Eh I'm not the one making that argument. The league goes through trends on where the stars get put but for the last ~35ish years it's been largely in the middle. Go through the O6 though and most of the stars were put at the wing (probably true from the advent of the forward pass, honestly). I think Kucherov's skillset is more unique than MacKinnon's - just because high-end playmaking wingers are relatively rare, but that's just a curiousity and not anything about their abilities or value.
But that gets to another point - there's a lot of arguments that Cs are more valuable than Wingers. I've always found that as a convenient aphorism, but thinking that it applies to clear outliers (like Kucherov) is stinkin thinkin. The C/W defense dynamic hasn't been true for at least 15 years - almost every team applies some variety of F1 F2 F3 in the D zone. Additionally - McDavid or MacKinnon having "more defensive responsibilities" is... god damn use your brains people no one is tasking either of those guys to shut anyone down. But even taking the D zone argument out of it, that statement is generally true (but not true in every case) because it is easier to make plays from the center position. You have both sides of the ice to work with, you're often the most talented player on your line, and wingers *tend* to be more goal scoring oriented than Cs. But those general truths go out the window the second you run your offense through a winger instead of a C.
I just get a *little* frustrated at the "well he's a C so that's a better position" when talking about the elite talent in the league. It's incredibly lazy thinking when these guys (Kucherov, Panarin, used to be Kane) are clearly driving the play in a way that's normally reserved for a C, but from the wing.
