Bigger Legacy impact?

[Mulletman]

The answer is an Art Ross for MacKinnon. Unless you're in the camp who likes to argue that MacKinnon is the best player to never win the Art Ross.

 

[daver]

If things pace out as they are now, Kucherov wins a decent Art Ross but not as strong as his first one and perhaps the weakest since McDavid's 17/18 win. His PPG would be 8th best since 21/22.

Draisaitl wins the Richard; not necessarily a strong one. His GPG would be 6th best since 21/22 and matches his best career GPG.

With this in mind, there is a good chance Hughes wins the Hart if the Canucks make the playoffs and maybe the Lindsay?

Then it's really a Cup or nothing for all four players. Perhaps one them could move the needle with a McDavid-like Conn Smythe performance.

I am not sure Kucherov jumps into the Top 40 all-time conversation. One rocket for Draisaitl is probably fitting for his career to date but does it really move the ranking needle career-wise? MacKinnon adds another Top 3 Art Ross/Hart to his resume which doesn't move him much either.

 

[daver]

Im saying that the "winner" argument is a very flawed one in a sport like hockey. But if one is arguing for Crosby over McDavid due to winning, then they should probably argue for Messier over Crosby.

Messier is rated a lot higher all-time over players (#21 in the last HOH section rankings) who were arguably statistically superior like Sakic, Yzerman and Trottier (noone in the Top 30) due to his winning pedigree.

During his era, Crosby has completely met expectations for a generational talent:

- Leading scorer in both the regular season and the playoffs

- He won more Cups than two of the Big 4 players

- His team had the most success during his era (Three Cups, another Cup final, and most playoff wins)

- Three major international wins, twice as Captain, while winning an MVP and scoring one the most famous and clutch goals of all-time in another.

If Crosby plays just 40 to 50 more games (3% of his career) at key times, he has 2 to 3 more Rosses and Harts and any advantage McDavid has in that regard is eliminated.

McDavid's run in 2024 is one of the best in the past 30 years (Sakic in '96, Malkin in '09) but the numbers are a bit misleading as is Crosby's '09 SCF total. In the end, the Pens won and the Oilers didn't.