Which is the best "through 3 rounds" playoff performance

[daver]

1. McDavid - 2025: 6 goals, 26 points, PPG of 1.63
2. McDavid - 2024 5 goals, 31 points, PPG of 1.72
3. Crosby - 2009: 14 goals, 28 points, PPG of 1.65
4. Malkin 2009: 12 goals, 28 points, PPG of 1.65

 

[wetcoast]

One can make a good case for either McDavid or Crosby through 3 rounds depending on what one values.

Crosby probably had the "best" round against Washington given the circumstances, support and situation though in 09.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

McDavid 2025 because of his defensive game

 

[SavBigMoneyAtBedards]

While their totals (Crosby and Malkin) were close over the tree rounds, Malkin destroyed the Canes in the 2009 ECF.

He should be getting more love here.
As the stage grew bigger, it was Malkin who stepped up.
And then he did it again in the finals.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Without looking at analytics, I feel McDavid '25 has probably been the best five on five and ES player through three rounds here.

He has been dominant. I guess it's flying under the radar because people are used to strong play from him in the playoffs and his production isn't quite as good as it was through three rounds last year, but in terms of driving play, tilting the ice and dominating goal shares, he has been outstanding.

 

[Valinor]

McDavid 2022

 

[Caps8112]

Crosby 09
GP 6 PTS 8 PHI
GP 7 PTS 13 WASH DIVISION WINNER
GP 4 PTS 7 CAR

Malkin 09
GP 6 PTS 9 PHI
GP 7 PTS 10 WASH DIVISION WINNER
GP 4 PTS 9 CAR

McDavid 24
GP 5 PTS 12 LA
GP 7 PTS 9 VAN DIVISION WINNER
GP 6 PTS 10 DAL DIVISION WINNER

McDavid 25
GP 6 PTS 11 LA
GP 5 PTS 6 VEG DIVISION WINNER
GP 5 PTS 9 DAL

 

[tabness]

McDavid 2022

yep, the one time the stats matched the hype

 

[majormajor]

1. McDavid - 2025: 6 goals, 26 points, PPG of 1.63
2. McDavid - 2024 5 goals, 31 points, PPG of 1.72
3. Crosby - 2009: 14 goals, 28 points, PPG of 1.65
4. Malkin 2009: 12 goals, 28 points, PPG of 1.65

McDavid 2022 33 pts in 16 games
Draisaitl 2022 32 pts in 16 games

You do the math, it's 2 PPG.

 

[bobbyking]

almost like you left out round four for a reason

 

[daver]

While their totals (Crosby and Malkin) were close over the tree rounds, Malkin destroyed the Canes in the 2009 ECF.

He should be getting more love here.
As the stage grew bigger, it was Malkin who stepped up.
And then he did it again in the finals.

Since the 2005 lockout, not sure you get a bigger stage outside of the SCF, and not even all SCFs , than the Caps/Pens series and Crosby had argubly the best individual playoff series since the 2005 lockout.

The Canes were an overwhelmed opponent; that series win was a distant 3rd in importance for the Pens in that run.

And the OP is not about the SCF, Crosby was a pretty clear Conn Smythe favourite going into the SCF that year.

 

[daver]

McDavid 2022 33 pts in 16 games
Draisaitl 2022 32 pts in 16 games

You do the math, it's 2 PPG.

Not as impressed with an all out offensive effort by the Oilers in 2022 that won them 8 games. They were easily the worst defensive team to make a conference final in 30 years. I think McDavid's 2024 WCF is his best series given, unlike 2022, he was centring his own line without Draisaitl and had to step up as Draisatl did not produce after getting injured.

But feel free to start a thread that adds in 2022 as an option.

 

[Miro4Norris]

Crosby very easily. He was playing in a lower scoring era with plugs on 5 on 5 while McDavid had best player in the world on his line and other star players RNH/Hyman. That makes Crosby point worth of 1.5 McD points at least. Plus the goal total difference is crazy

 

[RevengeOfTheDrai]

Not as impressed with an all out offensive effort by the Oilers in 2022 that won them 8 games. They were easily the worst defensive team to make a conference final in 30 years.

How come the vast majority of the goals conceded came from when McDavid was on the bench?. Yes he played with Draisaitl, but that doesn’t take away from how terrible the depth really was defensively. Blaming McDavid and placing an asterisk on his preformance because of 40 year old Mike Smith and the second, third and fourth lines’ defensive struggles seems a bit over the top. Those fourth and third lines still concede the goals even if McDavid turns into Datsyuk.

 

[nbwingsfan]

While their totals (Crosby and Malkin) were close over the tree rounds, Malkin destroyed the Canes in the 2009 ECF.

He should be getting more love here.
As the stage grew bigger, it was Malkin who stepped up.
And then he did it again in the finals.

Yeah Malkin was without a doubt the main catalyst in that Cup win

 

[nbwingsfan]

How come the vast majority of the goals conceded came from when McDavid was on the bench?. Yes he played with Draisaitl, but that doesn’t take away from how terrible the depth really was defensively. Blaming McDavid and placing an asterisk on his preformance because of 40 year old Mike Smith and the second, third and fourth lines’ defensive struggles seems a bit over the top. Those fourth and third lines still concede the goals even if McDavid turns into Datsyuk.

It’s Daver, he literally cannot give any credit to McDavid for anything under any circumstances

 

[Regal]

How come the vast majority of the goals conceded came from when McDavid was on the bench?. Yes he played with Draisaitl, but that doesn’t take away from how terrible the depth really was defensively. Blaming McDavid and placing an asterisk on his preformance because of 40 year old Mike Smith and the second, third and fourth lines’ defensive struggles seems a bit over the top. Those fourth and third lines still concede the goals even if McDavid turns into Datsyuk.

McDavid still gave up a ton of goals against. 17 at 5v5 in 16 games or 3.6 GA/60. And it wasn’t all on goaltending since his xGA/60 was 3.06, and he gave up a ton of shots (39.38 SA/60!). He also gave up more goals against per 60 than when he was on the bench (3.6 vs 3.29), so saying “the majority of goals against were when he was on the bench” is pretty misleading. Yea, 60 % of the goals against were with him on the bench, but that’s because he was on the bench for over 60% of the team’s total 5v5 ice time.

Now, he scored an absurd rate 5v5 (4.45 P/60 and 21 points in 16 games), and the team scored an even more absurd rate (6.56 P/60) when he was on the ice, which meant his GF% was still amazing (31GF/17GA or 64.6%). It deserves to be included in this list, but his production also needs context. There was a lot of run and gun games, particularly in the Calgary series as well as some score effects at play.

 

[RevengeOfTheDrai]

McDavid still gave up a ton of goals against. 17 at 5v5 in 16 games or 3.6 GA/60. And it wasn’t all on goaltending since his xGA/60 was 3.06, and he gave up a ton of shots (39.38 SA/60!). He also gave up more goals against per 60 than when he was on the bench (3.6 vs 3.29), so saying “the majority of goals against were when he was on the bench” is pretty misleading. Yea, 60 % of the goals against were with him on the bench, but that’s because he was on the bench for over 60% of the team’s total 5v5 ice time.

Now, he scored an absurd rate 5v5 (4.45 P/60 and 21 points in 16 games), and the team scored an even more absurd rate (6.56 P/60) when he was on the ice, which meant his GF% was still amazing (31GF/17GA or 64.6%). It deserves to be included in this list, but his production also needs context. There was a lot of run and gun games, particularly in the Calgary series as well as some score effects at play.

Agree with most of this. Can you explain why exactly the run and gun system is particularly
seen as a negative?. It’s a viable strategy if the opposing team overcommits with their D-Man pinches, and often creates great expected goal chances. It’s a bit riskier than the dump and chase, but even dump and chase can lead to odd man rushes if your forcheckers don’t win the battle and end up behind the puck. I’m unsure if the Oilers are neglecting defense in favor of going all out on offense.

 

[Golden_Jet]

almost like you left out round four for a reason

That’s what @daver does in these polls, it’s on purpose. Whatever it takes to make Crosby look better, by cherry picking.

Poster is eliminating McDavid’s 11 points in finals vs Sid’s 3 points.
This is just a rehash of a different thread. It doesn’t fool anyone.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Try scoring some goals for once mcdoofus

 

[Regal]

Agree with most of this. Can you explain why exactly the run and gun system is particularly
seen as a negative?. It’s a viable strategy if the opposing team overcommits with their D-Man pinches, and often creates great expected goal chances. It’s a bit riskier than the dump and chase, but even dump and chase can lead to odd man rushes if your forcheckers don’t win the battle and end up behind the puck. I’m unsure if the Oilers are neglecting defense in favor of going all out on offense.

I’m not claiming it’s a negative per se. You play the hand you’re dealt and they weren’t a team that could defend like they’ve been able to the past two postseasons. And it’s probably not so much completely eschewing defense compared to recent seasons as the weaker defense leading to a need to more often pushing for offense, which can in turn lead to more goals against as well. But I think it’s also easy to just look at 33 points in 16 games and claim it’s the best instead of looking at what happened beyond production.

 

[daver]

Agree with most of this. Can you explain why exactly the run and gun system is particularly
seen as a negative?. It’s a viable strategy if the opposing team overcommits with their D-Man pinches, and often creates great expected goal chances. It’s a bit riskier than the dump and chase, but even dump and chase can lead to odd man rushes if your forcheckers don’t win the battle and end up behind the puck. I’m unsure if the Oilers are neglecting defense in favor of going all out on offense.

Not saying it's not a viable strategy but it does add context to a raw comparison of PPGs (which always need era consideration). And in addition to this, who was on their respective lines? As I said, they runned and gunned to the WCF, then got outrunned and gunned. In the Avs series, how many of McDavid's points were truly valuable? Two later game points in Game 1 after the Oilers were down four goals. Then jjust one point in the next two games when the Oilers could have made it a series then he and McDrai have three point games when the series was effectively over. The teams combined for 35 goals in four games.

In the 2008 ECF, the Pens were clicking along in the playoffs through Game 1 of the ECF when Malkin got injured and put up only two points over the next four games. Crosby puts up four points in Games 2 and 3 as the Pens take a commanding 3-0 lead (the Pens 3rd straight 3-0 lead that year) then another two in the Game 5 clincher. The teams combined for 29 goals in five games.

So who was better? McDavid with 7 points in 4 games or Crosby with 7 points in 5 games?

The Oilers seem to be a better team when McDrai are separated (and Draisaitl is healthy), and their two SCF runs reflect this.

 

[daver]

I’m not claiming it’s a negative per se. You play the hand you’re dealt and they weren’t a team that could defend like they’ve been able to the past two postseasons. And it’s probably not so much completely eschewing defense compared to recent seasons as the weaker defense leading to a need to more often pushing for offense, which can in turn lead to more goals against as well. But I think it’s also easy to just look at 33 points in 16 games and claim it’s the best instead of looking at what happened beyond production.

The McDrai dymanic is so interesting. They seem to try to keep them separate in the regular season to create much needed depth but come playoff time, they put them together (and not just when they are behind but to start the game). And when they are together, the games become higher scoring.

I would guess they have a better record when they play separate (over the past two years) so it is a bit puzzling why they get played together like Game 2 this year after getting a W in Game 1 when they played separate.

While they obviously create havoc offensively when togther, there are times where they seem to lose track of who is playing the C role in the defensive zone. It almost seems like it depends on whoever is back in the d-zone first.

This is why, IMO, one can point to team results as being relevant in the comparison.