Per TSN, Prime Malkin or Prime Draisaitl

[Phil68]

Who would you take
Prime Malkin or Prime Draisaitl

 

[ViD]

The one with Conn Smythe

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Malkin obviously....

Did what he did without spending ~half of his total ice time with Crosby like Draisaitl does with McDavid.

 

[Chiarelli]

Malkin for prime.
Draisaitl has a much more consistent body of work when it comes to greatness.

 

[le_sean]

Prime Malkin won the Hart trophy the year Sid was hurt. In fact he’d have 3 Hart trophies if Ovechkin didn’t exist. I’m taking Malkin

 

[Canovin]

The soon to be 50g 50a x 4 player

 

[hamzarocks]

Draisaitl

 

[Pass the Saitl Sauce]

Oilers fan so maybe biased but before this season I’d say peak Malkin > peak Drai but Draisaitl this year is on that level for me.
Draisaitl has also had the more consistent career so far

 

[Chainshot]

I would take Malkin. I'm sure TSN will lean hard toward whoever is playing on a team in a market they cover however.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Malkin at the moment but Drai is closing the gap quickly

 

[shello]

The one with 3 cups, Conn Smythe, 2 Art Ross' and a Hart

 

[NVious]

Drai for me, just as good of a peak if not better, insanely consistent and never hurt.

 

[Satan]

Malkin and it's not even close

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Malkin will always have the better peak. Draisaitl has a good chance to end up with the better career though if he can stay healthy and continue to be productive in his 30s.

 

[NVious]

Malkin will always have the better peak. Draisaitl has a good chance to end up with the better career though if he can stay healthy and continue to be productive in his 30s.

Drai has had more points in a season
Drai will have 2 years of more points than Malkin's peak after this year
Drai has had more goals in a season (Malkin has 1 50 goal year Drai will have 4+ after this year)

Is all of that undone with the Smythe? The one where Malkin got 36 points in 24 games, Drai has a 2ppg playoff year where he had 32 points in 16 games

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Most definitely Malkin, and I am a big fan of Drai. Prime Malkin was a total beast in so many areas of the game, and was also a physical force. That is to take nothing away from Drai.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Drai has had more points in a season
Drai will have 2 years of more points than Malkin's peak after this year
Drai has had more goals in a season (Malkin has 1 50 goal year Drai will have 4+ after this year)

Is all of that undone with the Smythe? The one where Malkin got 36 points in 24 games, Drai has a 2ppg playoff year where he had 32 points in 16 games

Scoring environments were much different at their respective peaks. You don’t even need to crunch the numbers for this one either, the eye test should be enough.

 

[nbwingsfan]

It’s pretty close but if we’re talking about 1-2 top seasons it’s probably Malkin.

Overall Draisaitl will have been the better player for his career though

 

[Fripp]

Easily Draisaitl, and I hate his guts.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

I take a healthy and motivated Malkin above Crosby and Ovechkin, both of whom I'd take over Draisaitl. It's a shame that version of Malkin wasn't around too often, but what a player he was.

 

[Foppberg]

Malkin. I know a lot around here weren't old enough to watch him but he was an absolute beast at his peak. Especially during the lower scoring era and not this mini 80s offensive hockey we have going now.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

May I ask what "Per TSN" refers to here, other than attempt to get more people to open the thread?

 

[BobCole]

Love both guys but the answer is Malkin for me quite easily. Peak Malkin looked Lemieux-like out there. He was a one man tour de force that could beat you any way he wanted.

 

[SirKillalot]

Malkin playoffs peak, Draisaitl the rest.
That is how it looks like at the moment. Malkin should have had 2 Conn Smythe trophies.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

This is such a wonky one for me.

Malkin in 2012 was better than anyone in the last 2 decades not named McDavid.
Malkin 2012 was better than Crosby ever was, and better than Draisaitl.



But his "peak" as in string together 3+ years? It's Draisaitl pretty easily.