OtherThingsILike
Registered User
No it isn't. There are about five players today who are actually capable of winning an Art Ross Trophy. And two of them are McDavid and his teammate.What?
Do you even know the sport of hockey? Maybe you're talking about Cricket or softball instead?
Because in the NHL - top end competition in the league is one of the absolute strongest it's ever been.
During Crosby's peak, there were about a dozen. We know this in part because the Art Ross races were closer then, even if you take out the eventual Art Ross winner.
Furthermore, the goaltending of today is significantly weaker than it used to be. Part of this has to do with rule changes regarding goaltending equipment and also how players play defense. However, the way goaltending is taught nowadays seems to lead to a lot of good goalies, but very few great ones. Crosby's best years saw Henrik Lundqvist in his division and Carey Price in the other division in the conference. Plus goalies such as Martin Brodeur, Dominik Hasek (both past their primes, but still very good), Braden Holtby, and Sergei Bobrovsky.And it's stronger today than it was during Crosby's best years.
Defensive play is harder to quantify, but suffice it to say there are no players currently who compare to Datsyuk and prime Bergeron for defensive forwards, and no Lidstrom-level defensmen today.
And furthermore to that: The goalies who are good today? Most of them are in the Eastern Conference. Same with the best of the defensive forwards.
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