Connor McDavid has 150 EVP (and counting) over these past 2 seasons, 30 more than 2nd place Kane.

[LarKing]

Geez, save some offense for the rest of the league McDavid.

 

[daver]

McDavid, Lucic and Draisaitl were all in the Top 20 last year in PP points. They were one of the most productive trios. Is your point that McDavid underperformed on the PP this year?

 

[daver]

They're more valuable because more of the game is played at even strength than on the power play. Especially in the playoffs where the amount of penalties goes down.They also tend to be less consistent year to year.

That's not to say powerplay points aren't of value, just not quite as much.

There are the same value. And players like Malkin and Kucherov have been just as consistent in the last two years despite more PP points. And McDavid needs to show up at ES in the playoffs to make this claim have any merit.

 

[OilerTyler]

McDavid, Lucic and Draisaitl were all in the Top 20 last year in PP points. They were one of the most productive trios. Is your point that McDavid underperformed on the PP this year?

Part of the problem is that our entire power play has underperformed this year. The other part of the problem is that the Oilers are on pace to have the fewest power play opportunities of any team ever in an 82 game season.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

There are the same value. And players like Malkin and Kucherov have been just as consistent in the last two years despite more PP points. And McDavid needs to show up at ES in the playoffs to make this claim have any merit.

You're using a f***ing 13 game sample size. In his first appearance in the playoffs.

I like how this small sample size is the hill you die on.

Then again, this is "Crosby is the best due to grace period" that we are arguing with.

 

[Empoleon8771]

EVP is kind of like SAV% for goalies:
It speaks about how well the player is playing, and reflects individual performance quite well (given a minimum number of games played)

PPP is kind of like GAA for goalies:
A good player can put up great numbers with the right team, but it's very difficult to do on the wrong team.

I would say most value SAV% and EVP more than GAA and PPP, but at the end of the day, a low GAA and PPP can lead what matters most (W) anyways, so it's simply all a matter of perspective.

I like this analogy. A higher save% is a better indicator of who's a better goalie than a lower GAA, but a low GAA helps your team win just as much as a high save%. I think people may put a higher emphasis on who's better than who helps your team win on this site, so maybe that's why people value things like ES points and goals more.

So basically, in terms of helping your team win, an ES point is no more valuable than a PP point. In terms of who's better, ES points are better at showing who's a better player.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Wow, that's amazing!

Maybe someday it'll actually translate into meaningful results for the team he plays for.

 

[HugginThePost]

I honestly don't get why people make such a big deal out of ES points. Not really related to McDavid, but some people seem to think that ES points are somehow inherently more valuable because they're at ES, which doesn't make sense to me.

It's known as "pushing an agenda".

 

[Soundwave]

ES points are harder to score, that's why it's a notable accomplishment if you are best of the best in scoring in that category, I don't think it's like some outlier stat or something.

McDavid is also scoring at a high rate despite being on a low scoring team generally ... the Oilers are the 18th in team offence overall the rest of the guys are generally on more offensively gifted teams. Which helps on a PP.

 

[Soundwave]

Regarding the playoffs I think it's silly to take too much from McDavid's first playoffs.

Gretzky and Crosby both had fair sized drop offs in their playoff PPG versus their regular season PPG the first time they made the playoffs. Even for the best players, the first time around is a bit of an adjustment process.

 

[Blue and Green]

I doubt that McDavid will ever be as great on the power play as he is at even strength. On the power play his greatest strength (skating) is less important while his main weakness (shot velocity) comes more to the fore compared to even-strength situations.

 

[authentic]

Part of the problem is that our entire power play has underperformed this year. The other part of the problem is that the Oilers are on pace to have the fewest power play opportunities of any team ever in an 82 game season.

I wonder why this is though? McDavid seems to draw a lot himself but also has a lot not called against him. I think for whatever reason even historically Edmonton has mostly had far less powerplays than Pittsburgh.

 

[PatrikOverAuston]

The usual suspects continuing to troll McDavid threads. Better cover up- your insecurities are showing.

 

[Soundwave]

I doubt that McDavid will ever be as great on the power play as he is at even strength. On the power play his greatest strength (skating) is less important while his main weakness (shot velocity) comes more to the fore compared to even-strength situations.

The issue with that though is he was fine on the PP a year ago.

This is a coaching staff in Todd McLellan that is very dense at making adjustments. This is the same staff that was up 3-0 in a playoff series and then lost 4-3.

McDavid is still an exceptional passer with great vision, that doesn't magically go away on a PP. The Oilers don't have a good point shot for one, and McLellan is very stubborn in who he will use as a trigger man for a one timer shot. Letestu worked well last year but teams scouted that and Todd McLellan and Jay Woodcroft have refused to adjust.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

McDavid has 75 EVP vs 54 for Draisaitl and Drai is almost stapled to him. Crazy.

For comparison, Hall has 49 EVP vs 40 for Hischier despite being 22 points ahead in all situations (78 vs 46).

The man has a serious Hart Trophy case.

 

[ImporterExporter]

McDavid has 75 EVP vs 54 for Draisaitl and Drai is almost stapled to him. Crazy.

For comparison, Hall has 49 EVP vs 40 for Hischier despite being 22 points ahead in all situations (78 vs 46).

The man has a serious Hart Trophy case.

No, he doesn't.

The Oilers are likely picking top 5-7. Nobody deserves to get a Hart nod just because they're putting up nice stats. How valuable is he really? Not good enough to single handedly carry Edmonton out of the lottery.

I'm willing to bet he'd trade all those extra ES points for a bunch more wins.

 

[snipes]

McDavid has 75 EVP vs 54 for Draisaitl and Drai is almost stapled to him. Crazy.

For comparison, Hall has 49 EVP vs 40 for Hischier despite being 22 points ahead in all situations (78 vs 46).

The man has a serious Hart Trophy case.

Leads the league in scoring chances for, high danger chances for, and tops in takeaways (22 more takeaways than Barkov). Among many other categories.

Just an unreal season, don’t see how he doesn’t win the Lindsay at least.

 

[Soundwave]

Colorado: 85 more power plays than the Oilers.
Tampa: 64 more power plays than the Oilers.
Pittsburgh: 46 more power plays than the Oilers.

That's pretty amazing to me, a lot of guys are loading up on PP points.

My personal feeling is yeah the Oilers aren't as good of a team so they don't get as many PPs, but having said that IMO I also think refs call the Oilers differently.

Because of McDavid's speed and relentless attack mentality you probably could call a penalty on every shift because guys have to slash, hold, whatever on him to keep him from blowing past them.

But NHL refs don't want to call a penalty every shift so IMO they approach the Oilers with the attitude of they're only going to call things if its very, very blatant otherwise they'd be calling a huge amount of penalities.

And they don't want to do that. But by extension IMO it results in some wonky reffing I think the Oilers are on pace to have the least penalties drawn in maybe NHL history or something? How that happens with McDavid on your team to me is baffling.

 

[KlefDown]

McDavid has 75 EVP vs 54 for Draisaitl and Drai is almost stapled to him. Crazy.

For comparison, Hall has 49 EVP vs 40 for Hischier despite being 22 points ahead in all situations (78 vs 46).

The man has a serious Hart Trophy case.

Drai plays more without McDavid than with. "Stapled to him"?
k

 

[OilerTyler]

I wonder why this is though? McDavid seems to draw a lot himself but also has a lot not called against him. I think for whatever reason even historically Edmonton has mostly had far less powerplays than Pittsburgh.

The refs don't call the majority of the penalties that occur in any NHL game. The only determining factor over how many power plays a team will get is the whether the refs feel like calling them or not.

 

[authentic]

The refs don't call the majority of the penalties that occur in any NHL game. The only determining factor over how many power plays a team will get is the whether the refs feel like calling them or not.

Yeah pretty much. When they are blatant enough they are usually called though. Where does Edmonton rank in penalty minutes? Maybe since they aren't a dirty team they don't engage in a lot of rough play resulting in not many penalties called for either team.

 

[b in vancouver]

That is honestly impressive.

 

[daver]

Can we just have one all purpose " McDavid isn't leading in scoring because other players unfairly load up on PP points" thread?

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

They are more repeatable generally.

A guy will play 1200-1400 ES minutes and maybe 250 on the PP. A hot or cold streak on the PP can hugely skew results.

Not just that, if a player kills it on the pp one year and his team had lots of opportunities and the next season their team ends up with the least amount of pp's, it would affect their point totals.

 

[Soundwave]

NHL reffing is not about calling the actual calls. It's about "game management". Refs believe they've reffed a "good game" when they don't interfere too much in it.

The problem for them with a player like McDavid is he draws so many probable penalties due to his speed and unrelenting attack style that it puts NHL refs into a dilemma where they can't (or more accurately don't want to) call clear penalties continually so he's reffed at a different standard.

Not that this is really IMO even the main issue with the Oilers this year, but I definitely think something is up when the Oilers are on pace for the least penalties drawn in something like 30+ years yet you have McDavid who plays big minutes and basically is attack, attack, attack, every shift.

To me though McLellan/Woodcroft's inept PP is more of a problem though.