Nikita Kucherov is the clear favorite for the Art Ross Trophy

[TheGoldenJet]

McDavid is a much better player. If McDavid remains healthy, Kucherov won’t have a chance.

 

[mkatcherin00]

McDavid is taking it more easy this season and playing more of a defensive game. Kucherov has been playing great though.

 

[authentic]

McDavid is taking it more easy this season and playing more of a defensive game. Kucherov has been playing great though.

McDavid is averaging over 2 points per game since he got healthy again, 23 points in 9 games. He could be in the lead before the season is halfway through.

 

[KCC]

McDavid is averaging over 2 points per game since he got healthy again, 23 points in 9 games. He could be in the lead before the season is halfway through.

Keep in mind McDavid has 4 games in hand also. He could easily get 10 points in those 4 games (2 points s game like he’s been getting) and be right there with him.

 

[Duke74]

Another case of
"Thank you OP for this thread.
-Oiler fans"

Now do one for Draisaitl not scoring enough please.

Feel free to start that one yourself.

 

[Soundwave]

McDavid is averaging over 2 points per game since he got healthy again, 23 points in 9 games. He could be in the lead before the season is halfway through.

I said it in the other thread ... this guy is just a f***ing alien. He's not human.

He's scoring at a Gretzky Prime like level for regular stretches just casually in a league that is way, way, way better than the league Gretz played in during the 80s/90s. There was no defensive structure in Gretzky's hey day, horrendous goaltending, many of whom were tiny 5'9 guys in laughably small equipment with laughably bad goaltending technique, and far lower overall talent level in the league back then.

For anyone to just step on the gas pedal of their ability and just casually produce like this ... it shouldn't be possible.

This guy has been playing injured for half the season, he shouldn't even be close to the top 10 right now let alone IN the top 10, Matthews is an MVP a couple of years ago he's not even in the top 10 in scoring this year. That's not knocking Auston, just saying how hard of a league this is. You have any idea how hard it is to be that consistently at the top of scoring every year?

Anyone think Johnny Gaudreau and Huberdeau are gonna be 2 and 3 in scoring this year like they were a couple of years ago? lol. What is a dream season, a "everything is going right for me!" season for other players is just "normal, maybe even a down year" for McDavid.

 

[Coffey]

Oilers play Hawks on Tuesday. Should be interesting to see.

 

[authentic]

I said it in the other thread ... this guy is just a f***ing alien. He's not human.

He's scoring at a Gretzky Prime like level for regular stretches just casually in a league that is way, way, way better than the league Gretz played in during the 80s/90s. There was no defensive structure in Gretzky's hey day, horrendous goaltending, many of whom were tiny 5'9 guys in laughably small equipment with laughably bad goaltending technique, and far lower overall talent level in the league back then.

For anyone to just step on the gas pedal of their ability and just casually produce like this ... it shouldn't be possible.

This guy has been playing injured for half the season, he shouldn't even be close to the top 10 right now let alone IN the top 10, Matthews is an MVP a couple of years ago he's not even in the top 10 in scoring this year. That's not knocking Auston, just saying how hard of a league this is. You have any idea how hard it is to be that consistently at the top of scoring every year?

Anyone think Johnny Gaudreau and Huberdeau are gonna be 2 and 3 in scoring this year like they were a couple of years ago? lol. What is a dream season for other players is just "normal, maybe even a down year" for McDavid.

Oh there’s no comparison between the NHL today and the 80s. That’s been true for well over 2 decades now. A player like McDavid is what it takes to dominate now with the pace and skill of the game ramped up. I don’t even believe Gretzky would be better than McDavid with all of todays advantages.

 

[McFlash97]

Not Fair to Bedard. Hopefully he does decent. He is still a rookie. McDavid is like Godzilla for him. Nowhere near McDavid level.

 

[Soundwave]

Oh there’s no comparison between the NHL today and the 80s. That’s been true for well over 2 decades now. A player like McDavid is what it takes to dominate now with the pace and skill of the game ramped up. I don’t even believe Gretzky would be better than McDavid with all of todays advantages.

I love 80s/early 90s (pre dead puck bullshit) hockey more than anything. If I could snap a finger and have the game turn back to that, before over-coaching and everything became about reducing goals set ... I totally would.

That bias aside ... you can watch 80s/early 90s games on Youtube relatively easily.

I mean, lets be honest. The "defense" is hilarious, there's no defensive system to most teams at all, they just play pond hockey. Goalies are horribad, Jack Campbell would be a Vezina trophy contender in that era. There just seems to be little in the way of coaching strategy back then too, as far I can tell coaches largely were more "yelling and kicking garbage cans around" types who handled the "motivation" aspect, but actual strategy? lol, forget it.

The fact that McDavid can score at these levels in a league that is just far better coached, far better d-men, far better strategy, far better athletes, etc. etc. is just incredible.

He'd be arrested if you put the modern version of him into a season of 1980s hockey, even on the worst team, he'd demolish the D and goalies of that era.

 

[Macheteops]

McDavid is taking it more easy this season and playing more of a defensive game. Kucherov has been playing great though.

I disagree with this. He was injured but in no way taking it easy. The guy is a gamer he likely should of been sitting due to his injury

His defence has improved each year though. I love when people say he's terrible defensively. I immediately know they either don't watch him play or just clowns

 

[42]

Kucherov 47 points in 28 games. 19 points in last 10.
McDavid 36 points in 23 games. 23 points in last 10.

McDavid is a much better player. If McDavid remains healthy, Kucherov won’t have a chance.

Better, not much better.

 

[SaltNPeca]

Gonna be hard for McDavid to catch up since he isn’t playing in the easy Canadian division anymore.

- facts

Legit had trouble vs. VAN this year and WPG always plays him well. Thank the Hockey Gods for tee-ing up Carolina, Vegas, Washington, Anaheim for McNugget to feast on.

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

He's running away with it, everyone else is a mile behind at this point.

Nice to see Stammer get 4G's tonight aswell

 

[QJL]

Kucherov 47 points in 28 games. 19 points in last 10.
McDavid 36 points in 23 games. 23 points in last 10.


Better, not much better.

People have not learned.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Maintaining the gap . ...

 

[Cup or Bust]

You have to give Kucherov credit. There is no doubt he is one of the best players in the league.

 

[Sykur]

There was no defensive structure in Gretzky's hey day, horrendous goaltending, many of whom were tiny 5'9 guys in laughably small equipment with laughably bad goaltending technique, and far lower overall talent level in the league back then.

If that's the case then why was Gretzky the only one putting up 200+ point seasons? Why was Gretzky scoring 70 points more than the next player (who was normally his teammate, either Kurri or Coffey)? Why, in an era known for its high-flying offenses, was Gretzky still scoring so much more and so much faster than everyone else?

See, comparing eras is the misnomer. What you should be doing is comparing a player's dominance vs. his contemporaries. McDavid is the best player in the world, no doubt. But is he scoring 70% more than the next best player good? Is the gulf between McDavid and the rest of the league comparable to the gulf between Gretzky and everyone else in the 80s?

It's not about Gretzky vs McDavid. It's about the gap between Gretzky and the rest of the league when he played, vs the gap between McDavid and the rest of the league today. Who's gap is bigger? Be honest now.

 

[Cup or Bust]

If that's the case then why was Gretzky the only one putting up 200+ point seasons? Why was Gretzky scoring 70 points more than the next player (who was normally his teammate, either Kurri or Coffey)? Why, in an era known for its high-flying offenses, was Gretzky still scoring so much more and so much faster than everyone else?

See, comparing eras is the misnomer. What you should be doing is comparing a player's dominance vs. his contemporaries. McDavid is the best player in the world, no doubt. But is he scoring 70% more than the next best player good? Is the gulf between McDavid and the rest of the league comparable to the gulf between Gretzky and everyone else in the 80s?

It's not about Gretzky vs McDavid. It's about the gap between Gretzky and the rest of the league when he played, vs the gap between McDavid and the rest of the league today. Who's gap is bigger? Be honest now.

It's impossible to get that kind of gap on teams scoring only 250-300 goal range most seasons. When Gretzky was in his prime top teams were scoring 350-400 goals a season. Last season McDavid played on his best offensive team that scored 325 goals and he outscored most of the other top players in the league by 40-60 points. Its safe to say that at 350-400 goals McDavid would create a pretty large gap as well. McDavid is easily the best player today but there isn't enough goals scored to create that type of separation in today's game statswise.

Where McDavid does have a huge gap over everyone else in the league today is the amount of Art Ross, Hart, Ted Lindsey awards, points per game , assists per game, 100 point seasons, and top 2 finishes in scoring. Comparing what he has done in his career to every other player today, McDavid does have a large gap over all of them. Probably the biggest gap any player has ever had over the rest of the league besides Gretzky.

 

[Soundwave]

If that's the case then why was Gretzky the only one putting up 200+ point seasons? Why was Gretzky scoring 70 points more than the next player (who was normally his teammate, either Kurri or Coffey)? Why, in an era known for its high-flying offenses, was Gretzky still scoring so much more and so much faster than everyone else?

See, comparing eras is the misnomer. What you should be doing is comparing a player's dominance vs. his contemporaries. McDavid is the best player in the world, no doubt. But is he scoring 70% more than the next best player good? Is the gulf between McDavid and the rest of the league comparable to the gulf between Gretzky and everyone else in the 80s?

It's not about Gretzky vs McDavid. It's about the gap between Gretzky and the rest of the league when he played, vs the gap between McDavid and the rest of the league today. Who's gap is bigger? Be honest now.

That just shows the 80s was less talented overall.

There is more talent in the league now, McDavid though is the only guy who is on top end scoring every year while others come and go. One year Panarin is up there, another year Pasta, another year Gaudreau, another year Matthews, some times Kuch but these guys need to be having very favorable years where a lot is going right for them.

McDavid does it every year, year in, year out.

 

[Randyne]

If that's the case then why was Gretzky the only one putting up 200+ point seasons? Why was Gretzky scoring 70 points more than the next player (who was normally his teammate, either Kurri or Coffey)? Why, in an era known for its high-flying offenses, was Gretzky still scoring so much more and so much faster than everyone else?

He was untouchable. That cheatcode alone is enough to spam zillion assists from behind the net.

 

[Sykur]

It's impossible to get that kind of gap on teams scoring only 250-300 goal range most seasons. When Gretzky was in his prime top teams were scoring 350-400 goals a season.

Only one team scored 350-400 goals every season in the 80s and that was the Edmonton Oilers (with a peak of 446 in '84 -- nearly 100 more than the next best team).

Now why was that?

(hint: The Oilers suddenly and inexplicably stopped scoring that much in 1988. They were replaced by the new scoring juggernaut: LA Kings)

 

[KapG]

I said it in the other thread ... this guy is just a f***ing alien. He's not human.

He's scoring at a Gretzky Prime like level for regular stretches just casually in a league that is way, way, way better than the league Gretz played in during the 80s/90s. There was no defensive structure in Gretzky's hey day, horrendous goaltending, many of whom were tiny 5'9 guys in laughably small equipment with laughably bad goaltending technique, and far lower overall talent level in the league back then.

For anyone to just step on the gas pedal of their ability and just casually produce like this ... it shouldn't be possible.

This guy has been playing injured for half the season, he shouldn't even be close to the top 10 right now let alone IN the top 10, Matthews is an MVP a couple of years ago he's not even in the top 10 in scoring this year. That's not knocking Auston, just saying how hard of a league this is. You have any idea how hard it is to be that consistently at the top of scoring every year?

Anyone think Johnny Gaudreau and Huberdeau are gonna be 2 and 3 in scoring this year like they were a couple of years ago? lol. What is a dream season, a "everything is going right for me!" season for other players is just "normal, maybe even a down year" for McDavid.

I mean to be fair to matthews he’s a goal scorer and pacing for 69 goals atm.

 

[Sykur]

That just shows the 80s was less talented overall.

Again: If there was so much worse talent in the 80s, then why wasn't everyone scoring as much as Gretzky? The 80s had a wealth of high-end offensive superstars, none of whom played with Edmonton: Hawerchuk, Larmer, Savard, Yzerman, Lemieux, Goulet, Sakic, Stastny, Bossy, Lafontaine, Gilmour, Dionne, Gartner, Taylor, Mullen, Federko -- the list goes on. All superstars. All put up 100+ point seasons.

But none of them put up 200+ points. No one except for Lemieux even came close. Yet Gretzky did it 4 times.

This needs to be explained. Nevermind the era, or the shoddy defense and crap goaltending. It's the same for everyone. In an era with inflated and gaudy offensive numbers, why was Gretzky doubling up his production over everyone else? Why wasn't anyone else throwing up the same stats as Gretzky? You'd think this would be easy given the shitty goaltending and crappy pond hockey defense. Yet no one could do it. Except one.

Why?