Nikita Kucherov is the clear favorite for the Art Ross Trophy

[thegazelle]

Happy to see a close race for the Art Ross which looks like it will be down to the wire. Definitely fun to watch the out of town scoreboard to see how the other teams did.

Personally, I would never bet against McDavid if he is ever in the running for any title. MacKinnon has been coming up strong. Tampa seems to have either really good games or really bad games. During the beginning of the seasons I counted both the Oilers and McDavid out insofar as playoffs and scoring titles, but it's nice to see a competitive race. Would be nice if the Rocket Richard had this level of competitiveness. It certainly drives interest in scoreboard watching every night, and even watching the out of town games. Regardless of who wins, this race is good for the NHL.

 

[Video Nasty]

This may be the best art ross race we've seen since 1979 in all honesty. It's so fun seeing this many star calibre players all have peak seasons at the same time.

For reference, here's the top 4 players in points for that season:

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Bryan Trottier​	New York Islanders​	76	47	87	134	50
Marcel Dionne​	Los Angeles Kings​	80	59	71	130	30
Guy Lafleur​	Montreal Canadiens​	80	52	77	129	28
Mike Bossy​	New York Islanders​	80	69	57	126	25

Bringing this up got me interested in seeing how that race unfolded throughout the season, so I poked around various points by date as it progressed.

Trottier missed his four games in mid-November and that put him in the position of making up ground during the first half of the season.

After some early back and forth between Chouinard, MacMillan, and Dionne leading up to that point, Lafleur took over the scoring lead in early December. Trottier was 14 points behind at that point (with 7 fewer games played).

Trottier was in the midst of a heater that would ultimately run from late November to mid-January that saw him score 26 goals and 59 points in 26 games (this included his 5 goal, 8 point game) that would see him turn a 14 point deficit to an 8 point lead with 5 less games played than Lafleur through January 16th.

Lafleur then retook the lead 11 days later and held it through almost the first two weeks of March before Trottier seized it back and never let go again. Dionne and Bossy would briefly pass Lafleur as well over the next week or two and Lafleur would enter April in third, where he would ultimately finish the season.

Really interesting race. The best part is that the guy who played the fewest games ultimately won it. Dionne finished second, but was never really a threat to Trottier when we examine it in hindsight. Lafleur seemed to hold it as long as he did due to his own greatness of course, but always having more games played than Trottier. Bossy was never a factor though he finished just 3 points behind Lafleur.

It will be interesting to see how we examine our current season in progress once it’s complete.

 

[Calderon]

This may be the best art ross race we've seen since 1979 in all honesty. It's so fun seeing this many star calibre players all have peak seasons at the same time.

For reference, here's the top 4 players in points for that season:

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Bryan Trottier​	New York Islanders​	76	47	87	134	50
Marcel Dionne​	Los Angeles Kings​	80	59	71	130	30
Guy Lafleur​	Montreal Canadiens​	80	52	77	129	28
Mike Bossy​	New York Islanders​	80	69	57	126	25

That's neat. In order it's basically McDavid, MacKinnon, Kucherov and an imaginery version of Matthews (with a lick of playmaking ability).

 

[blundluntman]

Bringing this up got me interested in seeing how that race unfolded throughout the season, so I poked around various points by date as it progressed.

Trottier missed his four games in mid-November and that put him in the position of making up ground during the first half of the season.

After some early back and forth between Chouinard, MacMillan, and Dionne leading up to that point, Lafleur took over the scoring lead in early December. Trottier was 14 points behind at that point (with 7 fewer games played).

Trottier was in the midst of a heater that would ultimately run from late November to mid-January that saw him score 26 goals and 59 points in 26 games (this included his 5 goal, 8 point game) that would see him turn a 14 point deficit to an 8 point lead with 5 less games played than Lafleur through January 16th.

Lafleur then retook the lead 11 days later and held it through almost the first two weeks of March before Trottier seized it back and never let go again. Dionne and Bossy would briefly pass Lafleur as well over the next week or two and Lafleur would enter April in third, where he would ultimately finish the season.

Really interesting race. The best part is that the guy who played the fewest games ultimately won it. Dionne finished second, but was never really a threat to Trottier when we examine it in hindsight. Lafleur seemed to hold it as long as he did due to his own greatness of course, but always having more games played than Trottier. Bossy was never a factor though he finished just 3 points behind Lafleur.

It will be interesting to see how we examine our current season in progress once it’s complete.

That’s actually incredible, I knew Trottier was a different animal during his prime but I didn’t know he was going on tears that crazy. It really resembles what Mcdavid’s currently doing tbh. This season mirrors 79 even more than I realized

 

[Beukeboom]

That’s actually incredible, I knew Trottier was a different animal during his prime but I didn’t know he was going on tears that crazy. It really resembles what Mcdavid’s currently doing tbh. This season mirrors 79 even more than I realized

Does that mean Celebrini will be the new Gretzky?

Anyway, this race is really fun to follow even if I don't have a horse in it.

 

[Crosby2010]

I don't know if Kucherov will win it, but with him and MacKinnon at 105 and McDavid at 97, I think it will be very difficult for McDavid to win the scoring title, even though he has games in hand. Both of them are still scoring a lot, so I don't think it will be easy. That being said, McDavid could definitely get #6 by the end of the year, it would surprise no one.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Tampa basically plays a bunch of games against my team which would do better with a shooter tutor.

At least Chicago has a goalie.

I wouldn't place a penny on Chicago in a series vs Ottawa...

 

[castle]

I don't know if Kucherov will win it, but with him and MacKinnon at 105 and McDavid at 97, I think it will be very difficult for McDavid to win the scoring title, even though he has games in hand. Both of them are still scoring a lot, so I don't think it will be easy. That being said, McDavid could definitely get #6 by the end of the year, it would surprise no one.

He has four games in hand. 2ppg and the lead is gone. IMO it’s basically a three way tie right now.

 

[Fire Sweeney]

There is no way McDavid finishes the season under 2 ppg.

 

[CpatainCanuck]

McDavid quietly leading in points-per-game.

Him missing two games this season likely means he would have to do more than maintain his current pace to win the trophy. But really, right now he is almost neck-and-neck with Kucherov and MacKinnon in the race.

 

[hamzarocks]

I want Mackinnon to take the ross+hart+lindsay this year

That puts him in the Sakic, Yzerman, Malkin, Trottier tier all time

A top 30 player to play the sport

His run since 2018 is just incredible.

I still think Mcdavid take it though. He has gotten the race so close. Unless his wingers go cold he is going to keep getting assists.

I do think if the above happens he will not be able to elevate his goals this year to be able to get the ross. His shots off this year.

 

[Despote]

Looked like he'd be held pointless but a couple of nice primary apples for McDavid

 

[Video Nasty]

Game tying and game winning assists tonight. McDavid up to 99 points with 22 games remaining.

 

[BallardEra]

Looked like he'd be held pointless but a couple of nice primary apples for McDavid

76 assists in 58 games.

On pace for 105 on the season.

 

[authentic]

Game tying and game winning assists tonight. McDavid up to 99 points with 22 games remaining.

I think he’ll be in the lead with at least 10 games left in the season to build on it

 

[jcs0218]

McDavid will catch Kucherov soon.

He has been cutting into Kucherov's lead for weeks, especially since the All-Star Game.

This is Kucherov's punishment for not taking the All-Star Game Skills Competition seriously.

The Hockey Gods in Heaven, such as Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard, are conspiring against Kucherov to make him lose the scoring race so that he learns a lesson about respecting the All-Star Game Skills Competition.

 

[Video Nasty]

76 assists in 58 games.

On pace for 105 on the season.

67 assists in his past 43 games.

24 over his final 22 games is barely above his career average.

We’re well on our way to just our fourth player ever to record 100 assists.

 

[BallardEra]

66 assists in his past 43 games.

24 over his final 22 games is barely above his career average.

We’re well on our way to just our fourth player ever to record 100 assists.

He is also closing in on a 1 assist per game average for his career.

623 assists in 627 games.

 

[Video Nasty]

Looked like he'd be held pointless but a couple of nice primary apples for McDavid

It’s funny because you just know @Nathaniel had a pre written post ready to go about McDavid going pointless like ten minutes ago.

 

[BallardEra]

He needs 26 assists over his final 22 games to hit 649 assists in 649 games for his career.

 

[Wings4Life]

I want Mackinnon to take the ross+hart+lindsay this year

That puts him in the Sakic, Yzerman, Malkin, Trottier tier all time

One of these players has an extra Ross.

 

[Fledgemyhedge]

It’s funny because you just know @Nathaniel had a pre written post ready to go about McDavid going pointless like ten minutes ago.

this dudes legacy on here is nuts

 

[Frosty415]

Can't believe how good he is

Didn't Kucherov have a 15 point lead at one point? I remember one of the Leafs trolls bragging about it

 

[Wings4Life]

this dudes legacy on here is nuts

He has taken the baton from that daver guy.

 

[Senor Catface]

It’s funny because you just know @Nathaniel had a pre written post ready to go about McDavid going pointless like ten minutes ago.

Here's a representation of him walking to his computer with 90 seconds left in the game.