What is McDavid's Peak (so far)

[bambamcam4ever]

I rank the best versions of Connor McDavid like this:

1) 2021-22 Playoffs

33 pts in 16 games, created a ridiculous number of chances every time he was on the ice. Small sample but I have never seen him look better. We will not see another player lead the playoffs in scoring while not even reaching the finals.

2) 2022-23 Regular Season

153 points in 82 games, led the league in all 3 primary stats. There has not been a season that dominant since Mario.

3) 2020-21 Canadian Division Year

His stats were technically more impressive this year than in 2022-23, but I rank it a bit lower to take into account the smaller sample size and the unique divisions playing the same teams over and over. His stats were pretty outrageous though, he had more assists than anyone else had points (besides his teammate Draisaitl)

4) 2023-24 Playoffs

Won the Conn Smythe on a losing team, broke a Gretzky assist record (something that will never happen again), became the only 40+ point scorer in the playoffs besides the 2 GOATs Gretzky/Lemieux. Despite all of this, he did not look as good to my eye test as other versions of himself, which is understandable since he was playing with a few injuries.

5) 2023-24 Regular Season

Hit the 100 assist mark, was 2nd in pts/game but for that to happen he needed to get injured twice & have Kucherov break the all-time empty net points record. But despite still being the best player in the league, he didn't look as good as other versions of himself. He played a more safe finesse-style game, rather than the aggressive attacking style that we saw in 2022. Didn't appear to have his lethal shot (injury?) He passed in spots where he had a Grade A shooting opportunity a laughable amount of times during that season.

We'll never see another player do that (#1)? Forsberg did it twice lol.

 

[crowfish]

We'll never see another player do that (#1)? Forsberg did it twice lol.

It has happened zero times in the salary cap era, but I agree my wording is too strong. Someone could do it again.

 

[CanadienShark]

2022-23 season or 2024 playoffs. I went with playoffs, just because he did exactly what everyone said he needed to be among the best of all time; put up a truly great playoff run.

 

[authentic]

It has happened zero times in the salary cap era, but I agree my wording is too strong. Someone could do it again.

Both Crosby and Malkin had more points than anyone else after 3 rounds in 2009, 28 points each in 17 games.

 

[crowfish]

Both Crosby and Malkin had more points than anyone else after 3 rounds in 2009, 28 points each in 17 games.

I already agreed that my comment was wrong. The technical achievement of leading without making the finals is not necessarily tough. There is lots of variance in which teams make the finals, what sort of players are on that team, how many games played they had etc.

Scoring 33 pts in 16 games is insane was more the spirit of what I was getting at.

That was is the 4th highest scoring playoffs in the salary cap era, every player with more points played minimum 23 games. It's the highest pts/game in the salary cap era of anyone who played 5 or more games. More points than Sidney Crosby ever had in any postseason when he made the finals 4 times etc

 

[authentic]

I already agreed that my comment was wrong. The technical achievement of leading without making the finals is not necessarily tough. There is lots of variance in which teams make the finals, what sort of players are on that team, how many games played they had etc.

Scoring 33 pts in 16 games is insane was more the spirit of what I was getting at.

That was is the 4th highest scoring playoffs in the salary cap era, every player with more points played minimum 23 games. It's the highest pts/game in the salary cap era of anyone who played 5 or more games. More points than Sidney Crosby ever had in any postseason when he made the finals 4 times etc

Yeah I agree that was the best playoffs performance of this era even better than his recent one even though he didn’t make the finals, and the best peak play from the 4th best peak player of all-time.