If Kuch and McD both get 100 assists

[NVious]

Virgin Kuch gets 100 assists "nobody cares, not that hard"
Chad McDavid gets 100 assists "OMG 2nd coming of Gretz, WE LOVE YOU CONNOR!!!"

 

[Dingo]

What? Bedard will be a sophomore on an absolute dog sh** team, even if he scores 40 goals and 100 pts your reaction should be "well f*** me, i was wrong about him!"

I will say though he did come into the league at the perfect moment to have some insane career stats

well, whatever. My point is that its ridiculous to dig your heels in to the point where you start to nullify everyone else's accomplishments because you dislike someone so much that nothing they do can ever be simply accepted as good.

 

[Dingo]

Virgin Kuch gets 100 assists "nobody cares, not that hard"
Chad McDavid gets 100 assists "OMG 2nd coming of Gretz, WE LOVE YOU CONNOR!!!"

haha, its funny. I had a conversation not too different than this in my head yesterday

Kucherov breaks record for most assists ever by a winger

HFHaters - "He's selfish!!" because that term is actually being thrown at him for 'only caring about his stats' by some of the mungbeans on here. I, sure his teammates are going to secret get togethers to bitch, "did you see that guy tonight? 4 assists!! how is that gonna help us win?? only one blocked shot. selfish asshole. I want my talented wingers grinding it out behind our net, for f*** sake!"

edit - to your point, a winger is the ONLY position that has never had a 100 assist player. It should actually be considered MORE epic than a third center doing it.

extra edit - also, the first non-Canadian which should be even more sp...... oh, wait, i see it all clearly, now.

 

[Dingo]

Maybe. Or the NHL just has better players now than when they were in their prime. Guys like MacK, Drai, Kucherov, AM, and McDavid are lining up to be better than a lot of the guys Malkin, Sid and Ovi went against

i think you can look at how well Kane, Crosby and Ovechkin held up as they got old. Their numbers either held or even improved in their 30s EXACTLY when the goalie pads were reduced. They should have faded away faster. If the guys back then were worse than now, then Crosby and Ovechkin werent that good because they didnt have huge gaps on those guys. THEN, Crosby shouldnt have been challenging for the Ross, nor Ovechkin for the Rocket, into their mid thirties against this new crop.

 

[AvroArrow]

It will be even more impressive, Kucherov will be the only winger to have ever done it.

 

[Video Nasty]

haha, its funny. I had a conversation not too different than this in my head yesterday

Kucherov breaks record for most assists ever by a winger

HFHaters - "He's selfish!!" because that term is actually being thrown at him for 'only caring about his stats' by some of the mungbeans on here. I, sure his teammates are going to secret get togethers to bitch, "did you see that guy tonight? 4 assists!! how is that gonna help us win?? only one blocked shot. selfish asshole. I want my talented wingers grinding it out behind our net, for f*** sake!"

edit - to your point, a winger is the ONLY position that has never had a 100 assist player. It should actually be considered MORE epic than a third center doing it.

Was reminded of a movie when reading your post.

 

[Connor McConnor]

i think you can look at how well Kane, Crosby and Ovechkin held up as they got old. Their numbers either held or even improved in their 30s EXACTLY when the goalie pads were reduced. They should have faded away faster. If the guys back then were worse than now, then Crosby and Ovechkin werent that good because they didnt have huge gaps on those guys. THEN, Crosby shouldnt have been challenging for the Ross, nor Ovechkin for the Rocket, into their mid thirties against this new crop.

I wasn’t comparing generational top 10 players of all time. I was comparing the rest of the players they went against.

 

[HolyHagelin]

Kucherov is aging like fine wine. I didn’t think he had this level to his game, I’d argue this is his best season of his career. Beating a prime McDavid, albeit hurt early, twice for an Art Ross, will look extremely favourable for him historically.

I don’t think it devalues it at all, Kucherov is pacing to be the 2nd best Russian of all time and I used to have Malkin clearly above him.

Agreed; thank you for not claiming he has already ascended to Russian GOAT status Man, that thread was bananas

 

[Tobias Kahun]

If 100 assists was so easy, why weren’t tons of players in the 80’s getting it.

It’s impressive whether or not much gets it

 

[HolyHagelin]

Virgin Kuch gets 100 assists "nobody cares, not that hard"
Chad McDavid gets 100 assists "OMG 2nd coming of Gretz, WE LOVE YOU CONNOR!!!"

I would really appreciate someone taking the time to make this; i am bad at it image tech

 

[AvroArrow]

If 100 assists was so easy, why weren’t tons of players in the 80’s getting it.

It’s impressive whether or not much gets it

He also has like 50 more points than his next closest teammate, absolutely absurd.

 

[Mobiandi]

It doesn't devalue the achievement. It further calls into question whether McDavid is really ahead of his peers right now

 

[GOilers88]

Doesn't make it any less of a crazy accomplishment. There is no "devaluing" or minimizing the feat due to some arbitrary lines people will draw.

It doesn't devalue the achievement. It further calls into question whether McDavid is really ahead of his peers right now

No, it really doesn't.

 

[Strangle]

I think there are some posters who would say the entire season is ‘devalued’ due to being TOO f***ING AWESOME!

(Compared to the dog shit hockey they grew up watching)

People in this thread actually asking:

“How should I feel about this?”

And others coming in saying:

“Wait for someone with excel to come in and tell us how to feel!”

Fandom is f***ing gross right now

 

[bambamcam4ever]

yep. My favourite poster on this site. I also like @Michael Farkas but i would like him more if he could simply admit that Tim Thomas was really good for a few years. I KNOW that he wants to admit it!!


what an absurd way of looking at it.

He's right, Tim Thomas was not a great goalie.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

It'll be special if McDavid only does it. Lame if Kucherov does it too.

 

[TMLife17]

A list of 4 or 5 I wonder which is more impressive.

They’re both impressive but it’s just fact that a list of 4 would be more impressive.

 

[Connor McConnor]

It doesn't devalue the achievement. It further calls into question whether McDavid is really ahead of his peers right now

Or, you can use your eyes? I know you have goggles on and losing 4-1 in “your year” to McDrai probably doesn’t help.

 

[Strangle]

well naturally the more players that reach it the more devalued it gets....but outside of that its incredible that we are seeing so much talent in the game and it should be appreciated when things like this happen...people need to stop trying to diminish everything that isn't from "their guy."

There is a very large (surprisingly large) and ultra-vocal population in this sub who are obsessed with not only diminishing things that go against ‘their guy’, but anything that shows just how terrible hockey was in their childhood.

They are obsessed with the Crosby Ovechkin era I assume was the first time they fell in love with hockey and their mission in like is to makeup crazy arguments to diminish any accomplishments that show how terrible the talent was in the league at that time.

No one hit 100 assists in the Crosby era, so they instinctively want to drag down the generation prior (who did it) and the current generation (who are doing it)

I love seeing more and more people open their eyes to the talent discrepancy side of this and turning away from the talent normalization to the lowest common denominator that the era adjusting crowd lives by as if by a religion

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I dont have any historical numbers i was providing the first bit of context for the other poster who said they needed more numbers. I am asking for opinions/discussion, not volunteering to do all the research and make your opinion for you.

Re-reading that it sounds a bit combative I don’t mean to be; i am just from new jersey and can’t help it.


Calling @Hockey Outsider he/she seems to do a pretty damn bang up job at odd stuff like this

I'd have to dig up the numbers, but from memory, the level of assists per goal has been remarkably consistent for the past 30+ years. In recent seasons, there have been (roughly) around 1.70 to 1.75 assists per goal. No different from the early 1990's.

That number was a bit lower during the 1970s and 1980s, but not by much. (Again, going from memory, it was probably around 1.60 a/g). It was noticeably lower during the 1950's. If you go back far enough (1920's), there were fewer than one assist per goal on average.

If we're comparing Gordie Howe or certainly Howie Morenz to a modern player, this needs to be accounted for. But if we're comparing Selanne/Roenick/Fedorov to MacKinnon/Kucherov/McDavid, the numbers are close enough that there's no point.

 

[DFC]

We have all talked a lot this year about what an achievement it will be when McDavid becomes the 4th player in history to get 100 assists, as he has been pacing it for a while now.

Kucherov got to 93 last night, and with 5 games to go has a serious shot at also joining the 100 apples club.

If both players achieve this incredibly rare milestone in the same season, does this devalue the achievement in your eyes? As in, if they could both do it there must be some condition that allowed this?

Or still just absolutely bonkers and we are all lucky to have witnessed it?

I think McDavid is the best player since Lemieux, and on the same tier with Lemieux, Gretzky, Orr, and Howe; I think Kucherov is very likely the best playmaking winger to ever play the game.

We are in one of the best eras in the history of hockey.

 

[Mobiandi]

Or, you can use your eyes? I know you have goggles on and losing 4-1 in “your year” to McDrai probably doesn’t help.

My eyes tell me that MacKinnon and Kucherov are keeping pace with a future top 5 player in NHL history. My eyes are also telling me that they can get the job done in the playoffs

 

[DFC]

Kucherov is aging like fine wine. I didn’t think he had this level to his game, I’d argue this is his best season of his career. Beating a prime McDavid, albeit hurt early, twice for an Art Ross, will look extremely favourable for him historically.

I don’t think it devalues it at all, Kucherov is pacing to be the 2nd best Russian of all time and I used to have Malkin clearly above him.

Kucherov definitely seems to be still improving, as crazy as that might sound at age 30. But his game is so IQ-based that nobody should be shocked if he has a few more seasons like this one.

This is definitely his best season, although some credit for that has to go to how much he has been relied on this year by TB -- far, far more than ever before. We are a weaker team than before, with terrible defense, and bad goaltending through much much the year, and a lot of our best players just didn't show up until March. So you saw Kucherov getting more icetime than ever, taking more shots than ever, etc, to keep the team afloat.

I don't think what he's doing right now can be downplayed because it's not like it came out of nowhere. He already, for instance, had the 3 best assist totals by a Russian in history. He's the only Russian to ever hit 80, and he's done it three times now. He also tied the all-time mark for assists by a winger in 2019, and has blown past it this year because, again, we just need him way more for offense.

He's also taking more risks this year. I think the coaching staff has given him a green light like never before.

 

[These Are The Days]

Virgin Kuch gets 100 assists "nobody cares, not that hard"
Chad McDavid gets 100 assists "OMG 2nd coming of Gretz, WE LOVE YOU CONNOR!!!"

I came here to say almost the same thing. Was gonna have "YAAAHHHSSSSS KING!" on there instead. If Kucherov cracks 100 assists it cements his legacy. It doesn't defile another

 

[Hockey Outsider]

i think you can look at how well Kane, Crosby and Ovechkin held up as they got old. Their numbers either held or even improved in their 30s EXACTLY when the goalie pads were reduced. They should have faded away faster. If the guys back then were worse than now, then Crosby and Ovechkin werent that good because they didnt have huge gaps on those guys. THEN, Crosby shouldnt have been challenging for the Ross, nor Ovechkin for the Rocket, into their mid thirties against this new crop.

Agreed. The idea that scoring is higher because there's so much more talent in the league is plainly false.

First, if talent is so much better today, we'd see a slow and gradual increase in the number of goals per game. (That's because it would take time for the "next generation" of players to enter the league, and displace the previous generation). Instead, we saw a full decade with a very steady level of offense (from 2008 to 2017, eight of ten seasons featured between 2.70 and 2.79 goals per game). Then, once goalie equipment shrunk, scoring immediately soared. I think someone would have to be willfully blind to ignore this explanation.

Second, if talent is so much better today, then players from 10-15 years ago shouldn't be having such great results, this late into their career. Crosby is 36 (a full decade past a player's typical goal-scoring peak) and he already has the 3rd highest goals total of his entire career. Joe Pavelski just had his 1st and 4th highest scoring seasons, at ages 37 and 38. Ovechkin reached 90 points for the first time in 12(!) years, at age 36, while Backstrom missed half the season. Stamkos set a career high in points at age 31 (granted he's a on a stronger, deeper team now - but just from watching him, it's immediately obviously he lacks the acceleration that he had a decade ago). I can keep going with examples. But the point is - if the new generation is clearly better than the last one, it wouldn't be possible for so many star players to have huge seasons since late into their careers.

(Just so nobody misconstrues my point - I'm not saying that the previous generation was better. But I think the higher totals from today's top stars are at least partly due to the fact that they're playing in a higher scoring league, thanks in part to smaller goalie equipment).