Nathan Mackinnon - the best player in the league

[Puckstop40]

I remember when you were a Golden Knights fan before the Avalanche won their third cup.

I’ve been posting here since 2009 and was an Avalanche fan well before then. I showed love for the Knights due to living in Vegas and working with them at community events to help grow hockey here. Did the same with the Ducks when I lived in Orange County. Not sure what you’re getting at here, but thought my post was obvious sarcasm.

 

[Zanon]

Trust me I do watch games, and no he’s not. Hughes is not better defensively. He’s on par offensively, but if he was better than Makar defensively, for one, he would kill penalties. There is a reason why he doesn’t kill penalties. He’s good at breaking up plays and move pucks or the break out passes, but when it comes to battles in the d zone, I see him constantly get outmuscled and turn pucks over.

Makar‘s not even good at killing penalties, though.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Makar‘s not even good at killing penalties, though.

This parroting ignores the fact that he still spends time on the PK. And his on ice time isn’t purely about optimizing scoring like it might be for some. Yes, he plays a lot of minutes with MacKinnon but that’s offset by the time he spends on the PK. Whether he’s effective on the PK is beside the point. And no one cares if Vancouver fans think that he’s ineffective on the PK. At some point this becomes contortionist nonsense to elevate their favorite player.

 

[the_fan]

Makar‘s not even good at killing penalties, though.

He’s not bad at it. He’s not the best at killing penalties, but he’s not bad. I mean if he was bad at it, Bednar wouldn’t have him kill penalties. He gets the job done

 

[Dirty Mind]

This guy is like that dude who robbed a bank in broad daylight with lemon juice smeared on his face because he thought it would make him invisible on the security cams.

Nah he’s more like that guy that won’t “stay down” - from the classic Canadian sketch comedy Kids in the Hall.



And his hanger-on is a certain Nucks fan.

 

[SteelCityCannon]

I don't get to watch a ton of hockey outside of CBJ games, but the player that always impresses me the most is definitely Nathan MacKinnon. I feel like my team is under seige when he's on the ice. Just a constant barrage. Treat to watch.

 

[AnInjuredJasonZucker]

I don't get to watch a ton of hockey outside of CBJ games, but the player that always impresses me the most is definitely Nathan MacKinnon. I feel like my team is under seige when he's on the ice. Just a constant barrage. Treat to watch.

I believe that McDavid is 1.89 P/GP vs. CBJ in his career and Mackinnon is 1.15.

 

[nturn06]

I don't get to watch a ton of hockey outside of CBJ games, but the player that always impresses me the most is definitely Nathan MacKinnon. I feel like my team is under seige when he's on the ice. Just a constant barrage. Treat to watch.

To be fair, if you watch CBJ for too long, many teams look like the Globetrotters

 

[SteelCityCannon]

To be fair, if you watch CBJ for too long, many teams look like the Globetrotters

lol

 

[olli]

I haven’t watched much of MacKinnon this year but it seems like based on the stats he has specifically tried to get more assists this year. Maybe he saw McDavid and Kuch get 100 assists last year and said why can’t I do that too. He now has 46 assists through 37 games which paces to 102/82 games. He generally picks up in the goal scoring in the 2nd half if my memory serves me right but if he really wants to I don’t see why he couldn’t get to 100.

 

[Toby91ca]

I haven’t watched much of MacKinnon this year but it seems like based on the stats he has specifically tried to get more assists this year. Maybe he saw McDavid and Kuch get 100 assists last year and said why can’t I do that too. He now has 46 assists through 37 games which paces to 102/82 games. He generally picks up in the goal scoring in the 2nd half if my memory serves me right but if he really wants to I don’t see why he couldn’t get to 100.

I've watched a lot and he does pass a lot, but doesn't seem abnormal to me, he does shoot a fair amount as well....but then again, it seems he looks to set someone up for a better scoring chance than the spot he may be in. Sometimes it seems he doesn't just dig in and try to blow by a defender when you think he can since you've seen it a few times in the game already. He is scary good though. I know he's the leading scorer right now, but I saw a game last week where he set up a teammate with an open net, twice in about 5-6 min and they missed both times and finally he did it again and someone scored, so he could have more assists if some of the guys could finish. I know Rantanen is #2 in league scoring right now and he's a good player, but there is no question who's the better player/who drives the play. They have separated those 2 a lot lately though. I don't know how much they may have played together vs. not though, I've watched a fair amount, but not 90% of their games and full games or anything....my son has watched a lot though.....occasionally you'll hear him yell "idiot" because it's a player that didn't convert an easy set up for MacKinnon or because they should simply give the puck to MacKinnon.

 

[PepsiCenterMagic]

There’s a strong argument he’s not the best player on the Avs. Makar is leading the league in total point shares (WAR) for example

 

[Video Nasty]

He’s pulled himself out of that slump from mid-November through the first week of December quite nicely.

He had 2 goals and 8 points in 12 games during that time period, went pointless 6 times, and it was part of a stretch where he didn’t score a goal in ten straight games.

Since then, he has 5 goals and 14 assists for 19 points in 8 games.

You have to imagine his sights are set on 100 assists and his first Art Ross.

Going to be another hell of a race to witness unfold.

 

[Hasbro]

Nah he’s more like that guy that won’t “stay down” - from the classic Canadian sketch comedy Kids in the Hall.



And his hanger-on is a certain Nucks fan.

 

[Avsfan1921]

He’s pulled himself out of that slump from mid-November through the first week of December quite nicely.

He had 2 goals and 8 points in 12 games during that time period, went pointless 6 times, and it was part of a stretch where he didn’t score a goal in ten straight games.

Since then, he has 5 goals and 14 assists for 19 points in 8 games.

You have to imagine his sights are set on 100 assists and his first Art Ross.

Going to be another hell of a race to witness unfold.

Indeed, and his play is starting to match his point total as well. Big thanks to the OP for creating this thread and willing him out of his slump. McDust will never catch him now!

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

He’s pulled himself out of that slump from mid-November through the first week of December quite nicely.

He had 2 goals and 8 points in 12 games during that time period, went pointless 6 times, and it was part of a stretch where he didn’t score a goal in ten straight games.

Since then, he has 5 goals and 14 assists for 19 points in 8 games.

You have to imagine his sights are set on 100 assists and his first Art Ross.

Going to be another hell of a race to witness unfold.

Going all out for a regular season award. Only to collapse in the playoffs.

Check out the nose dive from regular season to playoff ppg for MacGinnon the past two post seasons.

And since when is mcdust a thing?

 

[Galactico]

Going all out for a regular season award. Only to collapse in the playoffs.

Check out the nose dive from regular season to playoff ppg for MacGinnon the past two post seasons.

And since when is mcdust a thing?

 

[gritdash60]

You guys can decide if he is the best or not, to me he surely is.

But i can tell you that he is the last player in the conversation for top10 best players i would ever fight, dude gets ANGRY and is built like a tank.

 

[Regal]

You guys can decide if he is the best or not, to me he surely is.

But i can tell you that he is the last player in the conversation for top10 best players i would ever fight, dude gets ANGRY and is built like a tank.

I don’t know, Drai is a pretty big, angry dude too

 

[gritdash60]

I don’t know, Drai is a pretty big, angry dude too

Yeah true, and he doesn't fight fair. When Dogg would just punch me in the face, Drai would destroy my balls with his 7meter stick.

 

[EmptyNetAssassin]

View attachment 952517

not good enough for back to back cups. He is not the best player in the league.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

You guys can decide if he is the best or not, to me he surely is.

But i can tell you that he is the last player in the conversation for top10 best players i would ever fight, dude gets ANGRY and is built like a tank.

He throws helmets like a bitch and got knocked out by his own stick on a goddamn Taylor Hall hit, calm down.

Yeah true, and he doesn't fight fair. When Dogg would just punch me in the face, Drai would destroy my balls with his 7meter stick.

Phrasing..

This thread is.. somethin. He’s very good at hockey. Greek god. I would let him do things that even the mods wouldn’t be able to censure. Normal hockey talk.

 

[TheStatican]

Drai would destroy my balls with his 7meter stick

Bro... TMI

 

[gimzo23]

Kucherov has been the best player in the league for the past 2 years now. That's enough for someone to declare the number 1 in the league. Maybe age is catching up with the speedy playing style of 97. And MacKinnon is close but just a tad behind Kucherov. All praise MacKinnon, not enough love for the celebral Tampa Bay player which goes along his business more quietly. I don't think 97 will catch either of them this season. He doesn't look like the peak form of himself a couple of years ago. Too less pracmatic goal oriented plays. He hasn't adapted to a slightly less speed oriented playing style good enough and this lends me to believe he will age faster than a player like Draisatil or Kucherov. He he not in 99 or 66 league and I don't hate on him. I don't care how many Rosses he may still win and I doubt there will be many more if any. Just trying to give a neutral observation. The excuse of having nothing to prove in the regular season and concentrating on the playoffs and the stanley cup doesn't cut it for me. What if players like 66 or 99 thought like that. That's one of the reasons the truly greats of the game separate themselves from the normal star players along with their peak and prime performances and comsistency (which I agree doesn't work for guys like Lemieux or Orr, but they were so much better than the rest of the league that they belong in this group). His 1 or 2 truly exceptional seasons statitistically seem to have been his peak. For 66 or 99 it would have been their averagely good season in their prime. As good as Kucherov, Draisaitl or MacKinnon are, players like prime 66 or 99 wouldn't lose multiple scoring chases against them let's be real here.

 

[TheLegend27]

I believe Kuch and Mackinnon certainly raised their play and closed the gap a little bit, so congrats to them. This current era may have the highest level of high end talent we’ve seen since the 90s. A breath of fresh air from the Jamie Benn Art Ross winning days.