McDavid becomes the 3rd player in NHL history to score 40 points in a playoff run - after Wayne and Mario

[Video Nasty]

From what I know, Mario was fairly injury free until a herniated disc in the winter of 90 when he missed the last months of that season + off season surgey kept him away huge chunks the following year. Now this is perhaps something they would have been more careful with nowadays? If he had rested instead of playing through it for as long as he probably did, it might never have been such an issue? A herniated disc is generally not a huge issue if one allows it to heal. This is of course on the Penguins too. Teams did not take care of their players back then.

It hurts some of the fantasy when it comes to Mario, but I’m going to keep posting this article from March 1990: Mario’s lack of conditioning

McKenney commenting on what he saw during his time in Pittsburgh:

“This back thing has been going on for two, three years and everybody has been aware of it. I think some people think this is just another one of his ordeals. That it was nothing serious. But there were times when his lower back really caused him pain and discomfort and he played with it. But a herniated disk is a different circumstance. He didn’t have that before.

As any of the Whalers will tell you, McKenney is a most insistent man. Before he came from Pittsburgh with General Manager Ed Johnston, he used to be on Lemieux all the time to stretch the muscles in his trunk to prevent injury. Even McKenney could not keep Lemieux locked into his regimen, so one could imagine how it was after he left.

“Mario always had some back discomfort,” McKenney said. “The main gist of what we could gather from physician, trainer and conditioning coach discussing it was that he had a lack of flexibility in the lower back and hamstrings. Every time we took the approach of trying to lengthen that muscle and stretch it, we really got some decent results. He has shortening of those muscles and that’s what created that problem. It’s not genetic.

“The exercises they are doing now with the herniated disk are the same sort we were doing to prevent it initially. I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s going to need an operation. What they’re doing now is trying to alleviate some of the bad pain he’s having and hope it will let him be involved in the playoffs. My personal opinion is that they’re prolonging the obvious: surgery.”

In this case, the team did what they could for him. They showed what he could do, tried to keep him consistent with it, and he didn’t stay with it. You can lead a horse to water blah blah. It’s wasn’t the source of all his problems, but eating junk food and smoking constantly also didn’t help. We can pass the buck all we like to it being a different era, it was anyone else’s fault, but there’s got to be some accountability for the player.

 

[Buck Naked]

What no not even close its a good season and its amazing what he's doing and I think he's making a case to jump ahead of howe, but saying this run is greater than any of Gretzkys 200 point seasons? no not even close, what he's doing is special and I'm a believer but lets not get ahead of things here.

Context matters to a huge extent here. McDavid is not playing on the most stacked roster in NHL history. They would never be close to the playoffs, much less win a cup without him, like the Oilers did without Gretzky.

 

[bobholly39]

What no not even close its a good season and its amazing what he's doing and I think he's making a case to jump ahead of howe, but saying this run is greater than any of Gretzkys 200 point seasons? no not even close, what he's doing is special and I'm a believer but lets not get ahead of things here.

Gretzky's all time playoff record is 47 points. Lemieux #2 at 44. McDavid has 42.

Adjust scoring for era it's close
Add that there's this potential epic 0-3 comeback in finals, it's special
Add that McDavid has been better in rounds 3 and 4 then first 2, its even better
Add that he could break the all-time final record for points (13, he has 11 now), its also special

Yeah with a huge game 7 tonight it could be the greatest playoff run ever.

And whenever you rank the most special things Gretzky ever did - his 47 point playoff run is near the top.

This run by McDavid may or may not end up#1, but the fact that it's in the running is pretty amazing. We'll see where it ends after the game. Florida could still win after all and McDavid could have a terrible game...

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Gretzky's all time playoff record is 47 points. Lemieux #2 at 44. McDavid has 42.

Adjust scoring for era it's close
Add that there's this potential epic 0-3 comeback in finals, it's special
Add that McDavid has been better in rounds 3 and 4 then first 2, its even better
Add that he could break the all-time final record for points (13, he has 11 now), its also special

Yeah with a huge game 7 tonight it could be the greatest playoff run ever.

And whenever you rank the most special things Gretzky ever did - his 47 point playoff run is near the top.

This run by McDavid may or may not end up#1, but the fact that it's in the running is pretty amazing. We'll see where it ends after the game. Florida could still win after all and McDavid could have a terrible game...

Gotta say Lemieux’s 34 points in 15 games was insane. The Pens only needed 21 games to win that year and Mario missed six of them. 16 goals in those 15 too. Won the Smythe. That’s incredible. Put that in perspective: it’s a pace of 54 points over 24 games and around 26 goals.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Gotta say Lemieux’s 34 points in 15 games was insane. The Pens only needed 21 games to win that year and Mario missed six of them. 16 goals in those 15 too. Won the Smythe. That’s incredible. Put that in perspective: it’s a pace of 54 points over 24 games and around 26 goals.

It's a crazy run, but it's also important to note that those 6 games he missed were against the best defensive team in the league (the Rangers).

When a team wins a round against a great team without their superstar player it takes shine off that same superstar. Lemieux was still great, but missing time doesn't help a run.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

It's a crazy run, but it's also important to note that those 6 games he missed were against the best defensive team in the league (the Rangers).

When a team wins a round against a great team without their superstar player it takes shine off that same superstar. Lemieux was still great, but missing time doesn't help a run.

He had two points in game one vs the Rangers before Graves slashed and broke his hand in game 2.

It wouldn't have made a crap bit of difference. The only way to stop Mario was to goon him. Which is what happened the following year with Kaspiritus. I still can't believe the NHL allowed that. But it was a different league.

 

[Beukeboom]

Gretzky's all time playoff record is 47 points. Lemieux #2 at 44. McDavid has 42.

Adjust scoring for era it's close
Add that there's this potential epic 0-3 comeback in finals, it's special
Add that McDavid has been better in rounds 3 and 4 then first 2, its even better
Add that he could break the all-time final record for points (13, he has 11 now), its also special

Yeah with a huge game 7 tonight it could be the greatest playoff run ever.

And whenever you rank the most special things Gretzky ever did - his 47 point playoff run is near the top.

This run by McDavid may or may not end up#1, but the fact that it's in the running is pretty amazing. We'll see where it ends after the game. Florida could still win after all and McDavid could have a terrible game...

Callig it close due to era adjusting is very dishonest, because Wayne's playoff record is at a 66 point pace over 25 games. So Connor is not even close to that, and I'm pretty sure that trumps any difference in average scoring.

Still a remarkable run by McDavid of course. I obviously rank it up there with the other 40+ seasons by Wayne and Mario.

 

[Video Nasty]

It's a crazy run, but it's also important to note that those 6 games he missed were against the best defensive team in the league (the Rangers).

When a team wins a round against a great team without their superstar player it takes shine off that same superstar. Lemieux was still great, but missing time doesn't help a run.

They also spotted him a 1-0 series lead in the following series against the Bruins.

I don’t think either of us bring these things up to denigrate Mario or to pump up McDavid. It’s more to illustrate that contrary to common belief, one needs a solid team around them, one that can win some games when they’re out all the time like Mario or on the rare nights where McDavid goes without a point or even a shot.