[GreenLantern2814]

A tale of two players.

Player 1 is a left-shooting RW who made his NHL debut at 23. He doesn't achieve a PPG season until he's 28, and goes on to do this five more times. In addition, he has three seasons that miss out on PPG by fewer than 5 points, the last of which comes at age 38 when he misses by 1 point. He played 74+ games 12 times, and all 48 of a lockout-shortened season.

When his career finally ends, Player 1 is a 5x All-Star with a Stanley Cup, Hart, Pearson, 2x Art Ross, 3x Byng, over 1100 GP, 0.91 career PPG with over 1000 points and a spot in the Hall of Fame.

He stood 5 ft 8 (generously listed).

Johnny Gaudreau is also generously listed at 5 ft 9.

He is already a 5x All-Star, 1x Byng winner, has 2 PPG seasons before turning 28, missed PPG by < 5 points once, and has a career PPG of 0.95. He has played 79 games or more (Or every regular season game available) 6 times, and has not missed a game since 2018.

Player 1 is Marty St-Louis.

Players who can dominate in the NHL at the size of Johnny and Marty aren't doing it via overwhelming physical gifts. They're doing it because they're elite skaters with elite hockey IQ who are nearly impossible to hit.

Griffin Reinhart described trying to hit Johnny at the World Juniors as 'trying to hit fog'. The best shot I've ever seen him take was delivered by Pavel Datsyuk, another hockey genius.

He is as durable a player as you could ever hope to find. He doesn't get hit. He's fast, but he doesn't rely on being fast the way McDavid does - he beats guys by being able to change directions better than 99% of the sport.

Gaudreau is exactly the sort of player you gamble on being able to play at an elite level well into his 30s.

If he goes, there's zero sense in committing more money to this group - it needs to be nuked from orbit so civilization can begin anew.