The problem with these per 60 stats is it's too prone to anomalies that actual production wouldn't have.
For instance, if one were to assume that the best ten forwards in hockey in 2016-17 were based on points (obviously a gross simplification, but just for this example), which method paints a more accurate picture?
Top 10 actual points at 5 on 5:
Connor McDavid - 63
Patrick Kane - 52
Mark Scheifele - 52
Sidney Crosby - 50
Henrik Zetterberg - 49
Artemi Panarin - 45
Brad Marchand - 44
Nick Backstrom - 44
Jason Zucker - 44
Nikolaj Ehlers - 44
Top 10 points per 60 at 5 on 5 (min 800 minutes played):
Conor Sheary - 3.02
Connor McDavid - 2.87
Evgeni Malkin - 2.82
Sidney Crosby - 2.68
Mark Scheifele - 2.55
Scott Hartnell - 2.42
Arvidsson - 2.42
Marchand - 2.39
Backstrom - 2.38
Pominville - 2.38
The bolded are guys who have absolutely no place in any sort of "top ten forwards" lists. The actual scoring list looks more representative of what you'd expect if you asked people to list their top ten forwards than the per 60 list.
That's my biggest issue with these per 60 stats. You have situations where someone like Conor Sheary has a fluke year in minimal minutes to skew the results, whereas that doesn't happen with actual production.
it;s very easy to solve your mystery simply by excluding players who don't play a sufficient number of minutes per game. because we all understand that putting up impressive points per minute in very limited sheltered minutes is in no way similar to putting up in top line usage, like Matthews gets.
This is obvious to everyone. Not sure why you didn't see it.
and anyways, it's quite easy to get rid of all the outliers simply by increasing the sample:
Last 2yrs Even Strength, (>82gms played >14es mpg)
p/60
1.McDavid 3.15
2.Marchand 2.82
3.Malkin 2.79
4.Stamkos 2.72
5.Kucherov 2.67
6.Matthews 2.59
7.Scheifele 2.54
8.Gaudreau 2.51
9.Getzlaf 2.50
10.MacKinnnon 2.36
p1/60
1.Malkin 2.49
2.McDavid 2.43
3.Matthews 2.34
4.Marchand 2.19
5.Stamkos 2.10
6.Kucherov 2.05
7.Gaudreau 1.99
8.Pastrnak 1.97
9.Scheifele 1.95
10.MacKinnon 1.92
note that Matthews is the only one on these lists who was a rookie in either of these years, and that he doesn't come particularly close to either of the cutoffs I chose.
