Is mcdavid too good not to win a cup?

[SeanMoneyHands]

He already got his cup, the 4 Nations cup.

 

[NVious]

For a career, I think so.

With the Oilers, I donno.

It's year 10 and their number 1 goalie is Stuart Skinner and their number 1 d is either Nurse/Bouchard/Ekholm.

 

[Hennessy]

It's a major pet peeve of mine when people put the onus of a Cup on one player or use it when discussing individual achievements.

I get it. It's nice to see great players win a Cup. But hockey remains a team sport.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Yes.

 

[Dread Clawz]

No, Gretzky only won 4. Mario only won 2. Orr only won 2.

 

[PettersonHughes]

Lol he's good but he and his team have to deliver. For whatever reason he hasn't yet, perhaps his speed-oriented play style isn't as conducive to success in the post-season? But no, I wouldn't rate him as too good to not win a Cup.

 

[Bizz]

Thornton was better than McDavid and he retired without a Cup. So it's best not to worry about it right now, McDavid is still young.

 

[nucks88]

Yeah but the Oilers aren’t….

 

[crowfish]

Nobody is "too good not to win a Cup" under the wrong circumstances. Winning a Cup has more to do with circumstances, teammates, injuries, the strength of opponents, and management tactics than it ever will have to do with individual performance.

There have already been narrow misses for obvious all-time great players:

Bourque: 17 straight seasons of top 5 Norris votes, and yet would have retired with zero Stanley Cups if not going to the best team in the league at age 39. If Roy, Forsberg, Sakic, etc had been injured in that playoff run he very well may have retired without a Cup.

Hasek: The 6-time Vezina & 2x MVP, 2x Pearson winning goaltender never won a Cup during the height of his powers until changing teams late in his career, and much like Bourque won, won despite being a far worse player than the past versions of himself.

Ovechkin: Ovechkin had one shot at the Stanley Cup finals. What would that one shot have looked like if it were the 2022-23 Vegas team and not the expansion Cinderella team? Even against that weaker team, winning was far from a certainty. What if Kuzenetzov was injured, or at 25% of himself, the way Draisaitl was for McDavids current only finals?

I find this obsession with all-time greats "having to win" weird and not logical, since it is very clear that at some point a clear all-time great player will not win (it's virtually a certainty, if it's not McDavid, it will be someone else in the future). As evidenced by the already narrow misses there have been.

That requirement dates back to the original six days, when the Legends like Howe were virtually guaranteed to win a Cup. So who knows what the list of all-time greats and their "cups" would look like if they had all played against 31 other teams with salary caps? It is simple arithmetic. If you played in the league with 6 teams, you had a 33% random chance of being in the Stanley Cup finals PER SEASON lol. If you take Crosby, McDavid & Ovechkin combined, they have played in 6 Stanley Cup finals in 50 seasons, that is 12%, around 1/3 of the odds of randomly doing it in the original 6 era, and those are the 3 best players of their era. You can't ignore the math and what that sort of context means.

 

[Luongoisthegoat]

Mcdavid is insane . 4 points tonight. Imagine another 40 point playoffs

 

[Fledgemyhedge]

Get this man away from skinner ASAP

 

[TheStatican]

 

[nbwingsfan]

We saw that he almost willed his team to a Stanley cup last year. Will he win one in his career or not?

If he keeps playing on teams relying on Stuart Skinner in net? No.

 

[ExarKun80]

McJesus should ask for a trade after this season. He is not winning shit with the Oilers who keep hiring incompetent people to run the franchise. Last year was the chance.

 

[Bleedred]

Get this man away from skinner ASAP

Goalie Skinner is who I’m assuming you mean?

I really hope the idiots in Edmonton do not give this loser a similar deal to the ones Daccord, Blackwood and Lankinen all got that start next game.

Just let him walk. He belongs on the Sharks.

And play Pickard next game. They can’t keep counting on climbing out of a hole like they did in 2 of the 3 series last year, which was solely because of Skinner.

 

[Sky04]

How come all the other great players won? Yes it does matter, if it's that hard how come there aren't more McDavid level players who haven't won?

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Thornton was better than McDavid and he retired without a Cup. So it's best not to worry about it right now, McDavid is still young.

The f***…not even Joe’s mom can say that with a str8 face

 

[1989]

I used to think McDavid might be the problem with his teams not winning a Cup. Not for lack of talent, but for leadership type and play style (i.e. it's not easy keeping up with a speedster necessarily - but easier to keep up/build chemistry with the best grinder in the game in Crosby for example) but I no longer think the player is the problem.

It's the team. It's the GM. It's the defence, it's the goaltending. I genuinely wonder how the rest of his career plays out.

 

[GoldenSeal]

Pah, he has a cabinet full of Stanley Cups. Here's a pic of one:

 

[Luongoisthegoat]

The f***…not even Joe’s mom can say that with a str8 face

There is like 3 players in history that are debatably better than mcdavid in history

 

[Cup Or Bust]

Tonight is a great example of why McDavid doesn't have a Cup. The team doesn't have the right pieces and he does all one player can possibly do to win in the playoffs.

 

[Grifter3511]

There's two other forwards just as good as he is that have better teams around them.

First part's wrong. Second part's right.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Tonight is the reason McDavid doesn't have a Cup. He does all one player can possibly do to win in the playoffs.

Does that include not showing up until they are down 4-0?

 

[Green]

If he re-signs on Edmonton I can't see him winning, I don't see how their roster can really improve over the next 7-8 years, if he wants to leave money on the table and jump to a better team I am guessing it's likely he will win a cup, of course it will probably be better for his legacy if he won it in Edmonton but I don't see how it's possible given their roster and weak prospect pool

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

Nobody's 'too good not to win one,' but at least McDavid can rest easy with his pity Conn Smythe and blame his goalie or whatever.