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

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

No.
But he’s been one of the best players over the past ~7/8 years.

Low key mad dirty tho.

 

[Garbageyuk]

no

He outscored a healthy Connor McDavid twice, who is universally regarded as a generational talent. Snatched an Art Ross from him and one from MacKinnon as well.

Yes.

 

[Oneiro]

He's not generational in the same way Lidstrom wasn't generational. To me, it's Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, McDavid as generational skaters and that's it. If you want to include Ovy, that's fine. Ovy to me was the Mariano Rivera of the sport - everyone knew what was coming, but no one could really do anything about it, his shot and ability to create his own ice was that good. But basically the league had no answer in terms of stopping all these guys from putting up comical numbers far above peers for a certain stretch of time. And they all basically added to the vocabulary of the game - you could not learn the game without incorporating their innovations after they were done.

Career-wise, I like him better than Ovechkin though his peak isn't the same as those early Ovy years, which is really what established Ovy's generational tag.

 

[Rschmitz]

Maybe take a look at the roster Chicago iced last year...

Still better than 4th line scrubs

 

[toddkaz]

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.

You want to annoint someone based on 290GP.

On top of that you don't use his entire career stats.

What kind of generational talent needs to do that? No one.

 

[Zalos]

I always thought "generational" meant that this was a player (maybe two at most) that defined a generation.

Pre-1960 = Howe, Beliveau, Hull, Richard, etc.
1960-1980 = Orr & *Lafleur
1980-2000 = Gretzky & Lemieux
2000-2020 = Crosby & Ovechkin
2020-? = McDavid & *?

I put an asterisk for Lafleur because that's a debatable one. As for another player deserving to be alongside McDavid, I have my doubts. I guess Kucherov or MacKinnon (even Makar?) could be in the discussion, but I think those two need more seasons of greatness and more hardware.

Props to Kucherov, though. The fact that he is even in the discussion is huge praise.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

No.

But he’s a pretty solid bet for first ballot HOF.

 

[heynowbababooey]

Definitely not. He's incredible but not generational by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I wonder if he was a #1 overall pick how people would view him. I feel like a lot of people use pre-draft hype as a criterion for who is generational.

 

[olli]

If he has a few more seasons like last year for sure. It just took him longer than most players at his level to reach his peak which makes sense given his game is more about skill and smarts than athleticism.