MacKinnon vs... absolutely nobody from this era

[Icantwhisper]

As good as MacKinnon is, isn't the argument the same as McDavid? Neither have lead their team to anything. MacKinnon is putting up unreal #'s but I don't see a championship, has MacKinnon made it out of the second round?
Plus I think we all agree the supporting cast of Colorado is miles better than the Oilers

[Strange Brew]

MacKinnon really being tested now. This will be the measure of how great he is.

[Oling_Roachinen]

I feel like MacKinnon this playoff is the epitome of fickle sports fans. Certain Colorado fans going from:

"Monster, best playoff performer since Gretzky, should easily be considered the scariest player to play against"

To:

"His ghosting cost us another season"

I get it, emotions running high, despite the praise the Avs haven't made it past the second round with MacKinnon and MacKinnon going pointless three losses in a row certainly didn't help. The funny thing is that with 6 points in 6 games against the Knights he'll look fine on paper but I don't think anyone thinks he outplayed Stone (with 3 points in 6 games).

[CroFlames]

MacKinnon is still a beast any way you slice it.

Sometimes I think hockey fans wish it was more like basketball where a single star can carry a team.

Hockey is the epitome of team game. Despite having one of the best playoff performers in a generation in your lineup, the rest of the group still needs to show up.

And you need a top 5 goalie.

[zamler]

This makes me respect Crosby even more, when he's not doing anything on the scoreboard he grinds down the opposition. MacKinnon take note.

To be clear it's also a team thing, you have to be willing to win painful and ugly.

[Erick Estrada]

The burden of high expectations can make for emotions bordering on irrational. The NHL playoffs are the most difficult of all sports because of the the play and officiating changes from the regular season and high skilled teams can be nullified by tenacious checking, solid goaltending, and timely goals scoring. I would gladly change places with Avs fans knowing that next season my team is going to be elite and challenge once again for a Stanley Cup. There’s no shame losing to the Knights as they are an elite team in their own right and have more playoff seasoning.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by zamler

This makes me respect Crosby even more, when he's not doing anything on the scoreboard he grinds down the opposition. MacKinnon take note.

To be clear it's also a team thing, you have to be willing to win painful and ugly.

Agreed that Sid is an absolute beast. But in MacKinnon's defense, I saw him play that gritty game along the boards in this series, but obviously wasn't successful. So at least he is willing. I also think we need to give Vegas' team game against him and his linemates and their commitment to defense credit. Not to mention their best defensive player in Stone who I'm sure played a good amount of minutes against him.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by activestick

not to mention their best defensive player in stone who i'm sure played a good amount of minutes against him.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1403169071588278276

Pretty much Vegas tried to get him out anytime they could against MacKinnon. And Colorado did whatever they could to prevent that when they had home ice.

[CaptainCrunch]

Right now if I was building a hockey team and they said Crunch, you can have McKinnen or McDavid, its a two second decision.

Look McDavid is a fabulous offensive player. But he vanished hard in this years playoffs, wasn't great in the playins and a couple of years ago he was meh in the playoffs, ok but not stellar.

Meanwhile NK produces in the playoffs, you don't see the lazy half assed plays like McDavid does.

Mckinnon ran into a buzz saw team with a Selke finalist riding his butt. Meanwhile McDavid played a team with nowhere near the quality of Vegas and looked like poo on a rainy day.

Imagine if the Oilers had played Vegas. the term would be embarrassment lead by McDavid.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Am I missing something with "NK"? It's not the first time someone (maybe you) used it to describe MacKinnon.

But I think MacKinnon was equally disappointing against Vegas as McDavid was against the Jets. 3 points in a 7-1 blowout and then disappears for a three game stretch where they lose four in a row.

I think there's a lot of top tier guys who swapped wouldn't alter their team's success much.

MacKinnon in Edmonton in place of McDavid? Still a tire fire. We saw it when MacKinnon was on those crappy Colorado teams early in his career.

Matthews in Colorado instead of MacKinnon? Dude is getting past the first round, probably not the second.

McDavid in Toronto? Only the Leafs fans would know since the rest of us would have torn off our ears and ripped out our eyes to avoid the TSN love fest.

I won't hold McDavid responsible for not getting the otherwise worst team in the league out of the first round anymore than I will blame MacKinnon for another early exit on a team that was suppose to be a favourite.

[GioforPM]

Even MacKinnon needed Rantanen to not be shut down, which he was. Rantanen plays much more on the periphery and has a hell of a shot, but it seemed like MacKinnon was rushing on his own a lot as the series went on. Makar too. They just couldn't get zone presence.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

I feel like MacKinnon this playoff is the epitome of fickle sports fans. Certain Colorado fans going from:

"Monster, best playoff performer since Gretzky, should easily be considered the scariest player to play against"

To:

"His ghosting cost us another season"

I get it, emotions running high, despite the praise the Avs haven't made it past the second round with MacKinnon and MacKinnon going pointless three losses in a row certainly didn't help. The funny thing is that with 6 points in 6 games against the Knights he'll look fine on paper but I don't think anyone thinks he outplayed Stone (with 3 points in 6 games).

i have Stone in my pool and so I was watching him closely. He was laser focused on defence. Good strategy which allowed the Karlsson line to blow up. Bednar maybe should have double shifted MacKinnon to get him away from Stone more often. Just switching Landeskog with Saad wasn't effective.

[jjgallow]

https://twitter.com/PeteBlackburn/st...07355165249543

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

i have Stone in my pool and so I was watching him closely. He was laser focused on defence. Good strategy which allowed the Karlsson line to blow up. Bednar maybe should have double shifted MacKinnon to get him away from Stone more often. Just switching Landeskog with Saad wasn't effective.

Maybe Stone would have been double shifted too?

When your best player is rendered less effective by the other teams best player, we see what happens.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[keenan87]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

i have Stone in my pool and so I was watching him closely. He was laser focused on defence. Good strategy which allowed the Karlsson line to blow up. Bednar maybe should have double shifted MacKinnon to get him away from Stone more often. Just switching Landeskog with Saad wasn't effective.

Stone is a star defensive player. Then there is Backlund who Flames fans think is an untouchable defensive specialist but guys like MacKinnon and Getzlaf ran circles around him in the playoffs. One of the most overrated players in Flames history imo.

Back on topic though, I think Mackinnon has one more year to get something done before this Colorado team starts facing some tough questions.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by keenan87

Stone is a star defensive player. Then there is Backlund who Flames fans think is an untouchable defensive specialist but guys like MacKinnon and Getzlaf ran circles around him in the playoffs. One of the most overrated players in Flames history imo.

Back on topic though, I think Mackinnon has one more year to get something done before this Colorado team starts facing some tough questions.

I love this. “The guy can’t even stop two of the greatest centres of our generation! So he must be garbage”

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by keenan87

Stone is a star defensive player. Then there is Backlund who Flames fans think is an untouchable defensive specialist but guys like MacKinnon and Getzlaf ran circles around him in the playoffs. One of the most overrated players in Flames history imo.

Back on topic though, I think Mackinnon has one more year to get something done before this Colorado team starts facing some tough questions.

I don’t think many Flames fans think he is untouchable
They simply recognize the contributions he brings including the notion that he is overpaid
No need to exaggerate

[Lanny_McDonald]

^^^ I'm thinking the majority of Flames fans see Backlund as being very movable. I don't think there is a player on the team that anyone sees as untouchable. No one.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

^^^ I'm thinking the majority of Flames fans see Backlund as being very movable. I don't think there is a player on the team that anyone sees as untouchable. No one.

I think that is fair, but I don't see a lot of logic in him being one of the first dominoes to fall.

It's unlikely that trading Backlund makes this team better in the short term (while our other big assets expire).

Maybe you get back some high upside player(s)...but we'd lose our best safety blanket/linemate for rookies.


I'd be fine with moving him, but there's a bunch of other moves to be made first.

[dino7c]

Most people think Backlund is a good 3rd line center and he is IMO. There is a difference between untouchable and not wanting to give him away