This year scoring is its highest its been since 93/94, rising each year for the past 5 years (sans covid)
In 07/08 only 3 guys had 50+ goals, only 2 guys cracked 100 points.
Give me a choice of 25 year old Ovi or McDavid .. I take McDavid but I do think there is an era adjustment to be considered.
I get what you’re saying and it’s important to chew on different scoring eras and how many players achieved certain marks and so on, but there’s some stuff that era adjustment can’t explain away or fit into a tidy little box for comparison sake.
Adjusted stats simply can’t wave away what the leader did against their peers.
Ovechkin’s strength in this argument is that he potted 65 goals when only two other players crossed 50. He beat the runner up by 25%. That’s huge. On the other hand, while he was one of two 100 point scorers, he “only” won the Art Ross by 6 points. Crosby missed 29 games and a handful of other players who played in the 70-76 games range “paced” for 95-100. Dominance over his peers was strictly in the goal scoring realm.
But as a collective season where McDavid is on track for 65-85-150*?
The difference here is that he’s about to have a second season where he wins the Art Ross by 20-25 points over his teammate and 30+ over the closest non-teammate while completing the same sweep of hardware. Sure, there might be 10-12 scorers who pass 100 points, but McDavid is going to be beat most of them by 30, 40, and maybe even one by 50 points.
Adjusting for era hasn’t quite figured out how to downplay that part because they can’t do it when evaluating Gretzky and to a much lesser extent, they’re not able to do it with McDavid.
* assuming continued good health for the posters who need it spelled explicitly stated every time
Ovechkin’s 2007-2008 through 2009-2010 is a 3 year stretch that I’ve championed for a long time and will continue to admire when looking back. However, McDavid is putting the finishing touches on his masterpiece that should firmly vault him past any individual season and collectively, for longer.
