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

[Soundwave]

He would have won the Hart and Art Ross in the regular format too.

Draisaitl took a huge leap the last two years, did people really think McDavid wasn't going to?

 

[Randyne]

65 goals Ovi got to feast on the awful Southeast Division

It was Sid who feasted on the awful Southeast Division. Ovechkin owned Northeast.

		GP	G	A	P	GPG	PPG
Ovi 07-08	Atlantic	20	11	12	23	0.55	1.15
	Northeast	20	24	12	36	1.20	1.80
	Southeast	32	22	17	39	0.69	1.22
	Central	5	4	4	8	0.80	1.60
	Northwest	5	4	2	6	0.80	1.20
Sid 10-11	Atlantic	11	3	9	12	0.27	1.09
	Northeast	9	6	7	13	0.67	1.44
	Southeast	12	11	14	25	0.92	2.08
	Central	3	4	1	5	1.33	1.67
	Northwest	2	4	0	4	2.00	2.00
	Pacific	4	4	3	7	1.00	1.75

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Gurglesons]

Combination

 

[Mrb1p]

65 goals Ovi got to feast on the awful Southeast Division

No.

He had 39 in 32 against the awful SE

36 in 20 against NE.

6 pts in 4 games against Pittsburgh.
8 in 4 against MTL.
10 in 4 against Ottawa.


Mcdavid got 21 pts in 9 against Ottawa
18 in 10 vs CGY
22 in 9 vs WPG

He feasts on poor goaltending and bad defense.

Case is closed.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Leafs have kept him pointless 3 times that I know of. Every other team but the Jets has shut him out at least once. And he's still killing it. 36% more points than 3rd-place Marner is ridiculous (let's ignore Drai for obvious reasons).

The guy has been on another level since he returned from his rookie year injury. He's a quantum leap ahead of the league at this point.

It's silly to handicap divisions who haven't played one another. We'll find out how strong/weak the divisions are when the Conference Finals commence, not until. Don't know if the Oilers are strong enough to get there, but if they do, watch out.

 

[Darren McCord]

If we are talking the whole season with playoffs. I think the best season in the 2000's by a player was 2008-2009 Malkins.

Reg Season
82 Gp 113pts Led the league in scoring and won the Art Ross.
Playoffs
24 gp 36pts led the playoffs in scoring and won the Smythe

No other player in the 2000's has managed to lead the regular season and playoffs in scoring winning the Art Ross and Smyth. He was robbed of the Hart as well.

Sure McDavid could go on a tear and win the cup and Smythe, but overall right now I think that is the best singles season in the 2000's so far.

 

[Bank Shot]

McDavid is just lucky he hasn't had to play a bunch of games against powerhouses like LA, Anaheim and San Jose this season!

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

People go on and on about the division, and while it's not great, is there a truly horrible team in it? Maybe Ottawa? If you take away their games versus Edmonton, they're a .500 team or close to that. He hasn't played ANA or BUF or NJ or PHI (terrible defense) all season. Three of those teams are in one division.

First and foremost to put this out there right away, I think McDavid would be producing regardless. Maybe a slight decrease if he played more good teams, but nothing drastic to change how impressive what he's doing is.

Having said that, I think the issue with the North isn't that their bottom teams are terrible compared to the bottom teams in other divisions, it's that they're the one division where there aren't multiple really good teams. Toronto's the one good team, with the rest of the teams kind of falling in that middle of the pack (Edmonton, Winnipeg) or below range. That's where I'd argue the "weak division" stems from.

 

[MikeyMike01]

We’ll only know for sure next season.

 

[Goose]

We’ll only know for sure next season.

Future results are no guarantee of past performance.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Future results are no guarantee of past performance.

Got any stock tips?

 

[Esko6]

He is amazing, but divisions are definitely a big part of some of the incredible paces this year.

 

[KCC]

I don't think it's the division so much as the shortened season has def helped him. Less travel, more time off (because of the virus hitting other teams) and not having his yearly flu that knocks him out of commission and affects his game for like a month have all helped him. lol. He's just been able to have a lot more energy to do more. And when he does more he is virtually unstoppable.

 

[Minar]

Time will tell. If the oilers make it out of the division all will be revealed.

 

[Seras]

You can easily see who has been watching him play vs watching a spreadsheet in this thread

 

[Pyrophorus]

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

The divisions are pretty equal scoring, but the exception are the 2 duos in the North.

 

[Spoilers]

People are always trying to discredit him. He was putting up points against teams like Washington and Colorado last year also. It’s not like he hasn’t been the best player in the world for a while.

He is just simply that dominant. The US teams are lucky he is only facing the North division this season. He put up 22 points in 12 games against the metro division last season.

 

[Pyrophorus]

The division definitely helps, but he's just plain better than he's ever been, same for other players (will refrain from saying names so it doesnt turn into one of those topics).


Mcdavid is going to walk into the next "normal" season and drop 140 points. That's the reality the other divisions teams are going to have to accept when it happens.

...and Matthews with 68goals?

 

[Nemesis Prime]

Y'all talking about his division like he's in the West.

This dude has torched the league on many occasions, he is next level.

 

[Bank Shot]

Pacific going to be hot garbage next season. Hold on to your butts.

 

[Stephen]

If we are talking the whole season with playoffs. I think the best season in the 2000's by a player was 2008-2009 Malkins.

Reg Season
82 Gp 113pts Led the league in scoring and won the Art Ross.
Playoffs
24 gp 36pts led the playoffs in scoring and won the Smythe

No other player in the 2000's has managed to lead the regular season and playoffs in scoring winning the Art Ross and Smyth. He was robbed of the Hart as well.

Sure McDavid could go on a tear and win the cup and Smythe, but overall right now I think that is the best singles season in the 2000's so far.

What about Marty St. Louis in 2004? Hart, Art Ross, Cup and basically was 2 points shy of Brad Richards for the Conn Smythe.

 

[KidLine93]

Got any stock tips?

buy high sell low

 

[The Panther]

I remain baffled as to how the divisional play allows easier scoring this season. And, scoring in the North is no higher than any other division. (Also, the West is clearly the weakest division this season, while none of the bottom-3 defensive teams this season are in the North.)

Higher-scoring because of intra-divisional games no sense whatsoever. If anything, the opposite should be true. The more you play the same team, the more that team is prepared to defend you. Like the playoffs. Witness the 1950s/60s NHL when each team had only 5 opponents and scoring was lower.*

Anyway, McDavid is indeed playing the best hockey of his life, so far, this season. This is probably his peak. Whether or not it's the best season of the 2000s is debatable, but I would say, 'yes'.



* (EDIT): Also, see the 1995 work-stoppage season. Teams played only within their own Conferences, and scoring suddenly plummeted.

 

[alphahelix]

Nikita Kucherov a couple years ago - 128 points. Crosby never hit that, Ovechkin never hit that. Pace is one thing, but it means more to actually do it. I think if this were a full season, McDavid would end up around there, but again, to actually do it over a full season is different. I think he could in the next couple seasons though.

You think McDavid would slow down so much in his last 30 games that he would only hit 128? McDavid and Drai both tend to heat up down the stretch.

 

[Garbageyuk]

You think McDavid would slow down so much in his last 30 games that he would only hit 128? McDavid and Drai both tend to heat up down the stretch.

Yes. I've seen it many times over the decades I've been watching hockey. A few seasons back, Rantanen was on pace for 140+ points halfway through the season. You think think McDavid would sustain his current pace over a full, normal (non-covid) season?