daver
Registered User
Generally, the best point producers tend to also be the highest secondary assist accumulators, so I don't put much stock into that.
I think an unusual amount of 2nd assists, notably PP secondary assists, can be reasonably be viewed as inferior to primary assists. That being said, it wasn't until 18/19 that he accumulated a lot of those in a season, especially in comparison to McDavid:
Kucherov: 34 PP assists (19 primary, 14 secondary) and 15 PP goals
Overall 1st to 2nd ratio - 43 - 27
McDavid: 22 PP assists (18 primary, 4 secondary) and 9 PP goals
Overall 1st to 2nd ratio - 57 - 18
You could argue that Kucherov benefitted from being on a better PP than McDavid that season and McDavid was the superior playmaker.
Peak seasons:
In 23/24, Kucherov had 40 PP assists (23 primary, 17 secondary) and 13 PP goals
Overall 1st to 2nd ratio - 62 to 38
In 22/23, McDavid had 49 PP assists (30 primary, 19 secondary) and 21 PP goals
Overall 1st to 2nd ratio - 62 to 38
You can argue that McDavid was the superior PP player while Kucherov was the better ES player.
Playoffs
From '20 to '22, Kucherov had 32 playoff PP assists (20 primary, 12 secondary) and 10 PP goals
Overall 1st to 2nd ratio - 43-27
'22 to '24, McDavid had 26 playoff PP assists (18 primary, 8 secondary) and 8 PP goals
Overall 1st to 2nd ratio - 50-19
Not much difference in their PP numbers but add in their ES numbers and McDavid seems like the superior playmaker the same way his regular season numbers indicate.
Since Kucherov hit his prime in 16/17, he has the highest % of 2nd assists among the Top Ten forwards. In the playoffs since 14/15, he has the 2nd lowest % of 2nd assists among the Top Ten forwards.
I can maybe buy the idea that in comparison to McDavid, his overall numbers need some context but not in relation to any other player during his era.
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