Leon Draisaitl or Johnny Gaudreau?

McFlyingV

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Feb 22, 2013
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Remove Draisaitl's rookie season and Gaudreau still has a much higher career PPG, despite not having the benefit of a Connor McDavid / playing against 2nd pairing defenseman.

Much higher? We must have a very different definition of much higher. Add in playoffs and Draisaitl is less than 0.01PPG within Gaudreau if you ignore Draisaitl's rookie season. Then we won't even get into the fact that Gaudreau had played a total of 1 NHL game by the end of his Draft+3 season.
 

victor

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Sep 6, 2003
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Its a huge difference when one of the players PPG drops significantly when away from the best offensive player in the NHL.

Too small a sample size to determine.

Hard to believe that he's only 21, and the best offensive player in the game is 20.
 

Cassano

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Aug 31, 2013
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Leon and it's not even remotely close TBH. He brings the same level of production, but is a way better 2-way player (probably an understatement) and can play center.

This was evident in the playoffs when Gaudreau did nothing against the Ducks, meanwhile Leon was easily the best player in the series vs. the Ducks.
 

Sensinitis

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Aug 5, 2012
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You should look those stats up again. Then look at Leon's playoff numbers away from McDavid for further reference. Johnny is definitely the overrated one here. -7 with 2 points last playoffs? Hes a performer alright!

Its not as simple as saying "away from Connor" and leaving it at that. Maybe try comparing their actual line mates? Its funny that you need to separate Leon from his teams top players to try to make a case, and fail. Then continue on without making the same comparisons for little Johnny.

Who was Johnny playing with when he got swept out of the playoffs in 4 games with a -7 and 2 points again? Leon wasn't playing most of the time with Connor getting 16 points in 13 games, that's a fact.


Hey, mister big expert, great scholar and analysist, may I remind you that you keep knocking on gaudreau over one 4 game playoff series to portray his ability as a playoff performer, even though he has a larger sample size run of two rounds and 11 games two years ago, where he scored 9 points, a few very important goals, and the flames back then weren't any better, in fact probably worse.

It's admittedly interesting to read a poster write so much in quantity yet so low in relevance and quality, but maybe it's time to consider not doing that anymore.
 

McDNicks17

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Its a huge difference when one of the players PPG drops significantly when away from the best offensive player in the NHL.

You realize Drai's GF/60 without McDavid is basically the same as Gaudreau's last season, right?

It's not like he was a useless bum without him.
 

McDavidCrushedLarkin

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Jun 12, 2016
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85 people really took little Johnny? Crazy

This should be AINEC as it gets.

It really is. The votes show it.

Hey, mister big expert, great scholar and analysist, may I remind you that you keep knocking on gaudreau over one 4 game playoff series to portray his ability as a playoff performer, even though he has a larger sample size run of two rounds and 11 games two years ago, where he scored 9 points, a few very important goals, and the flames back then weren't any better, in fact probably worse.

It's admittedly interesting to read a poster write so much in quantity yet so low in relevance and quality, but maybe it's time to consider not doing that anymore.

Less than a PPG in the playoffs is brag worthy now? Draisaitl was over a PPG in his first go at it. Keep digging for those gems and you can be an "analysist" too. ;)
 

Senor Catface

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Jul 25, 2006
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Hey, mister big expert, great scholar and analysist, may I remind you that you keep knocking on gaudreau over one 4 game playoff series to portray his ability as a playoff performer, even though he has a larger sample size run of two rounds and 11 games two years ago, where he scored 9 points, a few very important goals, and the flames back then weren't any better, in fact probably worse.

It's admittedly interesting to read a poster write so much in quantity yet so low in relevance and quality, but maybe it's time to consider not doing that anymore.

Small sample or not, it's a great sample to use.

Same opponent, same situation, same goalies.

One performed, and the other is Johnny.
 

ChaoticOrange

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Jun 29, 2008
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Great forechecking/agitation is often what swings a playoff series. How that is an asterisk is beyond me.



Ferland missed most of that series to an oblique injury so I'm not sure how he was "running around".



Anaheim being better than Vancouver is not an indictment on Vancouver. Anaheim won the division and were extremely close to knocking off the eventual champion Chicago Blackhawks that year. The Canucks were an average playoff team that lost their series. The Ducks were a tier or two above the Canucks. But that doesn't mean Vancouver was "the worst playoff team in the last 15 years". That's just absurd.



If Talbot went down we'd have to deal with Rasmus Dahlin to Edmonton talk :laugh:

If Talbot went down to a major injury I'd imagine we'd trade for a goalie. And we'd still be better than the Flames.
 

WhiskeyYerTheDevils

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Small sample or not, it's a great sample to use.

Same opponent, same situation, same goalies.

One performed, and the other is Johnny.

A 4 game sample is a great sample to use? Especially when they faced completely different competition. Draisaitl didn't have Kesler draped all over him for the whole series - McDavid took that matchup.

How about we look at their last 2 years? Where, despite playing with or behind McDavid, Draisaitl was still easily outscored by Gaudreau (11 less points in 4 more games). Can't imagine how big the gap would have been had they swapped situations lol.
 

JarvisFunk

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Apr 1, 2012
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But all these hf poster know better lol seriously, Drai is ranked as the 39th top player. Oilers fans treat him likes he's top 15

Im fairly confident that if you asked NHL cocaches and GM's, instead of NHL.com writers (like that means anything) you'd get a different answer.
 

K Fleur

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Gaudreau has had the best single season of the two so I'll go with him for now.
 

lawrence

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May 19, 2012
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But all these hf poster know better lol seriously, Drai is ranked as the 39th top player. Oilers fans treat him likes he's top 15

in a forum where they value points more then anything, nothing wrong with that. He did finish top 8 in scoring you are aware of that right?
 

McDavidCrushedLarkin

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Jun 12, 2016
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But all these hf poster know better lol seriously, Drai is ranked as the 39th top player. Oilers fans treat him likes he's top 15

One gets top 10 in scoring and performs over a PPG in the playoffs and doesn't get pushed around, the other..... top 50 in scoring?? not so much. :laugh:
 

Bryanbryoil

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Gaudreau is a damn good offensive hockey player. I valued him above Hall even before Hall left Edmonton. That said, one guy is a center that has good size and a lot of strength while also being highly skilled while the other is small but highly skilled. Then you have the added bonus that the bigger guy is also younger and can play on the wing or at center. As an Oilers fan there is no way that I'd consider trading Leon for Johnny.
 

Garthinater

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Nov 22, 2015
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in a forum where they value points more then anything, nothing wrong with that. He did finish top 8 in scoring you are aware of that right?

He finished 8th to be exact.
His linemate finished the season with 100 points, you are aware of that right?
Imo that likely means inflation to leon's points. He's also never been the leading scorer on the Oilers. Where as gaudreau is 2/3 in seasons where he had the most points on his team. One has had the benefit of playing with hall (at the time was better then drai) and mcd, while the other has had monahan. If people are basing this solely on points then there is something wrong with that.

I personally think it's close, and when taking position into account it's even harder. But to say it's "not even close" or "ainec" is silly
 

Bjornar Moxnes

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He finished 8th to be exact.
His linemate finished the season with 100 points, you are aware of that right?
Imo that likely means inflation to leon's points. He's also never been the leading scorer on the Oilers. Where as gaudreau is 2/3 in seasons where he had the most points on his team. One has had the benefit of playing with hall (at the time was better then drai) and mcd, while the other has had monahan. If people are basing this solely on points then there is something wrong with that.

I personally think it's close, and when taking position into account it's even harder. But to say it's "not even close" or "ainec" is silly

Hall wasn't even that good that season, and Purcell was cancerous to the line. Although Gaudreau and Monahan's RWers have been cringeworthy.
 

McAsuno

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Jul 10, 2013
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If you want a future Art Ross winner - Gaudreau
If you want a decent Robin to a really good Batman - Draisaitl



...That Canucks team had the 8th-most points in the NHL that season. Gotta love revisionist history.

Aw, how funny. Guess your 'Gaudreau = McDavid' was truly outlandish then, eh?
What's your flames prospects rankings after the Penticton tournament, anyways? Any future Karlsson, OEL's, or Benn ceiling type of prospects? :laugh::laugh:
Cause I mean, they're all obviously better than the Oiler prospects who's team once again didn't lose in the whole entire tournament. :laugh::popcorn:
 

McFlyingV

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Feb 22, 2013
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A 4 game sample is a great sample to use? Especially when they faced completely different competition. Draisaitl didn't have Kesler draped all over him for the whole series - McDavid took that matchup.

How about we look at their last 2 years? Where, despite playing with or behind McDavid, Draisaitl was still easily outscored by Gaudreau (11 less points in 4 more games). Can't imagine how big the gap would have been had they swapped situations lol.

I assume he was referring to the 9 playoff games Gaudreau played against the Ducks and the 7 Draisaitl played. Its easy to imply Draisaitl faced easier competition when away from McDavid in the series, but when Getzlaf is that easier competition then I don't think theres a major argument.

Context yet again matters to your 2nd point. For one, Draisaitl played over half of his games in 2015-16 while McDavid was injured, so to say that he was always playing sheltered minutes is completely wrong. We won't even get into how badly that Oilers team in 15-16 were decimated with injuries for most of the season.

Then there's also the context that Draisaitl is also 2 years younger than Gaudreau and at this point in Gaudreaus career (draft+3) he had played a total of 1 NHL game.

In terms of offence, sure maybe you can even give a slight edge to Gaudreau at this point, but you'd be fooling yourself if you think that Gaudreau is the more complete player. Draisaitl is quite easily the better player defensively, is more versatile being able to play any of the 3 forward positions, is much more capable of handling the type of playoff games where time and space gets smothered by uncalled infractions. When you look at the big picture Draisaitl is the better player despite being 2+ years younger, and 3 draft years later. Which really is not even an insult to Gaudreau because he's a fantastic talent himself.
 

WhiskeyYerTheDevils

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I assume he was referring to the 9 playoff games Gaudreau played against the Ducks and the 7 Draisaitl played. Its easy to imply Draisaitl faced easier competition when away from McDavid in the series, but when Getzlaf is that easier competition then I don't think theres a major argument.

Context yet again matters to your 2nd point. For one, Draisaitl played over half of his games in 2015-16 while McDavid was injured, so to say that he was always playing sheltered minutes is completely wrong. We won't even get into how badly that Oilers team in 15-16 were decimated with injuries for most of the season.

Then there's also the context that Draisaitl is also 2 years younger than Gaudreau and at this point in Gaudreaus career (draft+3) he had played a total of 1 NHL game.

In terms of offence, sure maybe you can even give a slight edge to Gaudreau at this point, but you'd be fooling yourself if you think that Gaudreau is the more complete player. Draisaitl is quite easily the better player defensively, is more versatile being able to play any of the 3 forward positions, is much more capable of handling the type of playoff games where time and space gets smothered by uncalled infractions. When you look at the big picture Draisaitl is the better player despite being 2+ years younger, and 3 draft years later. Which really is not even an insult to Gaudreau because he's a fantastic talent himself.

I'm a huge Draisaitl fan, but there is very little doubt in my mind that the difference in offensive ability is more than "maybe a slight edge".

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?agg...r=gamesPlayed,gte,100&sort=pointsPer60Minutes

The fact that he's where he is on this list with the lack of offensive support he's got is extremely telling - look at his assist ratios. What's also impressive is that he leads the league in penalty differential over the last 2 years.

I'll say it again - imagine what Gaudreau's numbers would look like behind or alongside McDavid.
 

Bounces R Way

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Really enjoy how a skim ~15 game sample size in the playoffs leads Oiler fans to conclude that Gaudreau is some kind of playoff no show while Draisaitl is a 2way beast deserving of 8.5 million a year.

McDavid's playoff ppg is .69 while Johnny's is .73, do we conclude that Johnny will be the better playoff performer throughout their careers? No, because to do so would be ridiculous.
 

Haatley

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Jun 9, 2011
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Really enjoy how a skim ~15 game sample size in the playoffs leads Oiler fans to conclude that Gaudreau is some kind of playoff no show while Draisaitl is a 2way beast deserving of 8.5 million a year.

McDavid's playoff ppg is .69 while Johnny's is .73, do we conclude that Johnny will be the better playoff performer throughout their careers? No, because to do so would be ridiculous.
Ha. I guess it's Mcdavid that chokes under the pressure of playoff hockey and disappears when it counts. Right, Oil fans? I mean... you guys made it sound like great logic when using this argument in your favour.
 

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