Quote:
Originally Posted by Buff
I have been contemplating this. Hard to argue against McDavid but by years end I think a healthy debate could be had and probably sway people into the "Matthews is better" camp. The way it looks in Edmonton, McDavid is not being developed the way they need him to lead the team. He doesn't have tools around him to support him. It's just McDavid. McDavid will do it all.
Meanwhile, in Toronto, Matthews is surrounded by a lot of depth and top end depth at that. Matthews is given time to develop and not worry about carrying a franchise and being the one and only player on the team. Matthews is in a winning atmosphere right now while McDavid is in a losing atmosphere.
I don't think McDavid will reach his full potential of a generational player unless he moves to another team or the Oilers management is changed and the organization changes how they build the team. The former of the two options is the best choice for McDavid.
At this time McDavid is turning into a faster Pavel Bure.
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I often wonder how much 'best player in the NHL' is actually nonsense. There are so many great players in the league that dominate different areas of the game, but the sports networks focus entirely on anointing a top-5
If McDavid was on the Hurricanes, do we even hear about him this year?
He blew the doors off everyone in 2016-17, but Kane won by a wider margin the year before. We hear a lot of how great Kane is, but we don't hear the 4 hour McDavid hype whenever the Blackhawks are playing.
He had another great year (tying Kane's point total from 2 years prior) but Giroux and Kucherov were nipping at his heels all season. IMO, MacKinnon not winning that year was a sham after he put a team on his back and dragged them to the post-season (and seemingly turned the COL franchise back around doing so, mind you).
Since McDavid has come into the league, some of the top players have been
McDavid
Crosby
Ovechkin
Kane
Kucherov
Giroux
Gaudreau
Tkachuk
Matthews
Eichel
Marner
Hall
Wheeler
Barzal
Stamkos
Panarin
Pastrnak
Laine
Forsberg
and I've bolded what the sports networks talk about (outside of 'star player X-Canadian team is playing tonight'... or 'who is worried about McJesus'). That's a lot of talent, and a lot of fun hockey that gets completely ignored.
Don't get me wrong, a guy scoring 100+ on a terrible team is incredible. I don't doubt he cracks 120+ on a good team. But there is more to hockey than scoring, and he doesn't bring much outside of that.
He can be the fastest in the world, and definitely has a good inside-track on breaking modern-era scoring records... but McDavid has just been the prettiest flower in a cloud of fart.
If I have to pick, the best player in hockey is still between Crosby and Ovechkin. It's a complex game, and I don't care who's winning the skills competition. If the networks were interested in actually showing you good hockey, they'd find a way to show you more MacKinnon, Kucherov and Barzal.