Line A vs. Line B vs. Line C for this years playoffs

[authentic]

A) Forsberg-Lindros-Crosby

B) Ovechkin-McDavid-Jagr

C) MacKinnon-Fedorov-Malkin

You get one line to take with you into a playoff run right now, all at their peaks and guaranteed fully healthy (or as healthy as you can be by the last round of the playoffs).

Who do you take and why?

Click to read more...

 

[Mitch nylander]

B quite easily. Seems the best at every position.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Line A: 3 hart winners, 2 lindsay winners, 2 ross winners, 1 rocket winner, 1 smythe winner

Line B: 3 hart winners, 3 lindsay winners, 3 ross winners, 1 rocket winner, 1 smythe winner

Line C: 2 hart winners, 2 lindsay winners, 1 ross winner, 0 rocket winners, 1 smythe winner

Based on that it's clearly B, but obviously a very simple way of looking at it. It's definitely not C as MacK doesn't belong with the rest of these players. So for A vs B:

OV > Forsberg
McDavid > Lindros
Jagr = Crosby

 

[authentic]

Line A: 3 hart winners, 2 lindsay winners, 2 ross winners, 1 rocket winner, 1 smythe winner

Line B: 3 hart winners, 3 lindsay winners, 3 ross winners, 1 rocket winner, 1 smythe winner

Line C: 2 hart winners, 2 lindsay winners, 1 ross winner, 0 rocket winners, 1 smythe winner

Based on that it's clearly B, but obviously a very simple way of looking at it. It's definitely not C as MacK doesn't belong with the rest of these players. So for A vs B:

OV > Forsberg
McDavid > Lindros
Jagr = Crosby

MacKinnon has quite the playoff resume though, wasn't really basing these lines on regular season awards.

 

[Mitch nylander]

MacKinnon has quite the playoff resume though, wasn't really basing these lines on regular season awards.

What playoff resume? He's been past round 1 only once in his career. It's no better than Mcdavid's while being older.

 

[authentic]

What playoff resume? He's been past round 1 only once in his career. It's no better than Mcdavid's while being older.

His production in the playoffs is unreal.

 

[nowhereman]

A, without much hesitation.

If we're talking regular season and highlight reels, maybe B squeaks in by a nose (if we're playing in the North division). But playoffs? Easily A, as they are the toughest, grittiest and most successful in the post-season.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

MacKinnon has quite the playoff resume though, wasn't really basing these lines on regular season awards.

How exactly are you determining peak? 99% of the time people look to regular season for peak (peak OV 07-10, peak Crosby 10-13, Jagr 97-00, etc). None of them did anything crazy in the playoffs those years.

MacK has been a good playoff performer and I'm not going to blame him for his team losing, but compared to the others here he's definitely at the bottom (with McDavid).

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

A, without much hesitation.

If we're talking regular season and highlight reels, maybe B squeaks in by a nose (if we're playing in the North division). But playoffs? Easily A, as they are the toughest, grittiest and most successful in the post-season.

Crosby is probably the best playoff performer here. But Lindros didn't do much in the playoffs. Forsberg was on a team so stacked it won a cup with him playing zero games in the WCF and SCF. Not sure why he's getting credit for that.

 

[authentic]

Crosby is probably the best playoff performer here. But Lindros didn't do much in the playoffs. Forsberg was on a team so stacked it won a cup with him playing zero games in the WCF and SCF. Not sure why he's getting credit for that.

Lol so what, Gretzky played for a team so stacked they won a Cup without him while he never won a Cup again. You're seriously questioning someone who had 171 points in 151 playoff games, a majority of them during the dead puck era while also being a two-way and physical beast? I won't even bother trying to defend MacKinnon if this is how you view Forsberg in the playoffs.

 

[authentic]

How exactly are you determining peak? 99% of the time people look to regular season for peak (peak OV 07-10, peak Crosby 10-13, Jagr 97-00, etc). None of them did anything crazy in the playoffs those years.

MacK has been a good playoff performer and I'm not going to blame him for his team losing, but compared to the others here he's definitely at the bottom (with McDavid).

All those players had dominating playoff series in the timeframes you mentioned. This is not supposed to be a complex question, which of these players do you take at their peaks in the playoffs. Their teams didn't need to win the Stanley Cup for them to be considered dominant playoff players. MacKinnon has 54 points in 40 playoff games, he's never been below a point per game in any playoff run he's had. 25 points in 15 games last season is a points per game none of those other players had, even Ovechkin had 21 in 14 which is 1.5 points per game which was the highest he produced per game.

 

[nowhereman]

Crosby is probably the best playoff performer here. But Lindros didn't do much in the playoffs. Forsberg was on a team so stacked it won a cup with him playing zero games in the WCF and SCF. Not sure why he's getting credit for that.

Crosby is very clearly (not probably) the best playoff performer here and Forsberg essentially garnered his reputation from his playoff appearances. Lindros still managed to drag a good but nowhere-near-great Philly team to the Finals, in an era of pre-cap juggernauts. And, if Crosby is the face of that line, I think Lindros thrives by not having the other team dogpile him every shift.

If you compare them to line B, there's certainly a gap. Ovechkin is quite easily the best playoff performer of that bunch but that's not really saying much, since McDavid hasn't proven anything and Jagr never won squat without being the 3rd or 4th best player on his team.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Lol so what, Gretzky played for a team so stacked they won a Cup without him while he never won a Cup again. You're seriously questioning someone who had 171 points in 151 playoff games, a majority of them during the dead puck era while also being a two-way and physical beast? I won't even bother trying to defend MacKinnon if this is how you view Forsberg in the playoffs.

Forsberg isn't Gretzky. Also, I don't remember anyone giving Gretzky credit for winning the 1990 cup. I didn't question Forsberg as a player, I'm just saying a guy shouldn't be getting credit for a cup when he contributed absolutely nothing in the WCF and SCF.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

All those players had dominating playoff series in the timeframes you mentioned. This is not supposed to be a complex question, which of these players do you take at their peaks in the playoffs. Their teams didn't need to win the Stanley Cup for them to be considered dominant playoff players. MacKinnon has 54 points in 40 playoff games, he's never been below a point per game in any playoff run he's had. 25 points in 15 games last season is a points per game none of those other players had, even Ovechkin had 21 in 14 which is 1.5 points per game which was the highest he produced per game.

Where did I question Mack's ability? I said compared to these players he's at the bottom. Majority seems to agree.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Crosby is very clearly (not probably) the best playoff performer here and Forsberg essentially garnered his reputation from his playoff appearances. Lindros still managed to drag a good but nowhere-near-great Philly team to the Finals, in an era of pre-cap juggernauts. And, if Crosby is the face of that line, I think Lindros thrives by not having the other team dogpile him every shift.

If you compare them to line B, there's certainly a gap. Ovechkin is quite easily the best playoff performer of that bunch but that's not really saying much, since McDavid hasn't proven anything and Jagr never won squat without being the 3rd or 4th best player on his team.

OK Crosby is the best, that's fine. Forsberg is great too, but he shouldn't get credit for the 01 cup. As for Lindros, that team was better than any pens team Jagr had (without Lemieux).

OV is 1 of the best playoff performers of his generation (proven by raw and p/g totals), probably 3rd after Crosby and Malkin. McDavid obviously has nothing yet. Peak Jagr was an amazing performer, he unfortunately didn't have the benefit of having another hart winner like Forsberg and Crosby did. We can also flip this and say Lemieux never won without Jagr. 1 guy isn't going to win a cup. Those pens teams were crap after Lemieux quit.

 

[authentic]

Forsberg isn't Gretzky. Also, I don't remember anyone giving Gretzky credit for winning the 1990 cup. I didn't question Forsberg as a player, I'm just saying a guy shouldn't be getting credit for a cup when he contributed absolutely nothing in the WCF and SCF.

His playoff performance throughout his entire career speaks for itself man lol

 

[authentic]

Crosby is very clearly (not probably) the best playoff performer here and Forsberg essentially garnered his reputation from his playoff appearances. Lindros still managed to drag a good but nowhere-near-great Philly team to the Finals, in an era of pre-cap juggernauts. And, if Crosby is the face of that line, I think Lindros thrives by not having the other team dogpile him every shift.

If you compare them to line B, there's certainly a gap. Ovechkin is quite easily the best playoff performer of that bunch but that's not really saying much, since McDavid hasn't proven anything and Jagr never won squat without being the 3rd or 4th best player on his team.

I don't see how he's clearly better than Forsberg in the playoffs to be honest considering Forsberg has the higher points per game, goals per game, defensive play, etc. over roughly the same amount of games, but it doesn't matter much since you could go with either one and they're on a line together here.

 

[Habano]

I would fake an injury if I had to play against line B

 

[Thenameless]

If you can't split them onto different lines, then B pretty easily. It's the only one where every player is at his natural position.

Now, if they could be split up, then I might choose A. Those three down the middle would be a devastating match-up nightmare.

 

[Future GOAT]

B easily. That line is scary AF.

 

[El Travo]

What playoff resume? He's been past round 1 only once in his career. It's no better than Mcdavid's while being older.

MacKinnon's been past the first round twice and has a career 1.35ppg average. McDavid made it past once and has a 1.05ppg average. Not sure where you're getting your info.

 

[bobholly39]

Line A: 3 hart winners, 2 lindsay winners, 2 ross winners, 1 rocket winner, 1 smythe winner

Line B: 3 hart winners, 3 lindsay winners, 3 ross winners, 1 rocket winner, 1 smythe winner

Line C: 2 hart winners, 2 lindsay winners, 1 ross winner, 0 rocket winners, 1 smythe winner

Based on that it's clearly B, but obviously a very simple way of looking at it. It's definitely not C as MacK doesn't belong with the rest of these players. So for A vs B:

OV > Forsberg
McDavid > Lindros
Jagr = Crosby

There's absolutely no chance Ovi is better than Forsberg in the playoffs.

If you want to go by the logic that Ovi is better overall - and so playoffs or not, you take him regardless - ok, maybe. But Forsberg is much better for playoffs. Avs may have won cup without Forsberg in 2001, but Forsberg has many runs where he carried his team on his back very far in the playoffs (moreso than Ovi). He's also very good 2-way. Forsberg may get vastly overrated around here - but if you're getting peak Forsberg, healthy for playoffs? That's not one of those times he's overrated, he's legitimately an all-time great under this criteria. Under this premise he may actually be above Crosby too.

As for Lindros - he has a lot of issues, health mostly - but at his peak, healthy - again, he was very, very strong, including in the playoffs. Maybe you prefer McDavid overall and want to give him a slight edge, but I would have no real issue taking Lindros above him.

Jagr is great - but Crosby over him for playoffs.

It's close - but to me this is pretty clearly A.

Forsberg > Ovi
Crosby > Jagr
McDavid ~ Lindros

I agree with you though - no chance on C. Mack doesn't really belong, and I also like Fedorov less than almost everybody else here.

I also think line A would have better chemistry than line B - though that's just guesswork.

 

[bobholly39]

I don't see how he's clearly better than Forsberg in the playoffs to be honest considering Forsberg has the higher points per game, goals per game, defensive play, etc. over roughly the same amount of games, but it doesn't matter much since you could go with either one and they're on a line together here.

Crosby > Forsberg for playoff resume. Simply put he accomplished more, and more important things. 4 cup runs (and 3 cups) where he was either the clear best, or top 2 player on his team, including 2 smythes.
Forsberg has 2 cup runs without ever being a top 2 (arguably top 3) on his team. So his resume is less impressive.

So from a career playoff standpoint, I much prefer Crosby's resume.

For premise of this thread though - I'd tend to agree with you. Fully healthy, peak at their best for a playoff run? Forsberg ~ Crosby, pretty close.

 

[authentic]

Crosby > Forsberg for playoff resume. Simply put he accomplished more, and more important things. 4 cup runs (and 3 cups) where he was either the clear best, or top 2 player on his team, including 2 smythes.
Forsberg has 2 cup runs without ever being a top 2 (arguably top 3) on his team. So his resume is less impressive.

So from a career playoff standpoint, I much prefer Crosby's resume.

For premise of this thread though - I'd tend to agree with you. Fully healthy, peak at their best for a playoff run? Forsberg ~ Crosby, pretty close.

Yeah I base my ranking of the two in the playoffs on their individual performance. Forsberg led the playoffs in points twice without his team making it to the final round, while being a great defensive player on top of it. There's not much else you can do there besides be the best you can be. Crosby has a whopping 18 more points in 17 more playoff games, so Forsberg actually has the higher points per game there (and goals per game). Whatever edge Crosby has offensively if at all when accounting for linemates is then made up by Forsberg being the noticeably better defensive player. So simply put, I disagree.

 

[wetcoast]

Line A: 3 hart winners, 2 lindsay winners, 2 ross winners, 1 rocket winner, 1 smythe winner

Line B: 3 hart winners, 3 lindsay winners, 3 ross winners, 1 rocket winner, 1 smythe winner

Line C: 2 hart winners, 2 lindsay winners, 1 ross winner, 0 rocket winners, 1 smythe winner

Based on that it's clearly B, but obviously a very simple way of looking at it. It's definitely not C as MacK doesn't belong with the rest of these players. So for A vs B:

OV > Forsberg
McDavid > Lindros
Jagr = Crosby

The OP is talking about playoffs and at their peak/prime playoffs line A has the obvious advantage here but chemistry would be important.

Foppa and Feds were excellent playoff performers.

McDavid might end up being better in the playoffs than Lindros but that hasn’t happened yet either.