Not that I disagree with the obvious assertion that McDavid is hands down the best in the league, but I will point out that the gap that used to exist between McDavid and MacKinnon has drastically shrunk. Last year the difference in ppg between the two was .01 ppg.
MacKinnon also let the league in goals created per game at .50 compared to McDavid’s .49.
So my argument is that the gap is not large and they are in the same tier.
No. No one is in mcdavids tier but if Mack keeps this up he is firmly in the lead of the second one with Matthews and such.
I will get to what and who I believe the tiers presently are below but first.....
As I said before eichel is absolutely destroying his production at the same age so why should Mackinnon be with mcdavid when eichel even outscored Mack in just his second season and missed two months. Again Mack has rantanen and landeskog and is a beauty. But eichel has none of that and has essentially gone point per game the last theee years. 127 in his last 134. ThAts battling long term injury as well. No one his line has even had over 50 pts. My point is since all that is true and Eichels not in macks tier why should he be?
I get that last season Mackinnon went nuts like Hall did but Mackinnon never produced like this until rantanen got there (not suggesting he’s the reason but he’s part of it) and had years and years of mediocrity (38 in 68, 52 and 53 back to back in 82 games) Eichels never had numbers that low in any season no matter how much time he’s missed (which is a lot, quarter season in 2 of his first 3 years) anyway.....
The way I see it:
Until proven otherwise (another season of dominance by Mackinnon or Matthews) could change it a bit but to me right now:
amongst centers:
Tier 1-!The Best)
McDavid
Crosby/Malkin (Sid is a slow starter he always turns it on and based off all his recent success how is he not here? If oens win the cup this year that’s 3/4 a dynasty and imagine if Sid gets his third smythe in four years.)
———
Tier 2 (elite players)
Kopitar
Bergeron
Matthews
Tavares,Mackinnon, Eichel, Barkov, Kuznetsov
Seguin
Scheifele (don’t care about slow stars for him or Kopitar even though he’s been hurt they still have done and still do enough to be here)
Backstrom
Stamkos (he seems to be falling but kucherov definitely helps keep him there. I just don’t see the dominance, gamebrraking ability or consistency in past two years despite high totals which keeps him in tier 2 barely for me.)
————————
Tier 3 (arguably elite guys, up and coming guys or (need to see a bit more first) or past prime but still putting up top numbers)
Note: at times there isn’t MUCH space between these guys and tier 2 and in some cases there is some real distance.***some of these guys bounce from tier 3 and tier 2 IMO: there may be guys better then other guys in the same tier but like I said with how it works for me there can be some considerable gap even if it’s players in the same group:Tier. Continued:
Couture, Pavelski
Barzal, Getzlaf
Giroux (I know, he’s a winger now but for a lot of his career he wasn’t)
Draisaitl
Monahan
Toews
This is sort of a cut off here, this is like the lower half of this tier now
You could say this is tier 3B or 4....4 sounds low but it’s not these are still players that are tremendous and can be in the second tier either soon or have been before.
Point
Schenn
ROR
Coutourier
Hischer
Horvat
Johansen
Duchene (at times)
W. Karlsson
Keller
Trocheck
Stastny
Carter, backlund, RNH, Reinhart (when C)
——
tier 4; Borderline first line centers or top second line centers again who can be either up and coming, past their prime, or even in their prime. Guys in this group can also bounce up or down tiers, but only based on a long enough duration to dictate that.
So this isn’t s bad place to be.
I would hold all the top 3rd line-centers and most second line centers here. Or under producing first line centers either near the end or at the beginning, .....
guys like J Staal, Lars Eller, Thornton, Tyler Johnson, Dylan Larkin,Would be The top probably then here is Nolan Patrick, Faksa, Koivu, Casey Mittkestadt, even Pettersen because he can jump up and it’s only been five games. See mittlestadt after 6 games. Atheniseau, bozak, brassard, tkachucks, Tierney, Pageau, Henrique, Stepan, Anisimov, spezza, Kerfoot/Jost, Turris, Namestnikov , Kotkaniemi?
This isn’t the last tier
I really like he looks of some prospects like comtois (not sure if he’s a center)!lundestron and steel for the ducks. Up and comers (some who have played a couple times already) like Robert Thomas, Kyrou, Andersson, Rubstoc, Rasmussen, Roslovic etc.
I didn’t go through every team so I’m forgetting some but this was just a “top of my head” fun thing I thought to do.
Finally there would be a 5th and 6th tiers with the likes of McCann, Kempe, DAnault Nelson, Ryan, ....and further down probably a 7th which would be including the likes of Girgensens and drouin or something,
Lol I’m joking at the end, or am I?...