i guess were just gonna have to disagree on this.
Miller is physically superior to Pettersson. That's a fact. I dont know how anyone watching him could deny it. I never weighted it by %. Just said that for me his physical superiority is what has set him above Pettersson.
I dont think the gap defensively between the 2 is enough to set Pettersson above given that Miller has had to match up against McDavid MacKinnon Barkov and the players i laid out in another post while Pettersson got softer match ups he should be winning given they are both top15 Cs in the NHL.
Team needs a big faceoff win who takes it? Miller
Who matches up against MacKinnon McDavid Eichel? Miller
PP typically runs through? Miller and Hughes
GWG's Shootout Goals OT Goals? Miller
Playoffs? Miller
Fight or a Big hit to set the tone? Miller
Wearing teams down on cycle? Miller
Gets to the net? Miller
Is Petterssons better puckhandling def. awareness and positioning enough to say he's been better ......i dont think so.
Can he get to another level? Absolutely i expect it if he stays. Is he younger and quicker and entering his prime? Absolutely.
The question is who is better not who will be better though.
Obviously most disagree see a more talented player and think he's more effective i don't for the reasons outlined. I dont know how anyone could objectively watch last season. Last years playoffs and then this year and say with a straight face that Pettersson is a better player right now.
If the playoffs started tomorrow who would you take?
I'm happy to agree to disagree as well.
I'm not sure what the hell the rest of your argument has to do with what I said, though-- it sounds like you're annoyed by the general argument of the thread and taking it out on me or something. I definitely wasn't denying that Miller is physically superior to Pettersson (I agree, he obviously is), nor was I really chiming in at all on who is better overall (although I do lean Pettersson by a wide margin when they're both playing well, Miller plays at his best more often, due to non-physical qualities that I am giving him credit for. I would also probably disagree on a lot of these points you're bringing up-- especially that the gap in defensive play isn't huge, but that's a different argument that I never made). I made it pretty clear in my opening post that despite arguing for defensive prowess over physical edge, that it's conceivable for Miller to still be better anyways.
The only thing I argued was that physical edge (as I've outlined my definition for it) is not nearly as important/valuable as defensive prowess. There are other areas besides that which I think COULD arguably make Miller better overall, but I wouldn't classify them as due to "physical edge", to me it's more things like how he handles pressure, how consistently he attempts to make offensive plays, how he's easier to play with for line-mates, his drive/lack of quit and self-doubt, and how he's more consistent in work ethic and tenacity (even though he's also fairly inconsistent and doesn't have the best mentality either, especially this season). But again, I feel like all of these are mostly non-physical qualities. His general ox-like strength is a very important "physical edge" quality, I agree with that, but that alone is still not nearly as important as defensive prowess, in my opinion.
Ability to "wear down the opponent" or have a "big hit/fight to set the tone", and general belligerence (faceoffs, too, but we're not really talking about that), on the other hand are just nice bonuses that have comparatively modest value to me in the grand scheme of things. The odd massive hit can change the tone of a series, but that's still not as critical as being good at the moment to moment fundamentals, in my view.
Edit: Using Pettersson vs. Miller to represent defensive prowess vs. physical edge isn't the most representative comparable in the first place, in my opinion-- both Miller and Pettersson have all these other strange outlier qualities and eccentricities that have nothing to do with either of these things but are wildly influential to how they play.
