MacKinnon and Rantanen or Matthews and Marner?

[34]

You take the Leaf duo today over any duo in the league.

Absolutely. No questions.

 

[Mac Attack]

Of course this thread has been revived. Congrats on a great season by the leafs guys. I'm not changing my vote until they do it in the playoffs.

 

[Holymakinaw]

You take the Leaf duo today over any duo in the league.

Nah, McDavid & Draisaitl are better. But that's okay. I'm happy enough to have the 2nd best duo.

 

[TMLife17]

Nah, McDavid & Draisaitl are better. But that's okay. I'm happy enough to have the 2nd best duo.

I think it’s meant to be line mates.

Not sure where the cutoff is though

 

[Holymakinaw]

I think it’s meant to be line mates.

Not sure where the cutoff is though

If it's best LINE.....then yes, for sure the Leaf's line. But Boston's top line still has a lot to say about it. Leafs win because they're so much younger and will be great for many more years still.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

You take the Leaf duo today over any duo in the league.

How?

 

[Pyrophorus]

Rantanen Mack. Very easily. Both of them are playoff performers.

They don't get very far themselves.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Mack>Matthews
Rantanen and Marner is a coin flip.
So you have to take the Avalanche duo here. The superior playoff performance of the Mack/Rantanen duo plus the lower cap hit tilts it even more heavily in their favour imo.

So the playoff superiority is a round?

 

[Regal]

They don't get very far themselves.

So the playoff superiority is a round?

You realize people are saying this due to their large production advantage, not how far they’ve gone, right?

 

[Pyrophorus]

You realize people are saying this due to their large production advantage, not how far they’ve gone, right?

They mentioned playoffs.
Their production, doesn't appear to help.

 

[Regal]

They mentioned playoffs.
Their production, doesn't appear to help.

Kind of a dumb way to look at it

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Can't lose with either but for now I will give the nod to Colorado based on playoff performance to date, though this may well change.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Kind of a dumb way to look at it

Easy fix: Don't mention playoffs.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Can't lose with either but for now I will give the nod to Colorado based on playoff performance to date, though this may well change.

Not that much really.

 

[93LEAFS]

Chose Leafs duo, because that's my team, but in reality its too close to call. Probably one of the most equal polls around.

 

[AvroArrow]

How?

Since January 1st

Marner - 34 games played - 22 goals - 58 points (#2)
Matthews - 35 games played - 30 goals - 54 points (#7)

And they have fewer games played than anyone else in the top 10. But forget stats, just the eye test. These guys absolutely dominate every single game, they've been monsters this year especially since approx. January. I supposed Gaudreau/Tkachuk have similar production, but I take these 2 over any other 2 line mates. And they dominate both ends of the ice, Marner is especially good on the PK.

 

[Foppberg]

Easy fix: Don't mention playoffs.

AKA ignore certain realities so that my guys are better than those guys

 

[PettersonHughes]

I'll admit I haven't caught any Leafs games (out on the west coast), but unless the Leaf duo's clutch gene (based on how they couldn't step up last postseason when it counted) is actually improved, I would personally choose the Avs duo. Matthews was scoring at a high rate last season too, and Marner's been an elite all-around winger, but I think I'd personally have the Avs duo by a hair.

 

[Regal]

Easy fix: Don't mention playoffs.

Easy fix for what? You ignoring playoff production?

 

[BlueBaron]

The Rantanen-Marner gap is getting big. Last year I would not have dared said Matthews is as good as Nate but here we are.

I can see why people would look to playoff stats in the past, it does however ignore one pair is getting better and the other is static. This implies past playoff samples may not be a reliable indicator.

Not worth arguing about. I'd like to see them in the final so we can hash this out properly.

 

[lionsDen]

Mathew’s is a great player but I’m still taking the avs duo

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Fantasy purposes, taking Leafs duo. I think Mackinnon and Matthews are pretty equal; Rantanen has some games where he looks outright bad throughout the season. Marner can have bad spurts production wise but he never looks like a bum out there.

But if I'm taking either in a team building scenario it's Mack and Rantanen purely because there's evidence of excellent playoff production (especially Mack).

I find the Avs' playoff struggles are usually due to the depth not coming through on the rare occasion where the top players are having an off night, whereas the Leafs' struggles seem more correlated to Matthews and Marner having too many poor efforts.

 

[Apotheosis]

Too close to call. Marner has been on an insane tear since he came back in January (something like 55 points in 31 games) and Matthews is the best player defensively 5v5 of the 4. I think the Avs duo are better built for the playoffs and the Mack contract is huge. In a vacuum you cannot go wrong with either.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Fantasy purposes, taking Leafs duo. I think Mackinnon and Matthews are pretty equal; Rantanen has some games where he looks outright bad throughout the season. Marner can have bad spurts production wise but he never looks like a bum out there.

But if I'm taking either in a team building scenario it's Mack and Rantanen purely because there's evidence of excellent playoff production (especially Mack).

I find the Avs' playoff struggles are usually due to the depth not coming through on the rare occasion where the top players are having an off night, whereas the Leafs' struggles seem more correlated to Matthews and Marner having too many poor efforts.

Sometimes I wonder if Matthews would be the same without Marner and if Marner would be the same without Matthews.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Of course this thread has been revived. Congrats on a great season by the leafs guys. I'm not changing my vote until they do it in the playoffs.

Like the Avs duo