Nathan Mackinnon - the best player in the league

[Rschmitz]

Stats over past 10 seasons:

McDavid: 674GP, 1027P

Kucherov: 619GP, 839P
MacKinnon: 680GP, 853P
Draisaitl: 714GP, 891P

Y’all just stop any degree of insinuation that McDavid isn’t clearly 1A and that those three aren’t a tightly grouped 1B.

And don’t forget McDavid is two years younger than Drai/MacK and four years than Kuch.

Over the past 4 seasons, Kucherov and McDavid's points/60 are almost identical. I think that's a better barometer of who the current best player is.

 

[Golden_Jet]

McDavid/Kucherov/MacKinnon have been jockeying for top 3 for awhile now.

McDavid hasn’t even been in top 5, let alone jockeying in the top 3.

 

[Frosty415]

Is OP the ‘I hate McDavid’ guy?

Yeah he should be banned from making threads.

You can tell this thread is a sad attempt to shit on McDavid...mcdust lmao

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

Over the past 4 seasons, Kucherov and McDavid's points/60 are almost identical. I think that's a better barometer of who the current best player is.

Ppg is better than p/60. If you can play more mins per game it's a good thing even if your p/60 goes down.

Boban had some of the best stats per 48 mins in nba history but he could only be effective like 10 mins per game. Obviously McDavid and Kuch don't fall into thay category but as a whole points /60 isn't as important as ppg

 

[Anemia]

These Mickey Mouse threads really shouldn't be allowed. Reflects poorly on this site.

 

[Rschmitz]

Ppg is better than p/60. If you can play more mins per game it's a good thing even if your p/60 goes down.

Boban had some of the best stats per 48 mins in nba history but he could only be effective like 10 mins per game. Obviously McDavid and Kuch don't fall into thay category but as a whole points /60 isn't as important as ppg

Can you clarify, sounds like you are saying that if you score the same # of points over more minutes, its better. I'm sure that can't be what your arguing though.

Your TOI per game is at the mercy of the coach. Tortorella in the early 2000's would leave St.Louis and Lecavalier in for half the game sometimes. Cooper on the other hand, until recently, never let his forwards go above 20 minutes a game. Even when Kucherov won the Hart with 128 points he did it playing under 19 minutes. I get the argument that in shorter spurts some players can do better, but the reverse is also true and you can only get points when you're on the ice.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

empty-net merchant to be sure

 

[Bouboumaster]

Contrarian take for the sake of being contrarian

OP must be the type of person picking Ovechkin over Crosby, Howe over Gretzky, Pepsi over Coke, Reebok of Nike, Apple over Microsoft, Toronto over Montréal, etc.

McDavid is obviously the best player in the league, possibly the future 5th best player ever, etc.

Mackinnon is awesome, but evidence shows that McDavid > Mackinnon

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

If anyone other than McDavid has a claim it's Kucherov. This is the second straight season he's operating at ~1.75 ppg.

MacKinnon > Kucherov

Should try being the best player on his own team first.

Clown take

 

[Killer Orcas]

Guys a machine and is a bull on ice playing with Rants and Makar certainly help. He still has to play and he certainly does that well. However I see him play and then think imagine if he was mean then am reminded of Eric Lindros. What could have been if Eric kept his head up. Getting back to Mack he is certainly a joy to watch as are the Avs right now.

 

[McPoyle]

He sure does have alot of ENP this year.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

Nate is on his way to destroy Kucherovs EN production this year. What is he at? 10 or 9 points with Rantannen 1 less

 

[CanadasTeam99]

Agreed - some brutal games on tonight

I would argue that Mitch Marner is one of the best right now in the league

He runs the team in TO and Matthews feeds off of him. TO would be much worse IMO if Marner was gone. He's the best player on that team.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

Can you clarify, sounds like you are saying that if you score the same # of points over more minutes, its better. I'm sure that can't be what your arguing though.

Your TOI per game is at the mercy of the coach. Tortorella in the early 2000's would leave St.Louis and Lecavalier in for half the game sometimes. Cooper on the other hand, until recently, never let his forwards go above 20 minutes a game. Even when Kucherov won the Hart with 128 points he did it playing under 19 minutes. I get the argument that in shorter spurts some players can do better, but the reverse is also true and you can only get points when you're on the ice.

I'm staying p/60 is far les valuable than ppg. Your toi is determined by your coach and how much they want you on the ice in order to give your team the best shot at winning.

A higher ppg is better regardless of pts/60, if you are trusted to play more mins per game the reward is more scoring opportunities

 

[Regal]

Can you clarify, sounds like you are saying that if you score the same # of points over more minutes, its better. I'm sure that can't be what your arguing though.

Your TOI per game is at the mercy of the coach. Tortorella in the early 2000's would leave St.Louis and Lecavalier in for half the game sometimes. Cooper on the other hand, until recently, never let his forwards go above 20 minutes a game. Even when Kucherov won the Hart with 128 points he did it playing under 19 minutes. I get the argument that in shorter spurts some players can do better, but the reverse is also true and you can only get points when you're on the ice.

Not all ice time is created equal though and some differences can be accounted for in slightly longer shifts or scoring early and holding leads. Star forwards typically play fewer minutes in games where they score and in wins, which speaks to the above. Even going for a change when the puck comes out of the offensive zone instead of defending the transition play is a factor (something the Sedins did a lot of and why their efficiency numbers were really strong). Kucherov has played more minutes the past two years at 5v5 but his 5v5 P/60 hasn’t matched 18-18.

Also, over the past 4 years, their P/60 isn’t equal when you break it down by situation.

At 5v5
McDavid 2.93
Kucherov 2.87

At ES
McDavid 3.12
Kucherov 2.88

On PP
McDavid 10.61
Kucherov 9.68

All situations
McDavid 4.65
Kucherov 4.53

P/60 has its place and sure, scoring the same in more minutes probably isn’t better, but that’s not what happened here. McDavid scored more in more minutes at a slightly higher rate

 

[Frank Drebin]

Contrarian take for the sake of being contrarian

OP must be the type of person picking Ovechkin over Crosby, Howe over Gretzky, Pepsi over Coke, Reebok of Nike, Apple over Microsoft, Toronto over Montréal, etc.

McDavid is obviously the best player in the league, possibly the future 5th best player ever, etc.

Mackinnon is awesome, but evidence shows that McDavid > Mackinnon

nah he's been doing his best to cope with not winning the lottery in 2015 by trying to convince himself and anybody that would humor him that McDavid actually isn't a generational superstar and quite possibly the best player this generation of hockey fans will ever have the pleasure of watching.

Most honest hockey fans know better.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Not only is Nate the best player in the NHL but the best player in the world. He has been since 2023.

 

[Rschmitz]

I'm staying p/60 is far les valuable than ppg. Your toi is determined by your coach and how much they want you on the ice in order to give your team the best shot at winning.

A higher ppg is better regardless of pts/60, if you are trusted to play more mins per game the reward is more scoring opportunities

For about half of McDavids career Edmonton has had nothing to play for, and fed McDavid quality ice time to pump up his numbers. We did the same thing with our stars pre-2014, it happens, I think you have to factor this in as well.

 

[Regal]

For about half of McDavids career Edmonton has had nothing to play for, and fed McDavid quality ice time to pump up his numbers. We did the same thing with our stars pre-2014, it happens, I think you have to factor this in as well.

Edmonton’s been one of the best team’s in the league for 5 years now and his P/60 5v5 has been roughly the same.

 

[crowfish]

McDavid himself was asked about the narratives about Nathan MacKinnon being the new best player in the game

Spoiler: This was his reply

 

[Frank Drebin]

Actually we’re quite annoyed at Rantanen cherry picking empty net points inflating his contract extension


Don’t worry he’ll be sucking his **** when McDavid signs in Toronto

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Easily at this point

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Not even 2nd best.

 

[Mr Zappalanche]

Mack is playing some awful hokey this season. I really dont understand how the f*** is he leading the league in scoring.

 

[Regal]

As some have mentioned I don’t think his play has been as strong as his production or play last year, but he’s still good enough to score at this level without being his best though he’s relying more on empty net points and secondary assists this season. In some ways production while not being his best is part of what makes McDavid great as well, but I do think McDavid’s floor is higher as well as his ceiling. MacKinnon just isn’t McDavid, and that doesn’t take anything away from him. He’s still one of the best all time already.