Thank you - however - You have to consider the timing as well.
The '16-17 Ducks were a 105 point team and finished 6th in the league.
The '21-22 Flames were a 111 point team and finished 6th in the league as well.
Chicago was ass at the time...but they beat us.
LA gets dunked on unfairly, IMO. They have been a very good regular season team and one of the stingiest clubs in the NHL.
A *drop off* vs the good teams still sees him at a 105 point pace over 82 games.
Which is still absolutely phenomenal, this year however he's maintaining that Gretzky like production against high end teams, which you can't ignore.
I see it as this. In the past it was Gretzky like offence vs weaker teams, legitimate superstar level production vs good/elite teams. Still a drop off but very respectable.
This year though he's been maintaining that extremely high Gretzky esque production.
If he maintains this over the course of the series and maybe even into the WCF and beyond, there's no argument you can make against him to be outside the top 5, probably top 3 solidified if he can help the Oilers go on a deep run.
I think there's 4 guys that are universally in everyone's top 5 right now. McDavid, Kucherov, Mackinnon, Makar, at this point in time.Who is in your top 5? Because based on production, there's one player who isn't even close to being deserving of being placed anywhere near it.
Then there's the argument to be made for Matthews vs Draisaitl.
Like neither one would be the wrong choice in my opinion. I go Matthews because #1 I'm a leafs fans, #2 his insane goal scoring. But like I said, I wouldn't argue against anyone that picks Draisaitl here, or honestly maybe even Quinn Hughes. The 5-10 range has tons of great options.