Dahlin is generational.

[Jack Be Quick]

There have only been like 7 generational players in history and you think Dahlin will be one?

7?

There's 2-4 locks currently playing.

 

[StevenB]

7?

There's 2-4 locks currently playing.

Generational is thrown around wayyyy too loosely now

 

[Jack Be Quick]

Generational is thrown around wayyyy too loosely now

Ovi, Crosby, and potentially McJesus aren't generational? The 4th in my head was Malkin but who knows what he would have been on a top line so I suppose you can exclude him.

 

[BlueBaron]

I'm of the mind generational is a hind sight thing but he's a great talent.

 

[al secord]

Generational Sabre, maybe.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Also a full year older. It's very rare for an 18yo defenseman to have as much success as Dahlin is. It's less uncommon to see that from 19yo ones.

Only 2 18-year-old D in the history of the NHL have scored 41 points (Orr and Housley), as Dahlin is currently pacing to do. Only 6 have reached at least 30, and no one after that bested 25. Dahlin is already 17th all-time in scoring by an 18-year-old defenseman.
To compare: 13 19-year-old D have scored at least 40 points; 22 have topped 35 points (what Heiskanen is currently pacing for); 31 at least 30, and 5 more fell just 1 point shy of that.

Heiskanen's gonna be awesome, but Dahlin looks a cut above.

Got anything except point pace to judge Dmen?

 

[tsujimoto74]

Got anything except point pace to judge Dmen?

They've both been mostly good defensively, aside from the expected rookie derp here and there.
I didn't bother with defensive (i.e., possession) metrics because I don't put a ton of stock into them without proper context. But, for those that do, Dahlin has a 4.8%CFrel, and Heiskanen's is 0.3. FF%rel is 3.9 to 0.8. They both start about equally as often in the defensive zone as the offensive zone (with a slight preference toward D for both).

ETA for additional context, digging up some "advanced" stats for other recent teenage rookie D:

• 18yo Aaron Ekblad had 4.4CF%rel and 4.0FF%rel with heavy offensive zone starts. (His partner, Brian Campbell, was at 5.2 and 4.5 in those stats, respectively.)

• 19yo Drew Doughty was -2.6 and -3.8 with a slight preference for offensive zone starts.

• 19yo Victor Hedman was at 2.5 and 2.3 with near even zone starts.

• 19yo Adam Larsson was -0.8 and -2.7 with a slight preference for offensive zone starts.

• 19yo Jacob Trouba was -3.4 and -3.2 with a slight preference for defensive zone starts.

• 19yo Mikhail Servachev was 3.4 and 3.9 with VERY heavy offensive zone starts.

• 19yo Tyler Myers was -3.0 and -2.7 with near even zone starts.

• 19yo Zack Werenski was 6.2 and 5.3 with moderate offensive zone starts.

• 19yo Cam Fowler was -5.2 and -5.3 with a slight preference for offensive zone starts.

 

[dortt]

Ovi, Crosby, and potentially McJesus aren't generational? The 4th in my head was Malkin but who knows what he would have been on a top line so I suppose you can exclude him.

No, they aren't

Not on par with Hainesworth, Howe, Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux, Hasek

You'll know when we have a generational talent. That will be when a player completely dominates the game for multiple consecutive seasons

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Those 3 are this generation's generational players IMO. Jagr shared spotlight in the Lemieux/Gretzky era.

Prime Crosby when healthy was going lead league in points.
Ovechkin was a shoe in to lead league in goals every year.
No one came close to these guys.
McDavid could realistically win the next 3-4 Art Ross trophies, this type of dominance is generational.

It's unlikely we see someone as good as McDavid for a long time...maybe the next gen.

Jagr didn't share the spotlight though. He won 5 art ross trophies and Lemieux played a total of 43 games during those seasons. If we include Mcdavid, Crosby, Ovechkin, imo we need to include Jagr (who won 4 straight art rosses), Hasek, and Lidstrom.

 

[NiL8r87]

No, they aren't

Not on par with Hainesworth, Howe, Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux, Hasek

You'll know when we have a generational talent. That will be when a player completely dominates the game for multiple consecutive seasons

So like Crosby and Ovie...

 

[inthewings]

The only generational talents we've had in the last two decades are Ovie, Crosby, Matthews, Marner, and Rielly. It's a bit early to say Dahlin can reach those heights.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Generational was Howe, Orr, Gretzky and Lemieux. Peak Ovechkin was closer to generational than Crosby imo. Loosely it could be applied to Hasek since he was the best goalie.

 

[Dirty Dog]

The only generational talents we've had in the last two decades are Ovie, Crosby, Matthews, Marner, and Rielly. It's a bit early to say Dahlin can reach those heights.

You forgot marleau... never thought of him as generational, but something changed in his mid-thirties.

 

[HSF]

There have only been like 7 generational players in history and you think Dahlin will be one?

you dont listen to toronto sports radio do you? There are 3 on the team right now

 

[dortt]

So like Crosby and Ovie...

No... they were not head and shoulders better year in and year out like the others were. You had Malkin, Seguin interloping some years.

They are more akin to Yzerman and Jagr

 

[Beerz]

The only generational talents we've had in the last two decades are Ovie, Crosby, Matthews, Marner, and Rielly. It's a bit early to say Dahlin can reach those heights.

Kadri is a generational ass

 

[bottomofthefoodchain]

The only generational talents we've had in the last two decades are Ovie, Crosby, Matthews, Marner, and Rielly. It's a bit early to say Dahlin can reach those heights.

You forgot Bozak.
No wait, he got traded.
Nylander! You forgot Nylander.

 

[TheOtherOne]

Toews, Gretzky, Orr, Lidstrom, Matthews, Lemieux and?

Who's number 7?

John Scott

 

[BayStreetBully]

Also a full year older. It's very rare for an 18yo defenseman to have as much success as Dahlin is. It's less uncommon to see that from 19yo ones.

Only 2 18-year-old D in the history of the NHL have scored 41 points (Orr and Housley), as Dahlin is currently pacing to do. Only 6 have reached at least 30, and no one after that bested 25. Dahlin is already 17th all-time in scoring by an 18-year-old defenseman.
To compare: 13 19-year-old D have scored at least 40 points; 22 have topped 35 points (what Heiskanen is currently pacing for); 31 at least 30, and 5 more fell just 1 point shy of that.

Heiskanen's gonna be awesome, but Dahlin looks a cut above.

It’s worth saying that Bobby Orr scored 41 in 61 games, in a league that was even more low-scoring than the present. Only three players scored 70 points in the NHL that year.

And Ekblad scored 39 points as an 18 year old a few years ago.

 

[kicksavedave]

Toews, Gretzky, Orr, Lidstrom, Matthews, Lemieux and?

Who's number 7?

11 pages and people still can't figure out this was sarcasm? Seriously debating this?

 

[Breakers]

Was there threads for werenski being generational after his 19 year old season rookie season?

 

[Fredrik_71]

Why do people use the term generational for best ever? A generation is a time period of approx 20 years.

 

[Prospero]

The only generational talents we've had in the last two decades are Ovie, Crosby, Matthews, Marner, and Rielly. It's a bit early to say Dahlin can reach those heights.

Dahlin and Marner are the only two generational talents that I see in that sorry bunch.

 

[Asymmetric Solution]

The only generational talents we've had in the last two decades are Ovie, Crosby, Matthews, Marner, and Rielly. It's a bit early to say Dahlin can reach those heights.

This list is useless without Tavares being mentioned.

 

[crosbyshow]

Generational was Howe, Orr, Gretzky and Lemieux. Peak Ovechkin was closer to generational than Crosby imo. Loosely it could be applied to Hasek since he was the best goalie.

Lol.

Crosby did 102 points at 18 and 120 points at 19.

The next one who Will do this is not born yet.....so he is generetional

He won the art ross and the hart trophy at...19...

And...we never really seen his real prime because he almost not played at 23,24 and 25 years old...