Iyla Kovalchuk or Brad Marchand?

[BenchBrawl]

Kovalchuk a rarer talent. And he was clutch. I'd pick him.

 

[Machinehead]

People are forgetting how good prime Kovalchuk was. He was dropping 90 per 82 in an era where 3-2 was an offensive explosion.

Don't buy at all that Kovalchuk was all flash and Marchand is "more effective." Kovalchuk was an absolute force who tilted the ice when he was out there, and he did it without a center like Bergeron. Literally one of the best penalty killers ever.

Definitely Marchand for career, but prime Kovalchuk was arguably a top 5 player in the league.

 

[North Cole]

Where did I use +/- to compare Gaudreau to Marner?

By mingling +/- with an appeal to authority to try and refute the idea that Gaudreau<Marner defensively. The original premise was a comparison between the two players, if you are offering up +/- as a defense to the premise then you are also engaging in the comparison.

 

[Ivo]

What was special about Kovalchuk's 11-12 plaoyoff? His line got badly outscored, had middling possession stats and his individual scoring was mediocre.

In fact Kovalchuk's offensive game has really been mediocre in the playoffs. From 2008 on (too lazy to check the stats prior) he had 2 5vs5 goals in 36 playoff games.

With Atlanta he only made the playoffs once (when Hossa carried the team there), but it was a first round sweep.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

By mingling +/- with an appeal to authority to try and refute the idea that Gaudreau<Marner defensively. The original premise was a comparison between the two players, if you are offering up +/- as a defense to the premise then you are also engaging in the comparison.

I was refuting the idea that Gaudreau only played in 1 zone

 

[Video Nasty]

I think it’s Marchand as of today. Another few seasons similar to his last 6-7 and I think it’s a lock.

While I agree with others who have mentioned Kovalchuk being dealt a poor hand in comparison, in the end, these players still have to play the hand dealt to them, the best that they can.

It can be noted that Marchand has had tremendous support around him from day one, but he still had to and continues to put in the work to perform at the level he has. Much like Kovalchuk being cut some slack for playing on poor teams, Marchand shouldn’t be knocked for something equally out of his control.

Kovalchuk was certainly a favorite during his heyday and he was a dynamic mesmerizing player, but at a certain point, you just have to acknowledge who has or hasn’t surpassed him. It can be fun to play fantasy make believe and picture how his career might have gone with real support, but we can only judge reality.

The reality is that he had one really good season past the age of 26. He didn’t do enough before that to support this case. Meanwhile, Marchand has built most of the allure of his career past that point to make up for his “late” start and seems to have plenty left in the tank.

When Marchand reaches some of the pretty counting stats like 500 goals/1000 points, there won’t be much to argue.