Do you think McDavid is having the best season of the 2000s or the new divisions are the reason?

[Seachd]

Clearly not the division.

 

[Peter Puck]

I think the reduced number of opponents has decreased scoring. For example, Montreal played Edmonton 9 times this year and so games against the Oilers represent 9/56 rather than the usual 2/82. This means the Habs have made a whole lot more effort to develop a specific game plan to use to shut down McDavid.

This has worked very well for them with the Habs holding him to 0 or 1 point in the first few games. In the last game he just took over the last half and won the games for the Oilers.

In a normal season the Habs don't devote nearly the same effort to changing their system just to shut down a star they only see twice in games a few months apart.

 

[filinski77]

I'll preface this with saying that McDavid was #1 in my books for the Ross/Lindsay/Hart race for this season before we even knew about a shortened intra-divisional season.

But even if it's not a North-division thing, I think the shortened + intradivisional season plays a huge part of it. McDavid deserves all of the credit for how great he's dominating his peers right now, but I just don't personally believe that a 20% increase in his /gp production from last season has nothing to do with the oddity of a season where you only play the same 6 teams.

If he goes out and puts up 150 points next year, then I'll eat crow and be wrong. But I also wouldn't be surprised if he goes out and throws out 125-130 points next season and wins the Ross with that.

 

[ScaredStreit]

Two things can be true at once. McDavid could be having the best season we've seen in a long time and benefitting from the division he's playing in.

 

[winnipegger]

There's no substantial difference between NHL teams north of the border and those south. They draft from the same pool of players. Trust me Mcdavid would be doing this to American teams too. Unless you think Arizona is somehow tougher to beat than Vancouver. McDavid hasn't played a single game against LA, San Jose, or Anaheim. Makes no sense to say he's just doing it because of division.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Feasting on a weak division.

 

[Dust]

I'll preface this with saying that McDavid was #1 in my books for the Ross/Lindsay/Hart race for this season before we even knew about a shortened intra-divisional season.

But even if it's not a North-division thing, I think the shortened + intradivisional season plays a huge part of it. McDavid deserves all of the credit for how great he's dominating his peers right now, but I just don't personally believe that a 20% increase in his /gp production from last season has nothing to do with the oddity of a season where you only play the same 6 teams.

If he goes out and puts up 150 points next year, then I'll eat crow and be wrong. But I also wouldn't be surprised if he goes out and throws out 125-130 points next season and wins the Ross with that.

I think it's harder to maintain is a normal season for a variety of reasons so it also wouldn't surprise me either. Higher probability of getting more banged up or sick and missing a few games in an 82 game season than in a 56 game one. I don't think the division or opponents this year really plays into that though.

 

[Pantokrator]

If he were in the East, he would be getting 5 points a night vs the Flyers, Devils, and Buffalo. Each of them is worse than the worst Canadian division team. I think in other divisions he would face some teams with better defense than the North, but also worse teams. I think it might even out. As a Flyers fan, he might be able to get 10 points a night vs us, we are that bad with no compete.

Maybe he has more from the division, but I don't think it is enough to really make that much of a difference as to how great he is playing.

 

[Pucklington]

I'll preface this with saying that McDavid was #1 in my books for the Ross/Lindsay/Hart race for this season before we even knew about a shortened intra-divisional season.

But even if it's not a North-division thing, I think the shortened + intradivisional season plays a huge part of it. McDavid deserves all of the credit for how great he's dominating his peers right now, but I just don't personally believe that a 20% increase in his /gp production from last season has nothing to do with the oddity of a season where you only play the same 6 teams.

If he goes out and puts up 150 points next year, then I'll eat crow and be wrong. But I also wouldn't be surprised if he goes out and throws out 125-130 points next season and wins the Ross with that.

Why are we not seeing this with the other top players? I've heard this, but it should apply to the rest of the elite guys.

 

[AMDZen]

McDavid is a generational player, but his division is embarassing.

This is the right answer. These two things aren't mutually exclusive

 

[OilWagon]

He would have even more points in other divisions

 

[Roof Daddy]

For all those yammering on about the weak division, consider the teams he’d be playing more regularly if the regular division alignment were in play....

VGK, ARI, SJ, LAK, ANH: 114-118-27

Record of the teams that replaced them (TOR, MTL, WPG, OTT): 104-79-23

 

[sportsdynasty]

Mostly new divisions but it's still an achievement. This year is like the 05-06 in some ways. Some unreal numbers in an odd situation, but that doesn't diminish how incredible McDavid has been. He's not facing some of the best defenses in the league for 15-20. games, though.

Why aren't other players putting up more points from his same division? Why are goals against lower in his division than other divisions?

McDavid has improved every season in the league. This is the real reason why he's going for 100 points in a short season.

 

[Dempsey]

For all those yammering on about the weak division, consider the teams he’d be playing more regularly if the regular division alignment were in play....

VGK, ARI, SJ, LAK, ANH: 114-118-27

Record of the teams that replaced them (TOR, MTL, WPG, OTT): 104-79-23

People want excuses not facts.

 

[Bank Shot]

Why are we not seeing this with the other top players? I've heard this, but it should apply to the rest of the elite guys.

If you look at the top ten in NHL scoring last year vs this year it looks almost exactly the same. Pastrnak has fallen off, Kucherov is gone obviously, and Panarin is below due to missing 20% of the season but a lot of the other guys are in almost the exact same place as last year.

If divisions are such a big deal, then why does the top ten in NHL scoring look essentially the same?

 

[Bluesguru]

That's funny, I was just reading about how the Rangers goal totals are inflated because they have the great fortune to share a division with three bottom five defenses.

And apparently Eriksson Ek is only scoring because of the West, and McDavid because of the North. And I've been hearing all year about how awful the Central is.

- good players always tend to score more against weaker teams.
- there are weaker teams in every division (surprisingly evenly spread if you ask me).

yeah, but that’s all they’re playing. The same teams, the same goalies. Familiarity and same style of play and same competition definitely skews some of the numbers. The whole year is based on divisional play. You can’t compare to normal divisions because those divisions didn’t comprise a seasons worth of games like we have now.

 

[CupsOverCash]

It's a bit of both but no doubt McDavid is a beast.

 

[WatchfulElm]

Pretty easy to verify.

If it was the division, you would expect the North division teams to give up more goals per game. And it’s not the case :

East : 3,00
North : 2,94
West : 2,93
Central : 2,86

But McDavid recording a point on 56% of his team's goals, now that's something impressive, and it has nothing to do with the divisions.

 

[FinProspects]

1.82ppg is insanity no matter how you slice it. This season is up there with the best seasons in 00's, no question. History-section can then judge the adjusted stats etc, its interesting to see. Peer dominance is on next level (30ish points difference to next non-Oiler in 50 games, wtff). Its crazy.

 

[Beville]

I mean 40 of this points have coke from 18 games against Ottawa and Montreal..

A proper division format would solidify him as, the GOAT of his generation. (Which, IMO, would be easy for him to achieve).

 

[bossram]

Well, the North isn't even the highest-scoring division. It's hard to credibly claim that he's only producing this much "because of the division". If anything, the divisional play should make things harder for him considering the coaching staffs only have to gameplan for 6 other teams, and shutting down McDavid would be priority #1.

He's having a historic season. There's no other way about it. And I'm saying this as a Canucks/Leafs guy.

 

[nturn06]

He is just lucky that he plays in the weak north while last year's Art Ross winner plays in a much tougher division.....

 

[CamPopplestone]

I hate the Oilers and I wouldn't even say it's because of the division. He's just lit a fire under himself this year like I haven't seen in a long time.

And even if you want to go off about inflated point totals, if this was a full season in a normal world he'd have 100 points this year anyway so I don't buy anyone looking back at this as a asterisk on his career totals if any bullshit.

 

[alko]

Any rankings of the top season from year 2000? Goalies including. (isnt there already a topic about this?)

 

[a mangy Meowth]

He's an incredible player, simply the best in the league by far. I don't think he's having the best season of the millennia, but he's probably the best player since Lemieux because he's so consistently the best. And the best is yet to come, I think.

That said, it's pretty obvious he's benefiting from playing in a division that is relatively poor defensively, and gets an extra game or two against those opponents as well due to just 7 teams. Toronto is probably the best defense in that division and I don't think they're a top defense league-wide (I'd put them around #8-12, honestly maybe even worse because goalies are part of the D, and their goalies are pretty bad). It's just hard to compare though when there are essentially 4 separate leagues this reg. season. Who knows.