Hall Or Nash?
- Thread starter DitchMarner
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Nash never reached the heights that Hall did, but he was certainly a more consistent scorer year to year, while also being a good PKer and reliable defensive winger.
biturbo19
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Nash at his peak was the better player. I think there's an argument that Hall may have had the "better career". Part of it comes down whether you value one of the "weakest" Hart wins over a Rocket Richard in a pretty tough field. Typically, i'd lean Hart > Rocket. But in this case, i think it's more debatable.
The other aspect is that i think Nash was the bigger, better, more responsible player...and has some bigger international accolades to his name, particularly as a standout on a Gold Medal Olympic team. He was also more consistent throughout, while playing on some bad teams without a lot of help most of the time through his prime.
However, there's also the argument that Hall played more "meaningful" NHL games. Though to me, that's really more of a "team argument" rather than anything to do with the player.
So on balance, i go with Rick Nash. But i can at least see the argument for why someone might plausibly go with Taylor Hall.
The other aspect is that i think Nash was the bigger, better, more responsible player...and has some bigger international accolades to his name, particularly as a standout on a Gold Medal Olympic team. He was also more consistent throughout, while playing on some bad teams without a lot of help most of the time through his prime.
However, there's also the argument that Hall played more "meaningful" NHL games. Though to me, that's really more of a "team argument" rather than anything to do with the player.
So on balance, i go with Rick Nash. But i can at least see the argument for why someone might plausibly go with Taylor Hall.
KirkAlbuquerque
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DitchMarner
TheGlitchintheSwitch
That's an interesting take. I generally think of Nash's Rocket Richard win (that he shared with Kovalchuk and Iginla) as a weak one. In fact, in that recent Rocket Richard winners tournament, I specifically called it weak.
I don't know... did he really beat great competition? Ovechkin and Stamkos weren't in the League yet, and he tied Iginla and Kovalchuk. A goal total of 41 also isn't that impressive, although '04 is one of the lowest scoring seasons of all-time.
In contrast, I think Hall's Hart win is quite solid. That season is definitely an outlier in his career, but even if you think he shouldn't have won the Hart, I do think it's better than any season Nash had. People rave about MacKinnon's 2018 season, but he only had four more assists than Hall (with the same number of goals) playing with better offensive players.
So I think Hall has the best single season between them (and maybe his best two or three seasons are better than Nash's best two or three), but Nash was more consistent in terms of productivity year-to-year during his prime and a better goal scorer. They both dropped off offensively at age 31.
Playoff play is a weak point for Nash, but Hall doesn't exactly have a legendary playoff career himself.
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McPoyle
Start breaking bricks wet nips
Hall probably had the best single season between the two. But I think Nash was the better overall player with the better overall career.
dirtydanglez
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Voight
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Hall hasn't played that many playoff games, but Nash is one of the worst playoff performers ins recent history (relative to regular season production)
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biturbo19
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I don't really view guys like Kovy and Iggy as "weak competition", personally. One guy is a HoF goal-scorer and the other would be too, if he hadn't dabbled in changing leagues and all sorts of weird stuff like that, and played most of his prime career (similarly to Nash) without that good team or real high-end Center.
But as much as i discount that Hall Hart season as a weak one...it is probably still the single best season between the two. I don't know if that's enough to rise to the threshold of "better player" here though.
This is such a skewball distorted impression. Nash didn't even get to play a playoff game until he was basically exiting his prime. Most of them were played when he was geriatric and in clear decline.
It's not a positive mark for him obviously, but it's hard to hold a complete and utter lack of team success through almost the entirety of his prime against him, individually.
I think the more important counter to that is...Nash was part of arguably the best line on a Gold Medal winning Team Canada at the Olympics. If he'd had more opportunity to play in those meaningful games when he was a more meaningful player in the NHL playoffs, i think we'd see a very different story.
