Drai vs MacK vs Kuch (if Kuch wins the Cup+Conn Smythe)

[summer tooth]

voted kuch mack drai

 

[VoluntaryDom]

mack kuch drai has been and would still be the correct order, though if this happens kuch would close the gap a bit.

 

[Regal]

I have MacKinnon first because he's the best play driver of the three. Kucherov and Draisaitl are a bit better finishing/creating plays in the offensive zone but MacKinnon is the better transition player, while the other two aren't as good at gaining the zone/possession on their own. Kucherov and Draisaitl are really close, but I think Kucherov's playoff performances push him ahead for me.

 

[KidLine93]

Kucherov has always been better than them, this playoff run doesn't change anything.

Drai vs MacK. Drai has the best season between them and also has better goal and pt finishes. MacK has better hart finishes (yes I know Drai has won the Hart, but outside of that he hasn't sniffed it while MacK is a 3x finalist) and has been better in the playoffs. MacK doesn't have the luxury of being sheltered behind McDavid though.

Kucherov > MacK >= Drai

Mack getting higher hart finishes because McDavid is on Draisaitls team is a weird metric. Drai outplayed Mackinnon again this year and didn't get nominated because McDavid got his votes. Same way McDavuid outplayed Mack last year but didn't get into the top 3 because Draisaitl took the votes. Drai has had better seasons than mack for the past 3 years now.

 

[VinikToWinIt]

Kucherov is easily the most overrated elite player in the league

dude is the product of insane insulation, powerplay time, and stacked rosters

Kucherov cant even think up a way to dominate a game single-handidly like Draisaitl and MacKinnon can. dude is 100% dependent on teammates for production

What a spectacularly uninformed and narrative-driven take.

From 2017-2020, Kucherov has led the Lightning in scoring every single year and is 128 points above the second highest Lightning scorer in that timeframe.

In the same timeframe MacKinnon has outpaced his 2nd place teammate by 92 and Draisaitl is being outpaced by McDavid by 59 points.

If you include 2021, both numbers get worse, as MacKinnon was beaten out by Rantanen by a point this year, and Draisaitl was beaten out by 21 points. Meanwhile, the Lightning slipped to 9th in goals/game after leading the league 3 years in a row. Kucherov is currently 8 points above 2nd place Point 15 games into the playoffs. Point is not just the second leading scorer for the Lightning, but the 2nd leading scorer league wide.



So... who is really reliant on their teammates?

 

[Gurglesons]

Kucherov goes # 1 out of these three.

I take MacK above Drai despite Drai's trophy case.

 

[North Cole]

Homer voting Drai 2nd behind Kucherov. These guys are all like top 5 or 6 in the league depending where folks put Matthews after this year. Not worth breaking a sweat squabbling over who gets 1 or 2 extra positions haha... some bad blood in this thread.

Real order is probably K>M>D but their all close enough im gonna homer vote D second.

 

[Highmarker]

Drai and Mackinnon are incredibly close. I think kucherov is the best of the 3 though.

1.Kuch
2.Drai
3.Mack

 

[Crabapple]

Drai and Mackinnon are incredibly close. I think kucherov is the best of the 3 though.

1.Kuch
2.Drai
3.Mack

This is how I voted as well. There's arguments for any order, I think those 3 are the clear '2nd tier' after McDavid.

 

[Hisch13r]

Kuch, MacK, Drai regardless of the Smythe

 

[Puckstop40]

It will depend on who is doing what at the time the poll is asked.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Kucherov is easily the most overrated elite player in the league

dude is the product of insane insulation, powerplay time, and stacked rosters

Kucherov cant even think up a way to dominate a game single-handidly like Draisaitl and MacKinnon can. dude is 100% dependent on teammates for production

How is Kucherov overrated? He’s clearly the best player on Tampa and leads his teammates in pts by a bigger margin than MacKinnon and Draisaitl do in recent seasons.

Kucherov is clearly #2 in the world right now.