Is McDavid, Matthews, MacKinnon the new Big Three?

[Ainec]

Put Matthews on those other teams, and his teammates on those other teams will flourish too, along with his new team. Matthews is the cause of his team and teammates doing so well.

incorrect

Florida Colorado and Edmonton are instantly contenders if they added JT and Marner for free

 

[Varan]

Okay okay, most of you will think that McDavid is in his own tier and he has earned that.

Do you think MacKinnon and Matthews will separate themselves from the rest of the pack so that there will be a distinguishable top 3 of offensive talent like Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin?

i think we quickly have forgotten young 87/8/71

the answer is no they will not separate themselves. kane and stamkos had similar stretches like these 2 but never really separated themselves, always were a tier below

 

[BayStreetBully]

incorrect

Florida Colorado and Edmonton are instantly contenders if they added JT and Marner for free

They are instantly contenders if they swapped their superstar for Matthews. Proof is in Leafs’ play, led by Matthews.

 

[Ainec]

i think we quickly have forgotten young 87/8/71

the answer is no they will not separate themselves. kane and stamkos had similar stretches like these 2 but never really separated themselves, always were a tier below

#92 Kuznetsov > #8 Ovechkin since the playoffs

#71 is inconsistent but still goat

 

[Revelation]

Put Matthews on those other teams, and his teammates on those other teams will flourish too, along with his new team. Matthews is the cause of his team and teammates doing so well.

Yeah Tavares, Marner, Marleau, Kadri, Nylander and Kapanen had no hockey pedigree until St. Matthews touched them and showed them the light.

 

[Ainec]

They are instantly contenders if they swapped their superstar for Matthews.

that's a hot take, not gonna bother going there

but the better question is Matthews + Hyman or Tavares + Marner for 2 seasons

i'll poll that

 

[KidLine93]

McDavid is better, but he also plays on average 5 minutes more a game than Matthews. They are playing him like 23:30 minutes per game. and only about 30 seconds on average is on the PK.

clearly a better VO2 Max than Matthews. Thanks for pointing that out

 

[pcruz]

Okay okay, most of you will think that McDavid is in his own tier and he has earned that.

Do you think MacKinnon and Matthews will separate themselves from the rest of the pack so that there will be a distinguishable top 3 of offensive talent like Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin?

No.
Eichel, Laine, Scheifele, and Dahlin will factor in as well.

That's from current NHL players.

Then there's the Barzal, Barkov, Boeser, Petterson, Pastrnak, etc, that have all the tools to get into the conversation intermittently.

 

[22FUTON9]

Last 90 games he was outscored by guys who are much better defensively, more than 3 of them

Mackinnon has 113 points in his last 90 games, im curious who actually has more than that. (fyi giroux has 111)

 

[Puckstuff]

There really isn't a clear cut third player to McDavid and Matthews. The closest is Mackinnon and Kucherov; but both didn't perform until they were 23. I actually thought Elias Petterssen and/or Barzal had the potential to be the 3rd best player of this era. Both have higher point per game averages then Kucherov/Mackinnon.

 

[Alex Jones]

As does Matthews’ ability to elevate his team. Probably the biggest reason why the Leafs are top contenders today.

Connor McDavid has only lead the league in assists over the past two seasons, too bad he can't make his teammates better like a guy with two points in seven PO games last season can.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Who's the old big 3?

Crosby, Grace and Period.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

They won’t form a big 3 until they each show periods of being the best player in the world or at least very close to it. Winning some significant hardware would also help for Matthews and MacKinnon.

 

[93LEAFS]

clearly a better VO2 Max than Matthews. Thanks for pointing that out

Or just a bad team overplaying a player because they don't have any faith in any other line being able to accomplish anything. His usage rate is pretty much unseen among forwards if it is sustained.

 

[Bank Shot]

McDavid is better, but he also plays on average 5 minutes more a game than Matthews. They are playing him like 23:30 minutes per game. and only about 30 seconds on average is on the PK.

That's because he's 5 minutes per game better than Matthews.

 

[Alex Jones]

FWIW, I'm not totally sure why Matthews is in this discussion. Does he project to be a top level, potentially top three player? Yes, but he's never had an MVP type season yet that should put him in this discussion.

 

[93LEAFS]

That's because he's 5 minutes per game better than Matthews.

No, probably the Oilers bottom 9 is 5 minutes worse than the Leafs bottom 9.

 

[pcruz]

They won’t form a big 3 until they each show periods of being the best player in the world or at least very close to it. Winning some significant hardware would also help for Matthews and MacKinnon.

It might be hard to believe, but one of those guys has played all of a season and 2/3. The full season was his rookie year where he came 2nd in goals and won what is considered to be a significant trophy.
The other guy just got screwed over on the Hart last year and is finally stepping out of the shadows of some other guy from his home town.

 

[talitintti]

Or just a bad team overplaying a player because they don't have any faith in any other line being able to accomplish anything. His usage rate is pretty much unseen among forwards if it is sustained.

Which proves how difficult it is to play those minutes, otherwise all coaches would play their best player that much.

 

[34]

Matthews looks poised to have more team success, certainly. And that’s mainly due to Matthews’ ability to elevate his team.

100%.

 

[glucker]

I wasn't sure the Leafs made the playoffs because I couldn't find Matthews name anywhere on the leading scorers list. MacKinnon put up good numbers in his one series though. Seriously, how did Matthews do?

Something something don’t put stock in the last 7 games something something



You’re biased, we get it.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

It might be hard to believe, but one of those guys has played all of a season and 2/3. The full season was his rookie year where he came 2nd in goals and won what is considered to be a significant trophy.
The other guy just got screwed over on the Hart last year and is finally stepping out of the shadows of some other guy from his home town.

The Calder isn’t a significant trophy in the context of this discussion.

 

[93LEAFS]

Which proves how difficult it is to play those minutes, otherwise all coaches would play their best player that much.

Yes, because I look at coaches like Dan Bylsma who did this with other players like Evander Kane, ROR and an actual Superstar like Crosby as a coaching savant.

 

[GlitchMarner]

McDavid is better, but he also plays on average 5 minutes more a game than Matthews. They are playing him like 23:30 minutes per game. and only about 30 seconds on average is on the PK.

He doesn't have the same level of offensive support, either, to be fair.

I hope Matthews keeps up his pace and challenges McDavid. Right now Connor is the best player in the League as far as I'm concerned.

 

[hockeyes]

The mods really let this place turn into a total dump