Do You Think The Oilers Have Done Enough To Help McDrai Win The Cup?

[bambamcam4ever]

It took 5 minutes to look that up it's not terribly hard. There's a thing called Google and Hockey Reference these days.

I don't even agree with your second point. I don't think Crosby would get that team that McDavid was on last season to a Cup Final even in his prime.

We saw Crosby when MAF was off his game for a few years and the Penguins routinely got beat in round 1 or round 2, take away the goaltending and Crosby would lose in round 2/3, especially with Draisaitl injured. He did so even with Malkin in years where he didn't have MAF or Murray holding the fort.

Pittsburgh has a huge advantage in goaltending and everyone knows it, you're not to even convince Stuart Skinner's mom let alone anyone on this board that he is a MAF tier goaltender.

Prior to his injuries, Murray was an amazing goalie too especially in big games.

The Oilers never received goaltending as bad as Fleury was from 2010-2013. And the Penguins were outcoached under Bylsma, especially in 2012 and 2013, to a degree that is almost never seen at the NHL level. No player could have overcome that.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

The fact that you had to write a short story to try to dismiss Crosby and Malkin's success is very telling.

Crosby would give any of McDavid's teams a better chance, he is the better all around player and a proven winner at every level he has played.

Yep. This has played out over their entire lives. McDavid has never won a championship outside of a 2 week all star tournament in the last 15 years (and maybe even farther back, I can't find any more info). Crosby has won at least one championship with every team he's played on since he was 9. Even setting aside the Oilers, why couldn't Connor win in juniors? Why couldn't he win in the 2016 WCOH? Why couldn't he win before major junior? It really seems like his impact towards winning is less than his point totals would indicate.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Staal and Gonchar aren't chopped liver. Orpik and Scuderi weren't half bad either, not world beaters but certainly not a couple of nobodies. Kunitz was decent too.

Kunitz was in the middle of a 1 goal in 40 games streak in the 2009 playoffs. The Penguins still won.

But the other players bring up a good point. 4 of the 6 Dmen on that Penguins team were completely offensively inept. Orpik, Gill, Scuderi, and Eaton. The latter 3 were historically bad offensively. Excluding fighters/goons, they are all in the bottom 5 in NHL history in career points per game with GP minimums of 1100, 700, and 600 respectively.

So the team composition is completely different. The Oilers structure their roster to give McDavid the best possible chance to put up points. In the last playoffs he was almost always with Bouchard and Ekholm, with his wingers a mixture of Hyman, RNH, and Draisaitl. Crosby and Malkin had much less help around them yet they still won. Those two singlehandedly carried the Penguins to a cup.