Is MacKinnon A Top Ten Player?

[Holymakinaw]

The three guys are better than the dude who centres Crosby in the olympics and a top 5 centre in the NHL. Yeah okay.

Yes. Correct.

 

[Cult of Hynes]

I get why Hall won, at the time I was quite bitter but I mean what he did was ridiculous. He got basically zero help, and plays on the east coast. MacKinnon carried us to the playoffs, and he did have a better supporting cast.

Yea. What Mack did was still amazing and he was clearly the Avs best player. I hope he keeps it up for you guys. He's fun as hell to watch.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

LOL. "The three above" are way better.

Sure. Besides you and maybe a handful other Leaf homers, no one's taking Tavares over Nate MacKinnon heading inot next year. No one.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

He was last year.

 

[Holymakinaw]

Sure. Besides you and maybe a handful other Leaf homers, no one's taking Tavares over Nate MacKinnon heading inot next year. No one.

LMAO. Wrong.

 

[Spilot23]

Sure. Besides you and maybe a handful other Leaf homers, no one's taking Tavares over Nate MacKinnon heading inot next year. No one.

The way "some" Leafs fans rate their center depth god sake it has to be the Stanley Cup or nothing. Having Matthews and Tavares who are clearly better than Mack

 

[Sensinitis]

There is so much nonsense in here, it's not even worth responding to.

Enjoy the Sens this season.

Yeah...ok. I’m telling you my honest opinion...i’m open to hearing what you have to say. But i mean, if you wanna go that route, that’s fine. Based on my exchanges with you on here, you’ve struck me as an intellectually unimpressive poster, so fortunately there’s nothing shocking here for me...

Telling me I write nonsense...

 

[bert]

LMAO. Wrong.

No he is right, its no one and thats not a slight to Tavares, thats just a testament to the talent level of Nathan Mackinnon. The more mobile and agile that D core gets in Colorado and oh boy is it ever gonna be Mackinnons speed and skill will be on display.

 

[Sensinitis]

Giroux is a wizard on the PP but those points do count during the game, right? I know people like to downplay PP production but if the puck ends up in the back of the net I really don't care how many guys were on the ice. If scoring on the PP was so easy all the top players would be racking up points. As much as people label him a PP specialist he's still 14th in the NHL in ES points this decade, 1st in PP points, and 2nd overall. He had more ES points this decade than Stamkos, Thornton, Backstrom, Perry, Hall, and both Sedins.

For the PP, yes its important, but moreso in the regular season. Being dominant at 5v5 becomes important much more in the playoffs, and i think there Giroux has had some difficulty. He’s far removed from the player he was a few years ago, but even then, i’ve never really noticed him take the flyers and lead them with his performance...yes he did against the penguins that one time...but i would take that performance more seriously if he hadn’t followed that up with a mediocre showing against the devils. Meaning that, that series was so wild, all over the place with the penalties and the drama, that its just too flukey of a circumstance. His i believe linemate at the time Briere was better in that devils series if i recall.
He scored a lot in 2010, but again, very high scoring team with scoring spread out throughout the lineup. Briere got 30 pts.

And in more recent years, Giroux’s been more quiet, albeit playing just 12 games. Idk. Great player, but my general point is that he seems to lack certain skillsets that prevent him from being a force more consistently, and so its hard to consider him a top10 player. I like to use Getzlaf as an example because he isnt in that Crosby McDavid tier, and hasnt even hit point highs like Giroux’s, yet in the playoffs you see him just step up a notch almost every time, and with Ducks rosters that have sometimes been pretty flawed.

 

[thewave]

Absolutely no trouble to call Matthews a Top 10 player though right?

Hate to say it, you're right though. Toronto based media and fans have jumped the shark and proclaimed Matthews a hockey god. I am pretty embarrassed by this unfortunate happening. 1 and 2/3rds of a season doesn't really make anyone a top 10 player except for perhaps McDavid.

 

[LeonC]

I never bothered reading through the whole thread but the amount of people putting MacKinnon in the 20-30 range should probably watch him play before ranking him. He's got the ability to take over a game himself that very few players have. There is no doubt that he is a top 10 and will dominate for years to come.

 

[Lemonlimey]

At some point you have to take a guy for granted when it’s this obvious (like with Mackinnon)...or well, if you want, really, just wait 2-3 years to realize there was nothing to wait for.

He broke out. It’s done. I don’t think this is some sort of fluke. He was outright dominant, in a Crosby-Malkin category almost, last season. He was really really good. Guys like Giroux and Kucherov are not that dominant, although Kucherov has had some such stretches, especially how he played in the latter half of 16-17.

Sometimes a player’s ability to sustain elite play depends on the player’s skillset. That’s why I think it’s more probable to see regression offensively from Hall or Kopitar than it is for Mackinnon. Hall’s style is much less...idk, polyvalent? It’s really north-south type stuff. Kopitar is an elite 2 way player, but offensively his lack of top speed can slow him down. Those guys don’t have a shot as good as Mackinnon’s, nor do they have as good and soft hands. And while Hall is super fast, I find he isn’t as shifty.

With so much skill and talent, Mackinnon will undoubtely sustain that type of performance in my opinion. He’s just too skilled overall. There really isn’t an area where he is lacking. Slowly work on the defensive game...just like Crosby did.

nailed it

 

[FerrisRox]

Is it too soon to call MacK a top five or top ten player in the NHL?

Absolutely not too soon. If anything, I think he's underrated.

People that claim he's had "one good season" are clueless too. Last year didn't come out of nowhere, anybody that watched him play a decent amount knew it was coming. He's an excellent player.

 

[OkimLom]

Top 10 player? No. I have a few defenseman ahead of him at the moment. The main reason is because he’s hasn’t done it consistently enough. If he backs up last season with another one like it, then he inches closer to a yes. Too many guys around him have performed longer better.

 

[OkimLom]

In the end it's goals scored that win games. I know there are also assists that add up to a players total points. However if a goal is never scored than those players can not get assists. That's why others mention Matthews goal scoring ability.

When there are assists that means goals are happening as well...One can argue you are more likely to not get a goal without an assist.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

No.

1. McDavid
2. Crosby
3. Malkin
4. Kucherov
5. Ovechkin
6. Karlsson
7. P. Kane
8. Hedman
9. Doughty
10. Marchand
11. Kopitar
12. Bergeron
13. MacKinnon
14. Hall
15. Giroux

Top 15 probably.

 

[Canada Drai]

He's in the top 100 or so.

 

[AvsFan29]

#3 according to TSN

 

[Spender]

Nope, he's Top 1

 

[member 116861]

#3 according to TSN

#1 in our hearts.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Hate to say it, you're right though. Toronto based media and fans have jumped the shark and proclaimed Matthews a hockey god. I am pretty embarrassed by this unfortunate happening. 1 and 2/3rds of a season doesn't really make anyone a top 10 player except for perhaps McDavid.

The thing is I dont doubt Matthews probably is a Top 10 player by this time next year.



What's frustrating about a lot of Leafs fans is you seem them all in this thread saying things like "Mackinnon has to do it again before you can call him a legit Top 10 player" or bring up the fact his first 4 seasons in the league weren't as good as last year, etc. etc.


But here's the thing. Matthews still hasn't even put up an 80 point season yet, let along a near 100 point hart worthy season like what Mackinnon just had. It's one thing to say Mackinnon needs to repeat(And I think it's completely fair to say), but at least Mackinnon has had a legit Top 10 worthy season under his belt. Matthews hasn't even done that yet, and he's being listed by lots of Leafs fans as a Top 5 Center, Top 10 player in the game.


Not only that, but Leafs fans also really need to clue in on the fact that development isn't linear. Just because it took Mackinnon until his 5 season to break out in the league, doesn't mean Matthews in 5 seasons will have the same kind of insane breakout campaign Mack had only better. For all we know a ~PPG 35-40 goal scorer is all Matthews ever becomes and he's already reached his peak. Especially in todays game this is becoming more and more of a trend for high ranked players. They break into the league at elite levels but dont improve by leaps and bounds because they're already high end players. I'm not saying this will happen with Matthews, I think he has another gear or two left in his development. But it could happen and it especially could happen for both Nylander and Marner, both of whom I would say it's more likely that this scenario plays out.

 

[Bouboumaster]

I sure hope so, I have him in my fantasy team.

 

[Evincar]

#3 according to TSN

Thats a lot more defensible (though #3 is way too high) than him somehow making the same list in 2016...

 

[Jarey Curry]

He was definitely a top 3-5 player last season but that is the only time in his career he has done that.

Until we see a repeat I would say he is a top 20-30 player with potential to become a recurring top 10 if he shows consistency moving forward.

I know you mean NHL career but think about it. That was not the first time he was his leagues top 3 material. In juniors throughout his career hes been many times in that convo and thats what got him drafted 1st overall in a very top heavy draft. We can all agree probably that that was one of his top 5 seasons cause it was insane. Lets hope he gets to play full year and maybe repeat that. The level he played at, he doesnt need to be better, he only needs to sustain his play

 

[westc2]

Points aren't everything. Mackinnon has been on a weak team his whole career so that's going to hurt his point totals.