Kucherov becomes 5th player in history to record 100 assists in a season

[Reality Check]

Either this is a fluke for both of them or we're going back to the 80's with inflation.

 

[Crabapple]

Hope he gets the Hart this year, incredible season for him

 

[Roof Daddy]

People will hate to hear it, but he’s in the same tier as McDavid

That’s a bit of a stretch. He’s had the best season this year and should be the MVP, but c’mon man, look at the numbers since McDavid came into the league:

McDavid GP 644 G335 A647 Pts 982 +/- +151

Kucherov GP 591 G282 A508 Pts 790 +/- +94

And keep in mind these are all prime years for Kuch with Vasilevsky in goal and Hedman on D. For some of McDavid’s years listed he’s still a teenager with Cam Talbot (decent) as his goalie and Andrej Sekera his best D. The fact his +/- is tha far ahead despite that has to tell a bit of a story.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Bell of his rings interfere to hear you.

McDavid is great but still needs to win SC and CS to separate himself.

Why would McDavid need to win a team award and a Conn Smythe, something Kucherov has never won, to separate himself from a player he’s performed substantially better than?

 

[T REX]

Why would McDavid need to win a team award and a Conn Smythe, something Kucherov has never won, to separate himself from a player he’s performed substantially better than?

TBH? Same reason Marino needed a SB ring. I have little doubt that McDavid will win a cup at some point. But what top ten all-time NHL greats never won a cup? Just curious. Not winning it all is definitely a heavily weighted mark against you. I am sure he will make this post obsolete but...but...he's gotta win a cup or 2 or 3 to be top 5

 

[Video Nasty]

2017-18: McD 108, Kuch 100. Kucherov was leading before letting off the gas and getting passed at the end of the season. Clearly they were competitive this year.


2020-21: Kucherov missed the entire season due to injury. McDavid went beast mode this year so Kucherov certainly would have had his work cut out for him, but considering the incredible postseason Kuch put up while playing through multiple injuries I don’t think we can rule it out. Still, it’s a no-contest between them.

2021-22: Kucherov missed almost half the season due to injury. McDavid scored 123, while Kucherov in the games he did play was pacing for 120. Again, we’ll never know what would have happened had Kuch been able to stay healthy, but clearly he was playing on the same level as McDavid this season.

Your entire post is probably an all-time contender for most hypocrisy and bias.

2017-2018: Lightning were competing against the Bruins for the #1 seed. There was no letting up by Kucherov, despite wishful thinking.

2020-2021: Uh, how disingenuous can one approach this when they hand wave away a monstrously dominant season by saying a Kucherov win can’t be ruled out? Myself and a handful of people on this forum were the only ones who entertained 100 points going into that shortened season, so no, Kucherov wasn’t in that realm.

2021-2022: Another example where someone gets rewarded for missing half a season through generous projections.

It’s interesting how much credit you give Kucherov for missing time and sitting out to fully heal, while ignoring any issues McDavid has had and dinging him for playing through injuries (2019-2020 and 2023-2024).

Sure, we can pretend Kucherov is closer than he is by ignoring the other player’s actual work and playing a fairly twisted game of what if.

P.S. McDavid being better on arrival than Kucherov who took a few years to get going is a big clue who is the better talent and player.

 

[Rschmitz]

That’s a bit of a stretch. He’s had the best season this year and should be the MVP, but c’mon man, look at the numbers since McDavid came into the league:

McDavid GP 644 G335 A647 Pts 982 +/- +151

Kucherov GP 591 G282 A508 Pts 790 +/- +94

And keep in mind these are all prime years for Kuch with Vasilevsky in goal and Hedman on D. For some of McDavid’s years listed he’s still a teenager with Cam Talbot (decent) as his goalie and Andrej Sekera his best D. The fact his +/- is tha far ahead despite that has to tell a bit of a story.

+/- means absolutely jack

 

[Roof Daddy]

+/- means absolutely jack

It’s a stat where your 5 other teammates have an impact (one defensive gaffe or bad goaltending and you’re -1 at no fault of your own), but to me that just strengthens the argument for McDavid.


He hasn’t had the same caliber supporting cast Kucherov has had, evidenced by the bolts team success vs the Oilers team success (Bolts +376 goal differential; Oil +121 goal differential). Yet McDavid still outshines him in that regard. With the amount they both drive the play, you want me to believe it’s just a stat indicative of luck? I’d say McDavid is having a greater impact considering all of that.

Kucherov is an amazing player, but to say that Kucherov is same tier is a bit off to me. Close, but not quite. Is Kuch gonna be top 10 all time when he hangs them up? Kinda doubt it. McDavid will be in the top 5 conversation, and likely the next name mentioned after Gretzky, Lemieux and Orr.

 

[Rschmitz]

P.S. McDavid being better on arrival than Kucherov who took a few years to get going is a big clue who is the better talent and player.

And Edmonton also sucked ass and had nothing going for them but to make McDavid the offensive focal point. Kucherov had to make headway in a very conservative Cooper system while Tampa was busy making deep playoff runs.

Not an apples to apples comparison.

 

[snag]

Better than McDavid this season.

Healthier at least.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

meh

 

[Sky04]

Why would McDavid need to win a team award and a Conn Smythe, something Kucherov has never won, to separate himself from a player he’s performed substantially better than?

Yeah he doesn't need one, he should just golf early now and prepare for a 160 point season next year. Who wants a Cup anyways, just lose in the 1st round, put up 2PPG and pretend like that's good enough.

 

[crowfish]

Yeah he doesn't need one, he should just golf early now and prepare for a 160 point season next year. Who wants a Cup anyways, just lose in the 1st round, put up 2PPG and pretend like that's good enough.

The funny part is you would actually interrupt him scoring 2pts/game (and losing) as him not wanting a Cup lol.

"That guy who plays amazing doesn't want to win, he only cares about playing amazing!"

Playing amazing hockey is not how you win apparently

 

[Coffey]

+/- means absolutely jack

I dunno. Heard most of this site bitching and moaning that Draisaitl shouldn’t win a Hart because he was in the negatives. And he did win. Because people here are stupid.

 

[Sky04]

The funny part is you would actually interrupt him scoring 2pts/game (and losing) as him not wanting a Cup lol.

"That guy who plays amazing doesn't want to win, he only cares about playing amazing!"

Playing amazing hockey is not how you win apparently

Has he won?

 

[Coffey]

Has he won?

The team has lost despite him. He's not the reason they lose.

 

[crowfish]

Has he won?

So you think the fact that McDavid, (an individual), hasn't won a 32 team winner take all tournament so far in his 8 seasons that it means he doesn't want to win?

That is some interesting logic.

 

[Nickmo82]

In the same year he got booed at the ASG.

 

[Janvonpobben]

No hart for mcdavid

 

[Sky04]

So you think the fact that McDavid, (an individual), hasn't won a 32 team winner take all tournament so far in his 8 seasons that it means he doesn't want to win?

That is some interesting logic.

That's a long way of saying no.

 

[OurlordAndSaviorKuch]

Kuch still seems underrated, He joined NHL Royalty tonight and it was glorious to watch. Kuch hockey IQ and how he process things in game is probably the best of any player right now in the game.

 

[Guadana]

Why would McDavid need to win a team award and a Conn Smythe, something Kucherov has never won, to separate himself from a player he’s performed substantially better than?

Because its a huge important career mark. No matter about team award.
Like someone mentioned there were three nhlers with consecutive 30 points playoff performance.
If McDavid will not won a cup, those crazy arguments about weak div or conference or some other unmeaningful aspects will start to be more meaningful. Or his partnerism with another hart level player. Yeah, great producer but not the only one of his time.

Because for now some players did something more.
If he will win it, there will be no argument if there will be no career drop, and even if he will, his consecutive art/hart 10 seasons dominating will be remembered as some historical performance.
But for now Kucherov is the only non Oilers art ross winner (looks like it will be two times winner), he doesn't play with Draisaitl, has consecutive playoff 30+ points herformances, made 100 assists in one season, won 2 cups and played in 4 finals, is second best ppg player after McDavid joined this league and for now can't separate himself from Kucherov until he will win SC. Now I can agree he doesn't need CS, but SC is huge need.

 

[Calderon]

A pretty decent accomplishment. I think I was one of the first to call it, too:

Kucherov with the most assists in a season ever by a winger is a legit NHL record. I don't like the fella but that is a pretty major achievement that deserves recognition. Still has several games left to improve upon it by a good amount, too. Curious to see if there'll be a marked effort to get him all the way up to 100 assists now that their playoff berth is virtually sealed. If he manages to get into the 100 club that'd make McDavid's pursuit lose some of its value for sure.

Kucherov now 1-11—12 in his last 7 and has 7 games left to get 12 assists.

McDavid now 3-15—18 in his last 8 and has 8 games left. Three more assists will be a non-issue, other than that the AR race is on but we'll see if he'll seriously goes for it during the final stretch.

 

[HFpapi]

Similar to how Lemieux should really be built up more as a player but because he played during the same timeframe as Gretzky he gets lost in the shuffle a bit.

Yeah Mario Lemieux, always getting lost in the shuffle. Barely hear anything about the guy.

Smart ass comment aside, even though I do know what you mean (it would be more spotlighted if he did it alone and not simultaneously with 99), the reality is I think the 80's/early 90's was the only time in league history where 200 points was attainable for anybody. It couldn't have happened any other time.

Mario and Gretz probably get 160-180 in any other era but the 80's was a different animal.

 

[User9992]

Either this is a fluke for both of them or we're going back to the 80's with inflation.

Kucherov has voted as 'The Best Playmaker' by fellow players in NHL Players's Poll. It's NOT a fluke.