I'm not sure where the notion that McDavid and MacKinnon's peaks are comparable is coming from, honestly.
McDavid followed up a 64-89 (153p) regular season with 32-100 (132p) and then put up 8-34 (42p) in the most recent playoffs.
MacKinnon had 42-69 (111p) in the 22/23 regular season and followed it up with 51-89 (140p) last regular season. 4-10 (14p) in the most recent playoffs.
That's one massive gap between the two.
| Since 01-01-2023 | GP | G | A | P |
| MacKinnon | 152 | 92 | 160 | 252 |
| McDavid | 139 | 75 | 166 | 241 |
| Kucherov | 149 | 73 | 164 | 237 |
| 82 game pace | | | | |
| MacKinnon | 82 | 50 | 86 | 136 |
| McDavid | 82 | 44 | 98 | 142 |
| Kucherov | 82 | 40 | 90 | 130 |
I think we are in the middle of MacKinnons peak, and right now he is pretty close to McDavid because McDavid is not really playing at absolute peak level right now. This is normal, we have seen players like Sakic and Thornton have seasons that rival Jagr even though he is on a different level as an offensive player.
| Top 5 scorers in 05-06 | GP | G | A | P | PPG |
| Thornton | 81 | 29 | 96 | 125 | 1,54 |
| Jagr | 82 | 54 | 69 | 123 | 1,50 |
| Ovechkin | 81 | 52 | 54 | 106 | 1,31 |
| Heatley | 82 | 50 | 53 | 103 | 1,26 |
| Alfredsson | 77 | 43 | 60 | 103 | 1,34 |
Jagr in 05-06 was very good but not his absolute best and he still lead the field by alot just like McDavid last season. If this was peak Jagr he would've won this Art Ross despite Thorntons monster season. What makes players like McDavid and Jagr special is that they are always great and in their very best years (20-21, 22-23 for McDavid) they are nearly unbeatable. 20-21 or 22-23 McDavid would win last years Art Ross because that version was a bit better in the regular season then last season. I don't think McDavid is out of his peak but I think that last season he might've saved his strength for the playoffs. I don't think it's a coincidence that his strongest playoff runs came in 21-22 and 23-24 after weaker regular seasons.
The only players that were consistently unbeatable were Wayne, Mario and Orr. Orr was never going to lose a Norris to a strong Pronger season and Mario or Wayne were never losing a Art Ross to Thornton or Kucherov (see Bossy, Yzerman, Lafontaine, and Jagrs 145+ point seasons and how they didnt get close).
TLDR: Peak McDavid is ahead of peak MacKinnon, but last regular season wasn't McDavid at his absolute peak which says alot about how unbelievable he is.
