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

[Sinistril]

Still the best player in hockey right now but obviously benefitting from the new divisions

 

[Slapshot Sultan]

Divisions is one thing, but the most problematic is half a season that is played. Pace means something, but it's not nearly the same to keep pace for 50 games compared to 80. Kucherov just had 128 points 2 seasons ago with full season and no divisions. I can't rate this inter division 56 games season higher than that.

Rantanen I remember was on 140 point pace with 30 something games a few seasons ago.. and finished with 87 points.

Hopefully next season is a full one without the divisions and he's able to do that (best season in the 2000s)

 

[HockeyWooot]

Both.

A lot of bad D in the North (my Nucks are awful).

No matter what would still be dominant though.

 

[Sens]

Toffoli is at a 45G pace in the division with 27G already... so you tell me

 

[The Panther]

Still the best player in hockey right now but obviously benefitting from the new divisions

It's not obvious to me after watching the NHL for 35 years. In fact, my opinion is opposite yours.

Can you explain, with any available evidence, why one particular scorer is "benefitting" from more regular competition and an unpredictable, interrupted schedule?

 

[The Panther]

There are no desperate excuses needed. It's a 56 game season; therefore, his numbers will be taken with a grain of salt.

He's certainly going to be worried about your minority opinion after he wins the Hart and Art Ross and Pearson.

 

[The Panther]

Just to be clear: you think he's going to score 145+ points next year?

I'm not sure how that's relevant.

McDavid has clearly proven he's the best scorer in the NHL over the past five years. You're acting like this is his one, spike season and he's been middle of the pack previously.

Honestly, I wonder if some of you sit around, trying to think of how many ways you can denigrate today's greatest hockey players instead of enjoying them and celebrating their achievements.

 

[Sinistril]

It's not obvious to me after watching the NHL for 35 years. In fact, my opinion is opposite yours.

Can you explain, with any available evidence, why one particular scorer is "benefitting" from more regular competition and an unpredictable, interrupted schedule?

Many players are benefitting from the defense free north.

 

[T REX]

He is great. Period. Add that crappy division and it's a feast for Connor.

 

[Garbageyuk]

He's certainly going to be worried about your minority opinion after he wins the Hart and Art Ross and Pearson.

I'm not sure how that's relevant.

McDavid has clearly proven he's the best scorer in the NHL over the past five years. You're acting like this is his one, spike season and he's been middle of the pack previously.

Honestly, I wonder if some of you sit around, trying to think of how many ways you can denigrate today's greatest hockey players instead of enjoying them and celebrating their achievements.

All this because I said that I don't think he'd keep this pace over an 82 game season. Someone needs to learn how to encounter differing opinions without throwing a tantrum.

 

[Voight]

He is a generational talent. Scoring like this and being this far ahead of the pack is whats expected of him.

He turned 24 this year and is about to his prime/peak so I'm not surprised he is dominating the scoring race right now.

 

[McFlyingV]

Toffoli is at a 45G pace in the division with 27G already... so you tell me

William Karlsson once scored 43 goals in a season. These things happen.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

The guy is visibly getting better and better each year... its friggin scary how good he is.

It's terrifying to think he is most likely going to get even better

 

[Anya6687]

Doesn't matter what division he is in...he would be dominating and still leading the league in points...but playing in the Canadian division has increased his stats of course

 

[Darren McCord]

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

I would put that up there. Especially with how low scoring the league was then. But he didn't win the Smythe, so I would put it below Malkins.

He also was barely a ppg in playoffs. What makes Malkins even more impressive was his ppg went up to 1.5 in the playoffs. St. Louis went down.

 

[Fourier]

Divisions is one thing, but the most problematic is half a season that is played. Pace means something, but it's not nearly the same to keep pace for 50 games compared to 80. Kucherov just had 128 points 2 seasons ago with full season and no divisions. I can't rate this inter division 56 games season higher than that.

Rantanen I remember was on 140 point pace with 30 something games a few seasons ago.. and finished with 87 points.

Hopefully next season is a full one without the divisions and he's able to do that (best season in the 2000s)

It is true that the shorter season makes things much more complicated. But one thong we know about McDavid is that as the season goes on he tends to get stronger. from 2016-2017 - 2019-2020 in the last two month of the season McDavid has 109 points in 68 games or 1.60 points per game. He's typically been a bit of a slow starter.

 

[Fourier]

Doesn't matter what division he is in...he would be dominating and still leading the league in points...but playing in the Canadian division has increased his stats of course

Why of course? Had this been a normal year he would have still played the vast majority of his games vs similar or perhaps even weaker competition. The Pacific has Anaheim, San Jose, LA and Arizona in addition to Vegas.

Draisaitl's pts/gm are down this year as are Yamamoto's and Nugent-Hopkins. If there was a substantial amount of inflation from the division would it not be more uniform across the top six forwards?

 

[Mrb1p]

What a stupid argument.

Ottawa was the only team in the north who didn't make the play-ins last year while the West has 3 and the East has 2. Imagine if McDavid got to feast on the 3 California teams 24 times this year.

And the play ins are the standard now? The Habs are nowhere near a PO team and they may just be the 2nd best defensive team in this division.

 

[Mrb1p]

Why of course? Had this been a normal year he would have still played the vast majority of his games vs similar or perhaps even weaker competition. The Pacific has Anaheim, San Jose, LA and Arizona in addition to Vegas.

He has about half his points against Ottawa.

 

[Hockey Crazy]

He's beaten up on Ottawa and Vancouver, but in a regular year, he also would have beaten up on Buffalo, Detroit, Anaheim etc... The division argument is overrated.

 

[Sens]

He's beaten up on Ottawa and Vancouver, but in a regular year, he also would have beaten up on Buffalo, Detroit, Anaheim etc... The division argument is overrated.

Travel takes a toll on the body over 82 games
I bet he’s travelled 1/10 as much this season...

 

[snipes]

He has about half his points against Ottawa.

He scored more against the Jets than he did against Ottawa this year. Can only play the games against the teams in front of you.

Just imagine if he was in the Pacific he would beating up and globe trottering on the California teams.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

I didn't compare him to McDavid. I listed him as an example among many over the years to score at a crazy pace for a good chunk of the season before coming back down to Earth. McDavid is the best player in the league currently, but no, I don't believe he'd sustain this pace over a full normal season. I'll believe it when I see it.

Suggesting that McDavid wouldn't sustain his scoring pace because Rantanen didn't in a prior season is comparing them.

Whatever. We'll revisit this when the 82-game seasons resume.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Divisions is one thing, but the most problematic is half a season that is played. Pace means something, but it's not nearly the same to keep pace for 50 games compared to 80. Kucherov just had 128 points 2 seasons ago with full season and no divisions. I can't rate this inter division 56 games season higher than that.

Rantanen I remember was on 140 point pace with 30 something games a few seasons ago.. and finished with 87 points.

Hopefully next season is a full one without the divisions and he's able to do that (best season in the 2000s)

Here we go again.

Rantanen being unable to maintain his scoring pace does not imply that McDavid couldn't maintain his.

 

[Team Cozens]

I'm leaning absolutely toward division for McDavid and Matthews this year. They both have next year to prove me wrong.