Draisaitl or Bergeron

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Nobody in the league can be "the guy" when McDavid is on the same team.

Drai has the Hart, Lindsay and Ross + absolutely smokes Bergeron in offense playoffs included. His playoff PPG is double what Bergeron had, the defensive gap ain´t going to bridge that.

I guess Barkov could have Just an ideal player in playoffs.

 

[rypper]

Bergeron has proven to play at a high level and be “the guy”, Draisaitl has not. You may lose a bit of production with Bergeron but you get one of the modern days best two way a player.

Draisaitl is a playoff beast and absolutely has been "the guy."

And yeah it burns me to admit that.

 

[Three On Zero]

Draisaitl is a playoff beast and absolutely has been "the guy."

And yeah it burns me to admit that.

He’s a good one dimensional offensive player, but he still relies heavily on McDavid to get his production. For me, if he was to be “the guy” he wouldn’t need to rely on someone else for the production he gets. I would like to see him somewhere else and how he performs.

 

[22FUTON9]

Wasn’t Krecji more of the goto guy during the playoffs, especially when Boston was going on cup runs?? Unless I’m imagining stuff, I remember Krecji being in more conn smythe discussions and just showed another gear in the playoffs in general

Anyways for the actual thread, I think it’s Draisaitl and not really a debate to be honest.

 

[Mr Positive]

Bergeron was the top guy in Boston but the team's identity has always been doing it with superior depth, defense and goaltending. Bergeron has never been the top center of the league like Crosby, etc and that showed in the Olympics where Bergeron was used more like a high minute role player. Draisaitl has always been part of an Oilers team that has mostly lacked depth, goaltending and defense, where he is carrying the team along with McDavid.

But if you expand this to discussion of cap hit, it does get interesting. If you take Draisaitl you also have to accept it will be harder to spend on other positions. He will get 13 million aav soon, but even his current deal is considered an underpayment but still more than what Bergeron took.

 

[CanadienShark]

Krejci was arguably “the guy” when they won in 2011. And Marchand and Pasta were also okay during that 2019 cup run too…

People often seem to mistake late career Bergeron and cup winning Bergeron. When he won the cup, it was 1A, 1B, and he was arguably the 1B.

 

[BraveCanadian]

I like Bergeron a lot but Drai and not particularly close.

You can do a decent job of replacing what Bergeron brings much easier than the other way around.

 

[TD Charlie]

Depends on the need

Probably taking Bergeron though. Yes i am biased.

 

[DitchMarner]

When it comes to players like Datsyuk and Bergeron, I do wonder how they would perform under drastically different playing conditions.

Their impacts look great when you look at things like XGF% and possession numbers and they're certainly a big reason for that, but they also played in very structured systems/environments and had good support offensively and defensively.

If you take a Bergeron or Datsyuk and drop him on a team like last year's Sharks or Blackhawks, what are his expected and actual goals for and goals against and possession numbers going to look like? I'm confident a guy like Draisaitl would put up good offensive numbers regardless and his defensive impact (or lack thereof) would be pretty much irrelevant in such a situation.

Maybe a Datsyuk or a Bergeron would be better to have on a team that has good defensive structure, a stable environment and other competent defensive players, but in many (if not most) situations, I'm not sure a guy like Bergeron would make a greater net impact than a player like Draisaitl.

 

[McJesusSaves97]

Drai AINEC

 

[La Bamba]

If both guys are at the same cap hit, Draisaitl quite easily

 

[wetcoast]

Bergeron has proven to play at a high level and be “the guy”, Draisaitl has not. You may lose a bit of production with Bergeron but you get one of the modern days best two way a player.

I guess that you haven't watched the playoffs the last 3 years then eh?

 

[La Bamba]

You're talking to an obsessed Vancouver fan who spends every minute on this site attacking the Oilers and their players.

I’ve come to appreciate him the same way I appreciate a TV show villain. Adds some layers to the forums

 

[The don godfather]

Bergeron by a landslide.

 

[Three On Zero]

I guess that you haven't watched the playoffs the last 3 years then eh?

Where he is still with McDavid?

 

[SillyRabbit]

Draisaitl, not close.

Bergeron has exactly one playoff run scoring above a PPG pace.

Draisaitl has six, and he's only 28.

Draisaitl scores at a 120 point pace in the playoffs.

Bergeron scores at a 62 point pace in the playoffs.

The gap offensively is much more important than the gap defensively.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Love me some Bergeron, but it's pretty clear cut IMO


Drai is a top 5 player in the league and has been for a couple of years

At no point in his career Bergeron reached that level

 

[Canovin]

I actually don't think you can go wrong here

 

[NotCommitted]

In a vacuum Drai rather easily, the offensive gap is just too much. Bergeron was only once over P/GP in his career and that was with Marchand and Pastrnak on his wings.

If I'm building a team and start with picking my #1C, taking contract and everything else into account, I'd probably go with Bergeron and then try to get the offense from great wingers. I would just feel more confident building from that. Having a 2-way Selke captain is a great way to ensure the standard for 200-ft play remains high through the lineup. But picking Draisaitl and have your match up/D-zone draw guy being your 3rd or 2nd line center is not necessarily a bad approach either. I mean Drai has shown he can drive the offense of his line even with pretty mediocre wings, and is a beast in the playoffs. If you can find/sign a good purely defensive center, they are not that expensive, but no team that has them wants to let go of them.

They are so different players the comparison feels rather meaningless though.

 

[Acallabeth]

The answer is Daisaitl, it's not close, not really debatable.

'2 way game' is insanely overrated on this forum. It's a nice tiebreaker for players with very similar scoring ability (as better 2-way players theoretically should have more more scoring opportunities and pose more trouble for opposing players), but taking a guy who's mostly been a 60-point player over his career over fn Draisaitl is lunacy.

Draisaitl also basically doubles playoff scoring pace of Bergeron and his 'winning hockey' in front of Thomas and Chara in a very defensive era.

 

[LTIR]

I'll take prime Bergeron over Draisaitl

 

[geebster]

If you have no one and you are building a team from scratch you take Draisaitl. If you already have a good team and you want to win, Bergeron is arguably better. Like I could totally see the Oilers being a better squad with Bergeron over Draisaitl. But they have the best player in the world already.

 

[Dingo]

I’m a big Bergeron fan and I think he was pushing toward a top 5 center at his best and was a top 10 center for a number of years. His ability to matchup with the best put him on the same level or better as better offensive centers of his day like say a Tavares. Draisaitl is a level above those Tavares types as an offensive player though and I think is too good offensively not to take him. He obviously benefits when he plays with McDavid but he also doesn’t get much to work with when he’s not with McDavid, which tends to balance out to some degree. If he had Marchand on his wing all career and then Pastrnak for part of it I don’t think his numbers would be noticeably different from having McDavid on the team. If I have the choice of two Draisaitl’s or a Draisaitl and Bergeron 1-2 punch, I might take the latter though.

i agree. Glad you brought up linemates, as Draisaitl carries the onus of being McDingles tag along, yet its Bergeron who is probably more the product of being on a great line - even if he was the center of that line. Begeron is kinda like Lemaire in Montreal years ago. The defensive conscience, and a damned solid offensive center, for two very good/great wingers.

 

[RickyLafleur]

only one of these guys has won a cup + multiple finals so I'm taking Bergeron

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

I think the only fair way to settle this is for Draisatl to come play in Boston this year. Then we will be able to make a comparison.