Is Nikita Kucherov a Generational Talent? (Based on his NHL Career)

[nowhereman]

I'd argue that he's not in the conversation for the second or even third tier of players after the "generational" tier, as some here have suggested. Gretz, Lemieux, Orr, and Howe are the Mount Rushmore of Hockey (almost beyond generational) but, after them, you have talents like Sid, OV, McDavid, Hull, Beliveau, Hasek and Harvey. Then you move past the generational tier to the likes of Jagr, Potvin, Bourque, Sawchuk, Lafleur, etc. From there, you start working further down the list toward guys like Sakic, Bossy, Esposito, Clarke, Fetisov, Robinson, etc. Is Kucherov anywhere near any of these guys?

Personally, with only a single awards sweep in 18-19, I can't place Kucherov anywhere near the above names. IMO, he's a Kane-level player and Kane is clearly not generational.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Generational at faking injuries maybe.

 

[Grifter3511]

I wouldn't say clearly but you can argue he's second best.

All three of Kucherov, Draisailt, and Matthews can be argued for second best forward in past 5 years. Either all three are generational or none are.

There are not four generational forwards in their prime in the NHL right now.

Then we add in Makar, who is clearly generational, and Karlsson, who was generational before his injuries. Once we add in those two, Lightning fans would rightly argue that Hedman is as important and valuable in more ways than they are and that he is generational.

We're on our way to having an entire roster of generational talent in one generation.

 

[T REX]

No

Generational is McJesus or Crosby

Is he a HOF'er?

Absolutely.

 

[T REX]

Nope.

Asterick pandemic Cups dont elevate him extra in my mind.

The funniest part of this is that you can't even spell asterisk properly.

Epic fail bud. I literally laughed out loud.

One of my favorite all-time sports quotes..."if they like you, then they are probably beating you"

Stephen Orr Spurrier

 

[Puck Dogg]

Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr and Howe were all extraordinary - or generational if you will - talents that pretty much everybody can agree on.

Can you mention Kucherov (or any other player) in same sentence with those names?

If you can't the player is not generational.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

My own view: I think there's been maybe 8-10 generational players in the league's history.
Orr, Gretzky, Bossy, Hasek, Lemieux, Howe, Crosby, McDavid are at the top of my list. After some debate maybe I'd add one or two.

If you suggest Kucherov belongs in that list I'd argue you'd have to broaden the criteria so that players like Jagr, Yzerman, Messier, Lindros, Coffey, Brett Hull, Brodeur, Robinson, Denis Potvin (among others) get consideration.

I'd rather keep it to the elite of the elite. No doubt Kucherov is great - I picked him in two consecutive playoff pools and he almost single-handedly won me both, so I have some love for the guy - but not in the air of Gretzky, Orr, Lemieux.

Bossy was never the best player in the league for even 1 season and was the 3rd wheel in the Islanders dynasty. He is nowhere close to a generational player and definitely not a tier above Jagr.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

No.

But he's an outstanding player and is well on his way to the HOF if he continues to play well for the next few years.

 

[Signupnow]

But let's ask one question. Who has the best season with most points and playoff sucesss/points in the past ten years? Who has had the higher peak (back and white) and no extra arguments and excuses.

 

[leafsfan5]

I’d say he’s in the tier below

He’s a franchise talent who can put up one or two generational type seasons. Players like Matthews, Draistaitl and Kucherov fall under here

 

[kmart]

If you actually had a poll this would already be closed due to lopsided result.

doesnt matter, stats dont lie

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Im starting to think the only current Generational Players in the NHL are Crosby, Ovechkin and McDavid.
everyone else is close but a little lower

 

[LPHabsFan]

A generational talent is someone that you know about from the age of roughly 10 - 14. He is someone that comes into the league and is instantly one of the top players in the game. Outside of a year where they are injured, every single year they are among the discussion of the best players in the game and among the scoring leaders. They are also among the best players in the game outside of the usual "prime" years. They are also able to take players who have no business playing top line minutes and somehow those players suddenly put up massive points.

There might be some other points I'm missing as well but those are some of the big ones.

A generation will usually last somewhere between 20 - 30 years. That's also why the element of knowing them from a young age is at play. You look at Crosby and Ovechkin. They have been at the top of whatever league they were in (maybe a little less the past few years but still), and we've been talking about them since what, somewhere around 2002 maybe? Earlier? That's 20 ish years right there. An entire generation.

I don't mean to be disrespectful to Kucherov because if he plays for another 5 or 6 years, he is a first ballot hall of famer, but he is nowhere close to generational.

For starters, nobody was talking about him being this good, ever. If they were, then he wouldn't have been drafted #58th overall. He also wouldn't have taken 3 years to become a PPG player. The fact that he's played on such strong teams with those amazing linemates makes it harder to distinguish between what's him and what's the other players. I'm not saying it's the other players but you can't deny that playing with those guys made it easier to accumulate all those points.

We've been talking about him being at the top of the league for 5 years now since his truly breakout year in 2017-2018 and even when he was putting up the points, he still wasn't the best for all 5 years. Even if he is the best player in the league head and shoulders the next 5 years, which won't happen when there's McDavid (and maybe if someone else comes along), that would still only be a decade.

So no, not a generational player.

 

[Stephen]

The generational tag was a hype term used to denote a rare and special player type who comes around once a generation. When you have half a dozen or more guys vying for the generational tag at various positions all at once, it has lost all meaning.

 

[kevsh]

Bossy was never the best player in the league for even 1 season and was the 3rd wheel in the Islanders dynasty. He is nowhere close to a generational player and definitely not a tier above Jagr.

Next to Gretzky he is probably the best goal scorer in league history, scoring 60+ goals in 5 of his 10 seasons.

While I can understand the argument against him because we usually associate generational talents as the best player in the league overall, as you mention, I have him there specifically because he was a generational goal scorer.

But just to clarify some numbers that you seem to not be aware of:
- Bossy's career GPG was 0.76 compared to Mario's 0.75 and Gretzky's 0.60 - Mario is the fairer comparison as both he and Bossy had shortened careers leading to a higher GPG. (Jagr is at 0.54, and that's cherry picking using only his Pittsburgh seasons, he dropped off significantly after that)
- Bossy wasn't just a goal scoring machine, he averaged 1.49 PPG. By comparison, Jagr - who rode shotgun to #66 for of his best years - had 1.33 PPG, again, only counting his prime Pittsburgh seasons (11 in total).

So saying he was third wheel in the Island is laughable, and not above Jagr? The numbers strongly suggest otherwise. Generational? I guess that's just a personal choice.

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

I kinda agree that you have to be a generational prospect in order to be a generational player. There are exceptions, such as Jagr and Lidstrom, but beyond them....not much.
Jagr and Lidstrom were absolutely prolific as NHLers and had incredible longevity.

 

[Hockeyholic]

I kinda agree that you have to be a generational prospect in order to be a generational player. There are exceptions, such as Jagr and Lidstrom, but beyond them....not much.
Jagr and Lidstrom were absolutely prolific as NHLers and had incredible longevity.

Not the same sport. Maybe different rules apply.

Would you say Favre, Brady, & Brees aren't generational QB's because they didn't come in and immediately light the league on fire? None were really hyped up in the draft either.

My mount rushmore players are: Orr, Howe, Lemieux, Hasek, & Gretzky. No particular order btw.

Crosby, McDavid, Bourque, Lidstrom, & Ovi in tier below that.

 

[Hoek]

Why so many Kuch threads lately? And no

 

[User9992]

No. McJesus is!

 

[TopG]

Generational is
Sid
Ovy
Matthews
Mcd

Just outside is
Kuch
Geno
Drais

 

[RussianGuyovich]

A generational talent is someone that you know about from the age of roughly 10 - 14. He is someone that comes into the league and is instantly one of the top players in the game. Outside of a year where they are injured, every single year they are among the discussion of the best players in the game and among the scoring leaders. They are also among the best players in the game outside of the usual "prime" years. They are also able to take players who have no business playing top line minutes and somehow those players suddenly put up massive points.

There might be some other points I'm missing as well but those are some of the big ones.

A generation will usually last somewhere between 20 - 30 years. That's also why the element of knowing them from a young age is at play. You look at Crosby and Ovechkin. They have been at the top of whatever league they were in (maybe a little less the past few years but still), and we've been talking about them since what, somewhere around 2002 maybe? Earlier? That's 20 ish years right there. An entire generation.

I don't mean to be disrespectful to Kucherov because if he plays for another 5 or 6 years, he is a first ballot hall of famer, but he is nowhere close to generational.

For starters, nobody was talking about him being this good, ever. If they were, then he wouldn't have been drafted #58th overall. He also wouldn't have taken 3 years to become a PPG player. The fact that he's played on such strong teams with those amazing linemates makes it harder to distinguish between what's him and what's the other players. I'm not saying it's the other players but you can't deny that playing with those guys made it easier to accumulate all those points.

We've been talking about him being at the top of the league for 5 years now since his truly breakout year in 2017-2018 and even when he was putting up the points, he still wasn't the best for all 5 years. Even if he is the best player in the league head and shoulders the next 5 years, which won't happen when there's McDavid (and maybe if someone else comes along), that would still only be a decade.

So no, not a generational player.

Lmao. Definitely not reading this. Thanks tho

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Generational is
Sid
Ovy
Matthews
Mcd

Just outside is
Kuch
Geno
Drais

Matthews isn't ****ing generational man...

 

[Chips]

Injuries muddy it but I lean no. If all went well with his health he’d definitely be, or is, in that tier right below


If he stays healthy the last few regular seasons he quite possibly follows the 128 pt season with multiple more 100+ seasons, plus those two crazy playoffs. Feels like he might be slightly underrated by some who don’t like him too.

Matthews isn't ****ing generational man...

If he scores crazy goal totals much of his career starting as Ovi starts declining I think it’d be fair to call him a generational *goal scorer which is the hardest specific skill. He has the potential but he’s not there yet

 

[Pierre Larouche]

He wasn't a generational talent in the draft (Even though he scored 3 points per game at U18), but I think in regards to how good he has been NHL, I'd say he has basically been a generational talent.

Kucherov since 2017-18: 144G 259A 403P 290GP. 3 All Star Teams, 2 Stanley Cups, 1 MVP.

In this regard, would you say Nikita Kucherov has been a generational talent?
Let's Discuss.

Definitely.

 

[Garbageyuk]

Lol (no).