Is There a Case For Kucherov > Ovechkin?

[trick9]

Yikes.

Ovechkin won more trophies in a single season than Kucherov has won in his career.

Kucherov is not even ahead of Malkin.

 

[OKR]

Some of you people didn’t watch Ovie in his prime and it shows

 

[Sol]

Kucherov can’t hold Ovechkins jock

 

[TheNumber4]

Kuch ain’t close to Ovie. But he does
have the higher hockey IQ. Everything else prime Ovie had him beat: shooting, skating, deking, hitting etc.

 

[Duder54]

Ovechkin is a first-ballot Hall-of-famer and arguably the greatest goal-scorer the NHL has ever seen.

As good as he’s been the past several seasons (when he’s been healthy enough to play), Kucherov isn’t even a PPG player in the NHL over his whole career.

It’s not even remotely close between the two as far as careers go.

 

[These Are The Days]

As great as Kucherov is, I'm praying Ovechkin breaks Gretzky's record. You'll never find another player come close to doing anything like that ever again

 

[max21]

Better name recognition? Umm what?

 

[KCC]

Peak vs Peak

At their best, Kucherov was a better playing than AO. 2018-2019 is way better than any AO's best season.

Some people will get salty over it but it is what it is. Kucherov is a much much much better playoff performer too.

So you're going to use one fluky season where Kucherov and Tampa went on a magical regular season run? Outside of that the team and Kucherov has been good but never come close to that again. To be blunt this feels like a summer thread because of how silly it is but it's not. OUCH. lol.

 

[JackSlater]

No chance for Kucherov. I do think that Kucherov is a better player than post-2010s Ovechkin, but early career Ovechkin was a better player than Kucherov has ever been.

 

[ViD]

Ovechkin has already scored more goals than almost every great NHLer. Does it mean he's better than Mario, Howe, Jagr, Crosby, Bossi etc?

When he scores more than Gretzky, that’s an unprecedented accomplishment considering todays defensemen and goalies. The greatest goal scorer in hockey history certainly should have a case for Mt Rushmore

 

[bobholly39]

Ovechkin defenders getting a little too upset.

To me the interesting question is can Kucherov reach as high as Ovechkin tier, rather than thinking less of Ovechkin in anyway. Highly unlikely, but not completely far fetched.

He's still scoring at insane levels and finally healthy. Can he surpass McDavid to end of year trophies one more time like he did in 2019? Or even better - can he do it twice more? If he did i think he starts to reach that Ovechkin/Jagr tier

Obviously still a very high bar, but so long as he's playing as good as he still is it's probably still plausible.

 

[Toby91ca]

You do realize Ovechkin has a case for hockey Mt Rushmore if/when he breaks Gretzky goal record ?

No he doesn’t, but to answer the question, no, Kucherov doesn’t have a case…I won’t try to project, I can reassess years later, but don’t think someone will all of a sudden propel themselves ahead in the later years of their career

 

[gtrower]

This thread really shows you how long Ovi has been dominating. He’s like 9 months removed from Hart conversations, 18 months removed from a Rocket, and still some people clearly can’t remember what his peak looked like.

 

[Midnight Judges]

This thread is dishonest enough to belong in the history forum.

 

[cowboy82nd]

Simple question. Is there a case to be made that Nikita Kucherov is the overall better player than Alex Ovechkin? We're talking about career up until Kuchverov's age (29) and projection until they both retire. Will Kucherov be looked on as the better player between the two once they are both out of the league?

Points in favor of Kuch:

Insane Hockey IQ
Better playoffs production
Multiple cups and finals appearances

Points for ovechking:

The GOATscorer potentially.
Better peak.
Better name recognition/flashier player

Multiple cups and finals appearances are a TEAM achievement. Doesn’t factor in much when you are talking about individuals.

 

[wetcoast]

Kucherov has been a better player from age 25-29, but Ovechkin was soo much better from 20-24, better at his best, healthier from 25-29, and so far has aged really well to the point we can’t assume Kucherov will age as well. It’s not close right now and there’s very little chance it will get all that close in the future

The answer is a clear no but what if he had played in 20-21 and how his season is going so far, one can claim that their primes are really close and the playoff resume is in favor of Kuch...but it's not enough right now.

But if Kucherov finishes 3rdish in points in the NHL this year and has another great playoff it might get interesting.

I do think that he compares well with Dickie Moore who easily made the top 100 players in the HOH section, something that I don't agree with though.

But all of that said I doubt it even gets really close.

This thread is dishonest enough to belong in the history forum.

This is just really another bad look here for you since your issue with the HOH is specifically a single player specific and not based on anything reasonably defensible.

 

[Dr Pepper]

No, there isn't.

Maybe "total Cups won", but that's it.

 

[Midnight Judges]

This is just really another bad look here for you since your issue with the HOH is specifically a single player specific and not based on anything reasonably defensible.

No doubt Ovechkin is not a "good Canadian boy."

 

[Mrb1p]

Peak vs Peak

At their best, Kucherov was a better playing than AO. 2018-2019 is way better than any AO's best season.

Some people will get salty over it but it is what it is. Kucherov is a much much much better playoff performer too.

Thats what the devils lettuce does to you kids

 

[RussianGuyovich]

As good as he’s been the past several seasons (when he’s been healthy enough to play), Kucherov isn’t even a PPG player in the NHL over his whole career.

ummmm what? kuch is better than a PPG player in just the playoffs.

and if your dumb argument is based on individual seasons in a vacuum, well...ovechkin isn't either.

 

[Toby91ca]

Thats what the devils lettuce does to you kids

I can get on board with Kucherov’s best season being better than Ovi’s best season, but not sure what weight that is supposed to have in determining best career as there really should be no doubt right now. Don’t see how doubt could come either….if we were talking about a 32 year old Ovi and 25 year old Kicherov I’d say you never know what’s going to happen, but there is not enough runway left here for Kucherov to do something to change peoples minds

 

[Mrb1p]

I can get on board with Kucherov’s best season being better than Ovi’s best season, but not sure what weight that is supposed to have in determining best career as there really should be no doubt right now. Don’t see how doubt could come either….if we were talking about a 32 year old Ovi and 25 year old Kicherov I’d say you never know what’s going to happen, but there is not enough runway left here for Kucherov to do something to change peoples minds

Ovechkin might be the 2nd best player Ive ever seen play and that doesnt include Mcdavid, Malkin, Price, Karlsson, Makar, late career Lemieux, Peak Jumbo, Datsyuk and so many others.

He was literally insane in that flaming stick season.

 

[Toby91ca]

Ovechkin might be the 2nd best player Ive ever seen play and that doesnt include Mcdavid, Malkin, Price, Karlsson, Makar, late career Lemieux, Peak Jumbo, Datsyuk and so many others.

He was literally insane in that flaming stick season.

I don’t disagree….not sure what you mean by this though

 

[Mrb1p]

I don’t disagree….not sure what you mean by this though

It means Kucherovs best season isnt even in the same stratosphere as Ovis.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Some of you people didn’t watch Ovie in his prime and it shows

Yup. There's no other explanation.