Should Stanley Cups Won Factor Into Player Comparisons/Rankings?

[KrisLetAngry]

Stanley cups won matter only if youre good enough for it to matter. Thats not the case for a large majority of players.

This is where I am at.

Ovechkin after 2018 being a top contributor and winning it was a legacy changer for him.

It definitely changed his all time ranking.

Kucherov v Matthews. I am a big Matthews fan and tend to defend him a lot on these boards.
I think he deserved Selke votes last year and wish he scored 70. He was unreal.

Here's the thing Kucherov has not only been a playoff performer but has won twice. Right now it's not even a debate for me who is better between the two. If Matthews won a cup. We could start having some conversation.

A cup win where the player is a top contributor matters.

Maroon 3 cup wins is awesome for himself but it doesn't make him jump some rankings.
It only matters for those at the top when we do rankings.

 

[JaegerDice]

Cups won matter for the key players on the cup winning teams.

A 1C with multiple cup wins means something. A 4W with multiple cup wins, not so much.

 

[heksagon]

Playoff performance matters. Cups - not really.

Like can anyone knock McDavid for the playoffs after winning a Smythe.

Not a knock overall against his great performance in those playoffs, but it still doesn't feel like a "real" Smythe if a losing player wins it. He was a mixed bag in the finals, dominating some games but being shut down in game 7 and in the first few games (where the Oilers fell into the hole in the first place).

I still think only winning team players should be eligible for the Smythe. That infamous Ciguere picture is just sad, and the fact that we don't even have a McDavid Smythe picture tells us how much he cared about winning it. It feels almost disrespectful to both teams: The Smythe feels like a "f*** you" to the player winning it because they want the Cup instead, and the winning team doesn't get their individual performances honored.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Not a knock overall against his great performance in those playoffs, but it still doesn't feel like a "real" Smythe if a losing player wins it. He was a mixed bag in the finals, dominating some games but being shut down in game 7 and in the first few games (where the Oilers fell into the hole in the first place).

I still think only winning team players should be eligible for the Smythe. That infamous Ciguere picture is just sad, and the fact that we don't even have a McDavid Smythe picture tells us how much he cared about winning it. It feels almost disrespectful to both teams: The Smythe feels like a "f*** you" to the player winning it because they want the Cup instead, and the winning team doesn't get their individual performances honored.

He wasn't shut out in the first few games. He had three points in the first three games.

He was obviously the best and most valuable player in those playoffs. Florida's top scorers had like half as many points. The Panthers were a better team the Oilers. They got the Cup because of it. That doesn't mean one of their players should have been named MVP when no player had a particularly dominant playoff run.

 

[ijuka]

Of course they should factor in, but just factor in.

Truth is, there are far more players that have won the cup than there are those who have scored 30 goals, for example. Winning a cup is a relatively minor accolade for a player.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Cups won matter for the key players on the cup winning teams.

A 1C with multiple cup wins means something. A 4W with multiple cup wins, not so much.

While i largely agree with this, how many cups do we consider Stamkos to have won? He contributed heavily to one, but played 1 game in the playoffs in another win.

Personally, i feel the cup is a team award and won as a team, and no one player wins it for the team, so it shouldn't mean much when comparing players unless they are of similar stature ( like you say 1c vs 1c makes sense, but 1c vs 4c is meaningless) but at certain point you are cherry picking stats like in the case of Stamkos, he won 2 cups, but he really didn't contribute to one at all.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Of course it matters, but it’s just one of the factors.

 

[Oilslick941611]

delete

 

[heksagon]

He wasn't shut out in the first few games. He had three points in the first three games.

He was obviously the best and most valuable player in those playoffs. Florida's top scorers had like half as many points. The Panthers were a better team the Oilers. They got the Cup because of it. That doesn't mean one of their players should have been named MVP when no player had a particularly dominant playoff run.

Barkov, Bobrovsky and Forsling all had Smythe worthy runs. There is more to being dominant than pure points.

 

[John Mandalorian]

This is probably an entirely different conversation if discussed exclusively between US based fans vs Canadian based fans.