Nikita Kucherov is the clear favorite for the Art Ross Trophy

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Third place in scoring at 27? Hmm.... where have we seen this before?

 

[beowulf]

So who is the clear favorite?

 

[avsfan9]

So who is the clear favorite?

Mackinnon, Mcdavid or Kuch. The Canucks are coming back down to earth, and you can’t really choose one Canuck over the other anyways.

 

[beowulf]

Mackinnon, Mcdavid or Kuch. The Canucks are coming back down to earth, and you can’t really choose one Canuck over the other anyways.

it was more sarcastic as Vid, like usual with Russian players, had it in the bag for Kuch even though it looks like it is going to be a great race and nobody is close to having it sown up

 

[DownIsTheNewUp]

Kuch has 29 points in 19 games since this thread was made... and he still lost the lead. Crazy times we live in.

 

[GMofOilers]

Third place in scoring at 27? Hmm.... where have we seen this before?

Didnt know the season is only 39 games long? When they change it?

 

[TheStatican]

Why don’t you just admit that your initial response was uncalled for, considering I was quoting someone talking specifically about Kucherov?

You seemingly took some kind of offense to my response, which was a neutral one. I was simply reminding people that the gap between MacKinnon and McDavid last year wasn't as huge as some presume due to Mac's own injury issue. Your response was clearly not neutral, seems to me like maybe you're holding a grudge from past replies. It was hardly necessary to go on the offensive, but I won't hesitate to respond in kind and take the same approach when needed.

I think I’ve made my thoughts clear about pace for players who are not Gretzky, Lemieux, and McDavid. I think it’s a bit generous to pro-rate MacKinnon into the #2 spot last year, considering we’ve seen him falter down the stretch before (2018), but to each their own.

What's the more relevant data set to draw upon? His performance in 2018 or his performance over the last 2 years where he's scored at about a 130 point pace? A 130 or near 130 pt pace is hardily outrageous these days considering he'd be the 4th player to achieve that level of play in this era.

 

[Video Nasty]

You seemingly took some kind of offense to my response, which was a neutral one. I was simply reminding people that the gap between MacKinnon and McDavid last year wasn't as huge as some presume due to Mac's own injury issue. Your response was clearly not neutral, seems to me like maybe you're holding a grudge from past replies. It was hardly necessary to go on the offensive, but I won't hesitate to respond in kind and take the same approach when needed.

What's the more relevant data set to draw upon? His performance in 2018 or his performance over the last 2 years where he's scored at about a 130 point pace? A 130 or near 130 pt pace is hardily outrageous these days considering he'd be the 4th player to achieve that level of play in this era.

MacKinnon has been terrific for a long time now and he’s certainly not making it easy for McDavid, who is simply going to have to deal with having 4-5 games in hand for months that is making this gap look larger than it is on the day to day.

He may very well breach 130. I don’t think he can reach 140 which is where I think McDavid ultimately settles by the end.

The injury and the aftermath of being rushed back, combined with Kucherov and MacKinnon continuing to go ham, has certainly made this an exciting race to follow in the first half up to this point.

 

[TheStatican]

He may very well breach 130. I don’t think he can reach 140 which is where I think McDavid ultimately settles by the end.

That I can agree with. While MacKinnon has basically proven himself to be a 130 pt level player at his peak, remains to be seen if he can do it within one season ofc, his injury prone nature is the problem. But McDavid is still the only player capable of 140+ pts, doesn't necessarily mean he gets there every year though.

 

[cupface52]

You seemingly took some kind of offense to my response, which was a neutral one. I was simply reminding people that the gap between MacKinnon and McDavid last year wasn't as huge as some presume due to Mac's own injury issue. Your response was clearly not neutral, seems to me like maybe you're holding a grudge from past replies. It was hardly necessary to go on the offensive, but I won't hesitate to respond in kind and take the same approach when needed.

What's the more relevant data set to draw upon? His performance in 2018 or his performance over the last 2 years where he's scored at about a 130 point pace? A 130 or near 130 pt pace is hardily outrageous these days considering he'd be the 4th player to achieve that level of play in this era.

*120 points, unless you mean last year and a half.

He's yet to maintain that over a full season. Colorado has been a good team, even while Mack is injured, so he never gets rushed back from injuries, he's always 100%. Does Mack benefit from missing games, and how much, would he be able to maintain that pace over 82 games?

The data over the previous 3 years shows that Mack misses an average of 12 games per year, how can we credit him with an 82 game pace when he's never shown to be able to do it over 82 games in a single season.

 

[TheStatican]

*120 points, unless you mean last year and a half.

He's yet to maintain that over a full season. Colorado has been a good team, even while Mack is injured, so he never gets rushed back from injuries, he's always 100%. Does Mack benefit from missing games, and how much, would he be able to maintain that pace over 82 games?

The data over the previous 3 years shows that Mack misses an average of 12 games per year, how can we credit him with an 82 game pace when he's never shown to be able to do it over 82 games in a single season.

I just spoke to this in the post above yours.

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[TampaBayLightning]

Without KUCH, the Bolts might be in last place in the entire league.

 

[Voight]

As a fan I hope we have a super tight Art Ross race. Its been a while.

 

[Hoochi Papa]

He's still a laughable piece of shit who'll go to LTIR when words hurt.

 

[Seanaconda]

What do you have vs chickpeas? They hurt nobody

Tbh the health stuff reminds me of Eakins coming to the Oilers and I get flashbacks

 

[PaulD]

Kucherov early lead
Mackinnon and McDavid closing the gap.

 

[PaulD]

Only took him being on one of the best teams in the past 30 years to do it

in fairness he was a huge part of why it was the best team in 30 years

 

[McFlyingV]

Third place in scoring at 27? Hmm.... where have we seen this before?

This is such an embarrassingly bad take. Its going to look even worse 4 months from now.

 

[McFlyingV]

View attachment 795303

Something tells me the "Power play merchant" excuse is going to die a quick death, like all the other delusional theories that try to discredit his greatness.

Pro tip: if your excuse for explaining away someone's greatness could also be copied by any player (but isn't), then it is a delusional theory.

"Soft Canadian division is the only reason he got all those points" - meanwhile nobody else seemed to take advantage of this "soft" division and posted historic numbers

"He only got 150 points because he is a powerplay merchant" - I wasn't aware that McDavid was the only player allowed to score on the powerplay? Shouldn't others want to be merchants as well to help their team score goals??

Becomes even funnier when you realize McDavid has 83 more even strength points than any other player since entering the league, has the most even strength point leading seasons, and has the two largest even strength point gaps from 2nd place in a season (2017-18 and 2020-21).

 

[McFlyingV]

Why don’t you just admit that your initial response was uncalled for, considering I was quoting someone talking specifically about Kucherov?

I can easily admit that I wasn’t aware of the half a period of play that you’re citing for MacKinnon. It’s not that hard for me to do so, despite it being a bit unfair that I’m being dragged into this bizarre argument for no reason.

I think I’ve made my thoughts clear about pace for players who are not Gretzky, Lemieux, and McDavid. I think it’s a bit generous to pro-rate MacKinnon into the #2 spot last year, considering we’ve seen him falter down the stretch before (2018), but to each their own.

McDavid has 37 points in his past 17 games and 4-5 games in hand on the two players ahead of him. Don’t worry, he’ll have as many Art Rosses as Howe and Lemieux in a few months time.

Seems weird in general for him to pro-rate MacKinnon into the #2 spot last year when Drai's ppg was higher.

 

[Calderon]

How do tie-breaks in terms of the players' point race go in nhl.com? Kucherov has been atop the race virtually since day one this season. Now MacKinnon caught up with him, and both have 64 points in 39 games. Kucherov has more goals and is before MacK in alphabetical order. Why is MacKinnon sitting in first place then? Is it due to the higher +/-, EVP, TOI or a degree of freshness? It has to be something, right? And then again, if the season ended today, Kucherov would end up number one, right?

I'm not distinctively a fan of either player but I keep seeing this phenomenon happen on NHL.com a lot and now decided to write up on it.

 

[Bank Shot]

How do tie-breaks in terms of the players' point race go in nhl.com? Kucherov has been atop the race virtually since day one this season. Now MacKinnon caught up with him, and both have 64 points in 39 games. Kucherov has more goals and is before MacK in alphabetical order. Why is MacKinnon sitting in first place then? Is it due to the higher +/-, EVP, TOI or a degree of freshness? It has to be something, right? And then again, if the season ended today, Kucherov would end up number one, right?

I'm not distinctively a fan of either player but I keep seeing this phenomenon happen on NHL.com a lot and now decided to write up on it.

The official NHL tie breaker is goals. Not aure the second tie break.

The NHL.com site appears to be random when you look at all the scoring race ties.

 

[Dust]

How do tie-breaks in terms of the players' point race go in nhl.com? Kucherov has been atop the race virtually since day one this season. Now MacKinnon caught up with him, and both have 64 points in 39 games. Kucherov has more goals and is before MacK in alphabetical order. Why is MacKinnon sitting in first place then? Is it due to the higher +/-, EVP, TOI or a degree of freshness? It has to be something, right? And then again, if the season ended today, Kucherov would end up number one, right?

I'm not distinctively a fan of either player but I keep seeing this phenomenon happen on NHL.com a lot and now decided to write up on it.

I think it's just alphabetical with their first name if the PPG is tied, nothing else seems to make sense. Na from Nathan over Ni from Nikita.

If you look at the 3 players at 53 points, they have McDavid first because he has a higher PPG, and then it's Artemi before David.

EDIT: went down the list and noticed Jesper ahead of Jake for guys with 43 points and the same PPG, so honestly now I don't know. They must just be winging it.

 

[Barrie22]

The official NHL tie breaker is goals. Not aure the second tie break.

The NHL.com site appears to be random when you look at all the scoring race ties.

If players are tied, it is usually settled by goals. But if both are tied then its just tied.