Draisaitl did

 

[jigglysquishy]

Watching both live, I don't think Draisaitl ever got to the level of Malkin 2012.

Draisaitl is clearly ahead at their peaks. 55 goals vs 50 and 128 points vs 113.

He’s also ahead at their prime with 3 50 goal seasons to Malkin’s 1, and 5 100 point seasons to Malkin’s 3. Even if you try and use the benefit of the doubt with Malkin’s health, he still was only flirting with it at times, and nothing like the lockout season of Draisaitl where he paced for over 120.

Even playoffs doesn’t benefit the argument for Malkin as his career PPG (1.02) isn’t close to Draisaitl (1.46), and he’s never come close to being 2 PPG which Draisaitl did

You're a mod and you don't understand the vastly different scoring levels?

 

[Regal]

Draisaitl for Prime. Malkin didnt have a long prime. 2008 and 2009 top 3 in the world, then 2 down years in 2010 and 2011. Elite in 2012, poor in 2013. 2014-2018 elite but not consistently

Draisaitl has been top 5 in the league from 2019 to now

Malkin for Peak as his 2012 season is better than Draisaitls best

Career is malkin but Draisaitl can change that if he extends his prime another 2-3 years with top 5 finishes in scoring

I think you’re underrating the 14-18 period. He was 2nd, 7th, 4th, 3rd and 3rd in points per game in those 5 years. And over the entire 5 years, the top 10 point per game leaders look like this:

McDavid: 1.22
Crosby: 1.14
Malkin: 1.13
Kane: 1.07
Benn: 1.00
Seguin: 0.99
Tavares: 0.98
Getzlaf: 0.98
Stamkos: 0.97
Ovechkin: 0.98

And McDavid is a little inflated over this period since he started as scoring increased. From McDavid’s rookie year to 17-18, Malkin was at 1.16 to McDavid’s 1.22 (and above Crosby at 1.11).

Obviously he missed a number of games, but he was still right around Crosby’s level that whole time.

Also, during the 2012 lockout, Malkin tore apart the KHL before the NHL started back up, and started fine in the shortened year with 21 points in the first 18 games despite a measly 6.7% shooting percentage before Gudbranson sent him flying into the boards and he hurt his back, and wasn’t the same when he tried to play again. I know we don’t usually give much credence to non-NHL play but with Malkin he was clearly elite the entire time from his sophomore season until 17-18, but a couple years don’t look great because of the games he played through injury.

 

[Crow]

Malkin gets extremely overrated in the post season because of one run. The rest of his post season is far below his regular season level of play. He goes from a 93 point player to an 84 point player and that is including his one tremendous run.

Drai is an amazing post season performer period, raising his game to another level.

To me that’s the difference besides era.

 

[McFlyingV]

Peak season is very similar. I give Draisaitl the edge because he's the better goal scorer, more durable, more consistent, and his playoff stats are up there with McDavid.

 

[Regal]

Malkin gets extremely overrated in the post season because of one run. The rest of his post season is far below his regular season level of play. He goes from a 107 point player to an 84 point player.

Drai is an amazing post season performer period, raising his game to another level.

To me that’s the difference besides era.

Where are you getting 107 from. His career PPG puts him at 93 per 82. 93 to 84 is pretty standard playoff reduction for top scorers. Kane for example goes from 85 to 79.

 

[Crow]

Where are you getting 107 from. His career PPG puts him at 93 per 82. 93 to 84 is pretty standard playoff reduction for top scorers. Kane for example goes from 85 to 79.

Hockey reference.

It appears I’ve made some kind of mistake as I can’t seem to find it again.

Point still stands that one player gets better and one worse when it counts.

Edit I was looking at adjusted goals

 

[Three On Zero]

This is Malkin without even thinking twice about it.

 

[The Nuge]

Watching both live, I don't think Draisaitl ever got to the level of Malkin 2012.


You're a mod and you don't understand the vastly different scoring levels?

Did you just completely miss out on the entire 2019/20 season? Because Draisaitl absolutely dominated the league, and he had a wider lead for the Art Ross than Malkin ever did, so your “scoring levels” argument (as if 2012 and 2019 are so massively different) kind of goes out the window. And that’s not even considering Malkin beat out Stamkos and Draisaitl had to beat out McDavid.

And again, peak playoff Malkin got 1.5 PPG in a run than people made people question whether or not he was actually better than Crosby. Draisaitl put up 2.0 PPG. Thats an absolutely MASSIVE difference

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

I think anyone who watched both play knows it's Malkin. I think they're the same tier player, but Malkin was more dominant. He was an elite player up through the covid break. He had 74 points in 55 games that year. Just had lots of injury issues throughout his career.

 

[Regal]

Did you just completely miss out on the entire 2019/20 season? Because Draisaitl absolutely dominated the league, and he had a wider lead for the Art Ross than Malkin ever did,

Well that’s not true at all unless you only focus on the 1 extra point Draisaitl led over second place. Malkin had a bigger lead vs the pack despite missing games.

Scoring leaders in 2012
109
97
93
84
83

Scoring leaders in 2020
110
97
95
95
93

 

[eviohh26]

Drai is a generational diver . Gotta give him some points for that.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Draisaitl for Prime. Malkin didnt have a long prime. 2008 and 2009 top 3 in the world, then 2 down years in 2010 and 2011. Elite in 2012, poor in 2013. 2014-2018 elite but not consistently

Draisaitl has been top 5 in the league from 2019 to now

Malkin for Peak as his 2012 season is better than Draisaitls best

Career is malkin but Draisaitl can change that if he extends his prime another 2-3 years with top 5 finishes in scoring

He had a fairly long prime, was just injured a lot. Crosby and Malkin were the clear two best centers in the NHL from 2007-14.

 

[Regal]

I think anyone who watched both play knows it's Malkin. I think they're the same tier player, but Malkin was more dominant. He was an elite player up through the covid break. He had 74 points in 55 games that year. Just had lots of injury issues throughout his career.

I think it’s a bit of what you value. I think with Malkin he was definitely the better 5v5 play driver who could make it work with lesser linemates. Draisaitl has only been at a similar level there in 19-20. But I think Draisaitl is better on the PP due to his shooting ability, and I think he’s probably better at meshing his game to other elite linemates. Malkin-Crosby didn’t work the same way McDavid-Draisaitl does.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

This is Malkin without even thinking twice about it.

The kids don't get that 100 points seasons were pretty rare when goalies had pads.

 

[SillyRabbit]

Malkin for single season/series/game peak but for 4-6 year prime I think Draisaitl has an argument.

Draisaitl getting a bit underrated by this poll.