Toggle sidebar

What's wrong with Connor McDavid this season? Lowest PPG and GPG output in ~7-8 years for him

  • Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
He set an NHL record in playoff assists last year. More than Gretzky ever had. More than Lemieux ever had. Last year.

Every player has down years and up years but he's like Crosby in that even in his down years he's still right there at the top.

Didn't help that Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins etc had unbelievably had starts to the year.

He's played a hell of a lot of hockey and heavy minutes in the last year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Iggys Dome, Video Nasty and Summer Rose
waitin425 said:
He's 28 years old. This is his 10th season. Every career has a peak, and it probably happens around age 28 give or take a couple years. His peak may be behind him. Doesn't mean he isn't going to be phenomenal for the next 10. Just means he might not reach the heights he did a couple years ago.
Click to expand...
This would make more sense if the players out performing him the last two seasons weren't 29 year old Nate Mackinnon and 31 year old Nikita Kucherov.
 
I don't watch the Oilers but he was flying in the 4 Nations games. Maybe he's just not really trying 100% in regular season games any longer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Duke74
bobholly39 said:
Connor McDavid seems to be struggling a lot this season to stand out from a scoring perspective. He's certainly not playing "bad", as he is still one of the league leaders, but he no longer seems to stand out as the league's best offensive player, but rather more as part of the pack.

League leaders as of this posting:

MacKinnon 90 points
Draisaitl 88 points
Kucherov 86 points
McDavid 74 points

That's a big gap from the top 3.

I expected he might come roaring back after the 4 nations and go on a tear to end the year, but so far in 4 games he has 3 assists, and is a -7, in 4 straight losses for the Oilers.

McDavid's point per game right now is 1.4. Or, a pace of ~115 points in 82 games. That's his lowest output by far in 7 years

SeasonPPGPace over 82 games
2018-191.49122
2019-201.52124
2020-211.88154
2021-221.54126
2022-231.87153
2023-241.74142
2024-251.40115


If you look at goals scored, it doesn't get much better. He is also at his lowest goals per game over the last 8 years this time (tied with last year)

SeasonGPGPace over 82 games
2017-180.5041
2018-190.5343
2019-200.5344
2020-210.5948
2021-220.5545
2022-230.7864
2023-240.4235
2024-250.4235


This isn't meant to be a "let's hate on McDavid" thread, I'm usually one of the ones singing his praises, as I did in playoffs last year. But I'm genuinely surprised to see him scoring so little this year. So what's going on? Is he injured? Is he just having an off-year? Is he already starting to slow down/decline slightly, where his days at the very top of league are no longer the expectation?

Do you see him bouncing back in-year, and still making a race for the Ross, or close? Do you see him coming back and lapping the field again next season?

Curious to hear people's opinions.
Click to expand...
I am also big fan of McDavid, but right now he is not the best player in the world, imo.
I dont think he will bounc back this season, its been going on for to long now, I do not think he will win Art Ross, my bet, Kucherov,

And it seems like last year could be an anomaly in the scoring race, more "normal" but still pretty high this year. I hope he becomes "himself" next season
 
Look Up said:
He's leaving an opening for Eichel to get back in the debate for best player from 2015 draft lol
Click to expand...
Eichel was never in the debate for best player of the 2015 draft.

As a matter of fact, no one was and no one ever will be.

It's McDavid by a country mile. He could retire tomorrow and he would still be the best player from that draft. He will go down as a top 5 C of all time when he retires, potentially top 3.
 
Soundwave said:
People betting against top level athletes in today's day and age are gonna have a rough time. The top players play at a higher level for longer than ever before because diet and training is so much more advanced than in the past.

Look at LeBron James at 40+ years old in the NBA, Steph Curry just 56 points last night and he's 36? Ovechkin is 39 and still scores at a 50 goal rate. Tom Brady played at a high level until age 41. Tennis players used to be toast by their late 20s, now you see top players playing well into their mid/late 30s like Djokovic.

Draisaitl is 2 years older than McDavid and having a career best year. Kucherov is 4 years old. Etc. etc. etc.

The sports nutrition and training is way better than even 10-12 years ago. The Oilers are always crap coming off a long layoff for at least 3-4 games. Nothing mind blowing about that.
Click to expand...

How many running backs are having career years post 35? Ovechkin hit his career highs for points in his early 20s. Lebron and Currey are great, but not as great as they were 5+ years ago. In various sports roles, you can make up for declining physical abilities with experience and intelligence. McDavid's game is based around speed, so he'll need to reinvent himself a little to continue winning Art Ross trophies.

No one thinks that McDavid's play is going to fall off a cliff. Just that it'll be hard for him to have career years going forward. And yes, his play will slow as he goes through his 30s.
 
SEALBound said:
Just because he doesn't have the high point total doesn't mean he's not the overall best player in the league. During Sid's prime I think both Henrik and Daniel Sedin won an Art Ross but no one in their right minds would have taken either of them over Sid. Look at Mario and Wayne's point totals from year to year, they vary wildly.
Click to expand...
Though Crosby never paced to finish outside the top 3 in points from age 19-29.
 
Playing with Mitch must've been demoralizing for him, seeing someone with SO much swagger and skill, he just gave up and realized he's #ComingHome to #Torona anyways. I heard Drai even caught him looking at parlays while they were drawing up a play on the bench the other night
 
blankall said:
How many running backs are having career years post 35? Ovechkin hit his career highs for points in his early 20s. Lebron and Currey are great, but not as great as they were 5+ years ago. In various sports roles, you can make up for declining physical abilities with experience and intelligence. McDavid's game is based around speed, so he'll need to reinvent himself a little to continue winning Art Ross trophies.

No one thinks that McDavid's play is going to fall off a cliff. Just that it'll be hard for him to have career years going forward. And yes, his play will slow as he goes through his 30s.
Click to expand...

Ovechkin is scoring at a higher rate this year than he did at age 25.

Football is a hard contact sport, contact in the NHL and NBA has lessened, not to mention training and nutrition is way better. We see in almost all sports athletes playing longer at an extremely high level.
 
He is already top 9 by top 1 per game finishes (PPG+GPG):
1740770653244.png
 
Soundwave said:
Ovechkin is scoring at a higher rate this year than he did at age 25.

Football is a hard contact sport, contact in the NHL and NBA has lessened, not to mention training and nutrition is way better. We see in almost all sports athletes playing longer at an extremely high level.
Click to expand...

Ovechkin is in a very limited role compared to how he played in his early 20s. Is he going to finish the year with over 100 points and also be in the top 10 for hits? If you gave Ovechkin the option to have the physical abilities he had 10+ years ago, are you saying he wouldn't take it?

No one is disputing that athletes aren't playing longer. Do they still see drop offs in physical ability post 30. Absolutely.
 
NVious said:
Playing with Mitch must've been demoralizing for him, seeing someone with SO much swagger and skill, he just gave up and realized he's #ComingHome to #Torona anyways. I heard Drai even caught him looking at parlays while they were drawing up a play on the bench the other night
Click to expand...
Mitch has so much swagga and it intimidated McDavid so greatly. So Connor reluctantly decided to sign with the lowly Habs in free agency because its 'Canada's Team' and so he can be 'the guy'.
 
blankall said:
Ovechkin is in a very limited role compared to how he played in his early 20s. Is he going to finish the year with over 100 points and also be in the top 10 for hits? If you gave Ovechkin the option to have the physical abilities he had 10+ years ago, are you saying he wouldn't take it?

No one is disputing that athletes aren't playing longer. Do they still see drop offs in physical ability post 30. Absolutely.
Click to expand...

He’s 39 and scoring at nearly a 59 goal rate lol.

Thirty-Nine-Years-Old.
 
AvroArrow said:
Eichel was never in the debate for best player of the 2015 draft.

As a matter of fact, no one was and no one ever will be.

It's McDavid by a country mile. He could retire tomorrow and he would still be the best player from that draft. He will go down as a top 5 C of all time when he retires, potentially top 3.
Click to expand...
Sure there was. Right here on hfboards. Many threads.

Search results for query: eichel mcdavid
 
FDBluth said:
He set an NHL record in playoff assists last year. More than Gretzky ever had. More than Lemieux ever had. Last year.

Every player has down years and up years but he's like Crosby in that even in his down years he's still right there at the top.

Didn't help that Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins etc had unbelievably had starts to the year.

He's played a hell of a lot of hockey and heavy minutes in the last year.
Click to expand...

Let's not get too caught up in playoff numbers when a McDavid played more games than them. Still it was one of the best playoff runs in the past 30 years or so but not all-time. We'll see how he does in these playoffs.

Not sure blaming teammates for having bad starts necessarily negates the possibility of McDavid not playing up to his expected standard.

Kucherov played in three straight finals. Perhaps he was tired in McDavid's last two Art Ross wins. Same with MacKinnon in 22/23. Crosby likely wins the Art Ross in 09/10 if not for a having a slow start after two Cup runs, and likely finishes a lot higher than 10th place in 17/18.
 
Look Up said:
Sure there was. Right here on hfboards. Many threads.

Search results for query: eichel mcdavid
Click to expand...
It was never a debate. I'm sure people probably claimed them to be close but it never was. People on HF once told us Adam Lowry > Mitch Marner, just because a couple people said it, doesn't make it a "debate"

There is no debate about who the best player of the 2015 draft class is, it is McDavid and it's been that way since day 1. And frankly I don't thing anyone can do anything to change that, he's THAT much better than the competition.

McDavid is in the conversation for top 3C of all time. Not there yet in my opinion but he has a realistic chance of being there by the time he retires.
 
I think the problem is Knoblauch. He's been destroying the team chemistry by constantly changing the lines and everyone but Draisaitl looks to be suffering for it. It's time for a new coach. Something similar happened to Ovechkin before and he needed a few coach to find his scoring touch again. McDavid was even slumping just before Woody was fired and Knoblauch was brought in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom