Nathan Mackinnon

[ANewHope]

Far better? Rookie season sure, the next two, not so much.

MacKinnon has never finished a season as a plus possession player, Barkov has twice and probably will again this season. Barkov is a much better all around player. We will see who ends up with better offensive numbers when their careers are over. My money is on Barkov

But you literally just said in your last post where it suggested everything outside of production was good for MacKinnon that production was all that matters for a player like that? Can't just not count MacKinnons first season.

It's all about consistently putting it together for MacKinnon. At this point nobody knows and it's anybody's guess. He's only 20 years old. Looked like a superstar in the playoffs his rookie season, and even for stretches in the regular season. He slumped at the start of his second season but proceeded to score 5 goals in 5 games before he got hurt for the year. Looked like he might take off. Pretty sure he had 24 points in 24 games to start last season. He looked like he was going to take off but became inconsistent and disappeared. Has 7 points in 12 games so far with great advanced numbers despite not showing up at times.

Probably doesn't help Colorado has been a mess for awhile. I was confident in MacKinnon being a top 5/10 forward consistently. Maybe that still happens or maybe he just remains similar to what he is now and pops off a few big seasons but is mostly a 50-60 point guy. Guess we'll see. Can't call it at 20. Not like he's a guy who was projected to develop tools and never did. The elite tools are there. His hockey IQ is without a doubt questionable at times and will be the thing that holds him back if he never takes off but it isn't like he hasn't flashed great hockey IQ for stretches. Just about doing it for a full 82. I don't think anybody would be shocked to see MacKinnon figure it out in 2-3 seasons after he's matured abit.