Peak and Prime: Malkin vs Draisaitl

[slapKing]

Two of the greatest of their respective eras. When looking at their careers, which player has the superior peak and prime?

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[Nadal On Clay]

Hard to argue against Draisaitl having the better prime at this point. To me, he never surpassed 2012 Malkin or 2009 Malkin, though.

Voted Draisaitl Prime/Malkin Peak.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Malkin has the better peak and prime, Draisaitl’s no longer at his peak but is still adding to his prime.

 

[Felidae]

Malkin has the better peak and prime, Draisaitl’s no longer at his peak but is still adding to his prime.

I don't know, if Draisatl keeps his pace up this may end up as the best season of his career.

 

[Regal]

I don't know, if Draisatl keeps his pace up this may end up as the best season of his career.

Yea I think he’s playing better overall than 19-20 currently

 

[Paper]

Might need to define exactly peak and prime, but Malkin at his best was the uncontested best player in the league. The Hart Trophy in 2012 should have been a clean sweep for him but some voters needed to be contrary. Draisaitl's Hart Trophy was far more contested and I think legitimate arguments could be made. But, talking about the elite of the elite, the consistency of Malkin has not been the same as Draisaitl and his lows have been lower.

 

[hamzarocks]

Like all/most other players of the old generation this new generation looks better in terms of aging into their primes in late 20s to early 30s (having extended primes as best players in the league contention)

Mcdavid > Crosby
Draisaitl > Malkin
Kucherov > OV

The above 3 didnt have many elite years where they were ross/hart/lindsay level players in their late 20s to early 30s while Kucherov, Mack and Draisaitl still are that level and Mcdavid is still best player when factoring reg season play + playoffs.

Mackinnon doesnt even have a comparison from the previous era unless you compare him to Crosby and Mcdavid in his own tier.

Malkin had way too many down years due to injuries and bad play (2010, 2011 and 2013 especially). Draisaitl beats him for prime easily as hes been a top 5 player since 2019

 

[slapKing]

Might need to define exactly peak and prime, but Malkin at his best was the uncontested best player in the league. The Hart Trophy in 2012 should have been a clean sweep for him but some voters needed to be contrary. Draisaitl's Hart Trophy was far more contested and I think legitimate arguments could be made. But, talking about the elite of the elite, the consistency of Malkin has not been the same as Draisaitl and his lows have been lower.

I view peak as a minimum of 1 season, to a max of 3 seasons.

I view prime as a minimum of 3 seasons, and a max of 5-10 years.

Of course, it all depends on what a person thinks. I tried to keep the "peak/prime" open minded.

 

[TheNumber4]

Hard to say at this point cause Drais peak may still be coming.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

How are we defining prime?

 

[McPoyle]

I think Malkin's 2012 is a bit better than any season Drai has had (lets see how the rest of 2025 plays out), but Drai has a prime going back to 2018 is much better than Malkin's prime.

 

[Three On Zero]

Malkin for peak/prime

Draisaitl is arguably still in his “prime” so
It’s not a very fair poll.

 

[Connor McConnor]

Malkin has the better peak and prime, Draisaitl’s no longer at his peak but is still adding to his prime.

How is the guy having a career year and playing his best two way hockey in his career past his peak? This is his peak

 

[Pablo El Perro]

How is the guy having a career year and playing his best two way hockey in his career past his peak? This is his peak

Yeah, it's an odd claim.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Malkin was the best player in the league by a wide margin in a season Crosby played 22 games (11-12). He also won the art ross and conn smythe with Talbot and Fedotenko as his wings (08-09). Malkin definitely takes peak, but Drai has a good case for prime with his consistency since 2018-19. Though it does seem like he depends on Mcdavid more than Malkin did on Crosby.

 

[I am not exposed]

This one again. The new Stamkos vs. Tavares poll where we see it every few months.

 

[La Bamba]

I'll probably get hate for this but Malkin had 3 superstar seasons. He's been living off the reputation of his 08/09 playoff run and 11/12 regular season for his entire career (which were both insane performances and he was clearly the best in the world). After his 11/12 season, he's been a regular star player. Leon has played at a 117 pts/82 game pace the last 7 seasons. Leo started his NHL career right after his draft year where Malkin debuted after his draft +2 years season so his early career numbers look better.

Best answer is Leon prime, Malkin peak unless Leon can pull off a season where he sweeps the regular season awards and the Conn Smythe

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

I'll probably get hate for this but Malkin had 3 superstar seasons. He's been living off the reputation of his 08/09 playoff run and 11/12 regular season for his entire career (which were both insane performances and he was clearly the best in the world). After his 11/12 season, he's been a regular star player. Leon has played at a 117 pts/82 game pace the last 7 seasons. Leo started his NHL career right after his draft year where Malkin debuted after his draft +2 years season so his early career numbers look better.

Best answer is Leon prime, Malkin peak unless Leon can pull off a season where he sweeps the regular season awards and the Conn Smythe

Malkin was an elite player up until the covid break in 2020, just had a ton of injury issues. He lead the playoffs in scoring en route to a cup in 2017.

 

[La Bamba]

Malkin was an elite player up until the covid break in 2020, just had a ton of injury issues. He lead the playoffs in scoring en route to a cup in 2017.

I don't argue he was an elite player (aka regular star player) but he wasn't a top 5 player. Malkin's greatness is largely thanks to 3 seasons. I like Malkin and the Pens, I'm just being objective

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

I think Draisaitl has been the better player.

 

[McFlash97]

Draisaitl has the better prime and peak. Only thing left is Malkin has the cups.

 

[Wings4Life]

Peak is surely Malkin, who was a better and more physical player. Prime is closer, but still Malkin.

 

[Felidae]

I'll probably get hate for this but Malkin had 3 superstar seasons. He's been living off the reputation of his 08/09 playoff run and 11/12 regular season for his entire career (which were both insane performances and he was clearly the best in the world). After his 11/12 season, he's been a regular star player. Leon has played at a 117 pts/82 game pace the last 7 seasons. Leo started his NHL career right after his draft year where Malkin debuted after his draft +2 years season so his early career numbers look better.

Best answer is Leon prime, Malkin peak unless Leon can pull off a season where he sweeps the regular season awards and the Conn Smythe

This is almost solely due to injuries. He was 6th in PPG as late as 2019, and has 10 seasons finishing top 10 in PPG, 3 of which were top 3 PPG finishes.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Draisaitl has the better prime and peak. Only thing left is Malkin has the cups.

Prime you can argue, but there's zero argument for peak. Malkin's 2011-12 is closer to Mcdavid's 2022-23 in how dominant it was relative to the league than anything Draisaitl has done.

 

[Zine]

Peak? Malkin, quite easily.
At his best he was better than both Crosby and Ovechkin.

Prime? Who knows yet, Draisaitl’s prime isnt finished.